Poll: Should there be a black bond?

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Is the designation James Bond a code name given to agents of the government?
Yes.

And our survey said? Eh-eh.

James Bond is ...

named after an American ornithologist, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide book Birds of the West Indies. Fleming, a keen birdwatcher, had a copy of Bond's field guide at Goldeneye. Of the name, Fleming once said in a Reader's Digest interview, "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, 'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'Peregrine Carruthers.' Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure ? an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department."

A Black Bond would be like a White Shaft or a Chinese Miss Marple or an English Scheherazade. Simply destroying the basis of the character for a cheap racial ratings boost.
However, I've no problem with Jamelia Bond or a mexican Jesus Bond.

But they won't be 'Bond'.

 

[Jorik]

Are you actually implying that James Bond is the characters REAL name? Of course it should be bland and not memorable, its a COVER name, he is a SECRET agent . . . I mean seriously . . . Hi I'm James Bond, look me up in the pages. . . really? If his cover name was Excelsior Caesar people would remember him, but the whole choice of a common sounding IDENTITY is what makes . . . Bond, James Bond sound so cool, yet so forgettable.

The name James Bond IS NOT his real name, he might have chosen his cover name, but really aren't secret identities usually assigned by the agency?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Are you actually implying that James Bond is the characters REAL name?

I'm not. Ian Fleming is.

 

[Jorik]

The real problem lies with the movie world, and not the written world. The actor portraying Bond in the movies has changed so many times, and so much (due to real world things, like the passage of time and prevailing cultural changes) that the association of the designation Bond is no longer attached to an individual, but more of a collective identity of many different british secret agents. The books, as far as I have read, maintain that James Bond is the same person through out the whole series. So, in literature, the idea of a non white British Agent 007 identified as James Bond is silly. However, the movies are an entirely different creature.

 

[Jorik]

Please quote to me where Ian Fleming says that James Bond is the characters REAL name, and not a code name? He says he chose the dullest sounding name he could think of, but he still maintained that James Bond was a SECRET agent. Secret Agents need cover identities, lest they not be secret anymore.

 

[Alex_P]

Is the designation James Bond a code name given to agents of the government?
Yes.

It's not.

The James Bond movies just don't represent a single unified continuity.

It's kinda like there are several takes on the same comic book character sometimes, you know?

-- Alex

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I did some soul searching last night, and watched Casino Royale again. And I realized my opinion.

British crackers need James Bond. Black people already have a pile of cool, smooth and suave action heroes (See Carl Weathers and Billy Dee Williams).

Without Bond, British whiteys would have... Sherlock Holmes... That's it. Let's let the Cracker Brits have one poster boy for why they AREN'T a bunch of whiny ponces.
It's unfair that black guys are always the cool guys, even if they usually die first.

Soon you British Crackers will have the Robert Downey Jr. version of Holmes though, and that movie might be awesome.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Please quote to me where Ian Fleming says that James Bond is the characters REAL name, and not a code name? He says he chose the dullest sounding name he could think of, but he still maintained that James Bond was a SECRET agent. Secret Agents need cover identities, lest they not be secret anymore.

Not dreadfully secret if he uses the same identity on 20+ different cases though. The hint is in your above statement 'implied', but if you're looking for proof...

- (man) Your Royal Highnesses, ...


...my lords, ladies and gentlemen, ...


...the toast is the bride and bridegroom, ...


...Mr and Mrs James Bond.


(all toast) Mr and Mrs James Bond!

 

[Slight]

Are you actually implying that James Bond is the characters REAL name?...

...The name James Bond IS NOT his real name, he might have chosen his cover name, but really aren't secret identities usually assigned by the agency?

Yes it is his real name. It's a made up character, so they can get away with bandying his real name about. In a few of the films he uses other cover names but bad-guys tend to see through that anyway, or he just straight up reveals himself. Come on, it's fiction, Don't get your knickers in a twist for the sake of trying to be clever.

In terms of a black bond...

Maybe the question should be "Would you mind if there was a black bond" rather than "should there be a black bond"? Just a thought.

I think this is spot on. Would anyone mind? Not amongst any reasonable people, no. Ultimately, people care more about the strength of the films/book/fictional representation (Bond survived the Dalton incarnations, for chrissakes). I don't think people would see the point in the change, but we wouldn't mind.

Should there be a black bond? I would say no. There's no need to change what works as it is to satisfy the PC brigade. Like root_of_all_evil said above about fannying about with the origins of the other notable characters, the essence of the James Bond character is that he's a white, british, womanizing, secret agent.

If it ain't broke...

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

In a few of the films he uses other cover names but bad-guys tend to see through that anyway, or he just straight up reveals himself.

There's a good point. If James Bond is a cover identity or alias, then why does he use so many other covers and identities? So he can hide his cover identity?

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

as long as he is British

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I don't think so, because it would simply clash with the image of Bond.

However, Bond's American CIA partner should always be:

Black, and named Felix.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

There was an Old Bond, the movie was called Never Say Never Again, Bond was also notably old in Moonraker, A View to A Kill, Diamonds are Forever and Die Another Day.

 

[Hearthing]

Samuel L Jackson playing it. In the same mind set as Pulp Fiction.

"Shaken not stirred mutha fucka."

Oh come on, the one liners would be absolutely hilarious.

 

[Trace2010]

No...Ian Fleming has already dictated the answer to that question. It would be very easy to create another 00 in place of Bond (hell, they even tried to create James Bond Jr. a long time ago), but to put a black man into the 007 persona without an acceptable reason as to why he is black would not suit well with fans of the series. (By the way, am I not mistaken, or was the old M retired in Goldeneye?)

However...I would ask people...

Does every secret agent movie involving a black hero or heroine really HAVE to be like "Undercover Brother" (some sort of spy movie spoof)? I would think that SOMEONE could create an eloquent, elitist, sophisticated, African American hero in the image of Bond for this series that would do the character justice.

As for the M in this film- I recommend the actor who played "Jeffrey" from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

 

[Frederf]

Should there be a white Shaft?

 

[CTU_Agent24]

No, because it would be an obvious attempt to make everything stupidly politically correct.

So true

 

[Meangunns]

Should there be a white Shaft?

If the actor was good enough to play him then sure. Maybe Michael Chiklis (The Shield) could do it.

This whole thing isn't about wheather or not a black man could play bond or not. Its about why should an established character be changed.

I know your post was made for the same reason so this isn't directed toward you.

 

[swift tongued]

I guess it would be fine, as long as they didn't BLACK HIM OUT. If you know what I mean.

Like Blade, or XXX or anything like that, with lots of ebonics and references to his blackness. THAT would ruin it. And, unfortunately, Hollywood tends to do this when a lead action movie character is black.

Why was Quinn banned ofr this? I agree, hollywood does that a lot and the great thing about bond is they wouldn't be able to. If bond's actor was black then no one in hollywood could make him say steriotypical stuff because that'd ruin the suave bond effect.

On the other hand Wesley Snipes as Blade wasn't Hollywood, that was Wesley Snipes being awsome and it worked.