When it comes to British Iconography you think of things like Harry Potter or Doctor Who, but it’s hard to not imagine British culture without James Bond either. The character has important roots in our culture and is seen as a hero to a lot of people. Men want to be James Bond and women want to marry someone like James Bond. He’s a suave, sexy and take-no prisoners kinda guy. He’s the embodiment of the sexy British spy “trope” often seen in other films such as The Spy, Austin Powers and Johnny English, where all the main characters adapt to the cliché James Bond characteristics.
The villains of the James Bond films all have a political agenda, one that matches a current political issue in the real world. The ranges from climate change, the manipulative role of the media or the space race of the 60’s, these are all themes in the films Die Another Day, Tomorrow Never Dies and Moonraker. The villains are menacing, and they’re usually a match for James Bond both physically and mentally. You can’t have a Bond film without a good Bond villain.
Since the inception of the franchise in the 60’s, the character has been portrayed by several different actors from Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and recently with Daniel Craig. Each actor brings their own to the role, whether is the smugness and charm of Roger Moore or the grittiness and silent Daniel Craig version. In the Ian Fleming books James Bond is a generic character, we don’t get to see much depth or much character development. After all it’s a story about a spy who saves the world. In the films though he has flaws, he makes mistakes and is reckless too, but that’s just part of what makes him Bond.
In Bond’s shadow is a massive rogue’s gallery, with a list of villain’s that can be compared to that of a superhero. He’s battled Scaramanga, Le Chiffre, Blofeld, Xena Onatopp, Max Zorin, Auric Goldfinger and the list continues. Each villain is like a caricature. Oddjob is known for his killer hat, Blofeld wouldn’t be Blofeld without his facial scar and his white cat and you get the idea. Each one stands out above the rest. My personal favourite is Scaramanga, an intelligent threat and with such an imposing presence mainly thanks to the performance of Christopher Lee. By the end of the film the villain loses and Bond wins.
Some villains such as Blofeld have been re-imagined by several actors over the years, with Donald Pleasance, Charles Gray, Telly Savalas and Christoph Waltz all portraying him over the franchise. He’s become an arch-enemy of Bond and the villain who is most like him. He’s resourceful, lurks in the shadows and refuses to die in some films. He’s a cockroach, always finding a way out of a situation where Bond defeats him. Blofeld and his alliance of enemies, also known as Spectre, continue to haunt James Bond to this day.
With the upcoming release of No Time to Die this year, James Bond still has more demon’s to face and the over-arcing plot of the Craig era movies is coming to an end. James Bond will continue, it always does, and the character will continue to evolve. But you can count on your Aston Martin that he will be shaking martini’s and watching sunset’s with gorgeous women for many more years to come.
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Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions