James Bond is the most charismatic and enigmatic secret agent in fiction. The character was created in 1952 by the author Ian Fleming, who wrote twelve Bond novels in all at his Jamaican home, Goldeneye. After Fleming’s early death in 1964, Bond evolved in books by authorised writers. He simultaneously evolved on screen, thanks to the actors who played him, the villains who fought him, and the directors and screenwriters who kept him true to character but in tune with the times.
BOND AND BIRDS
Bond, an orphan born of a Scottish father and a Swiss mother, was based on men that Fleming had met while working as a naval intelligence officer during the Second World War. The name was taken from that of a real-life academic: James Bond, an American ornithologist and expert on the birds of the Caribbean. Fleming was a keen birdwatcher and chose the name as he considered it ordinary.
AGAINST THE ORDER
Initially Fleming doubted that the Scottish actor Sean Connery had sufficient sex appeal to play Bond. His reservations did not last long, however, as Connery’s Bond attracted as many female viewers as it did male ones. In the actor’s hands, 007 became more promiscuous and ruthless than the character in the books. Connery starred in seven films, starting with Dr. No in 1962 and ending with a one-off return in Never Say Never Again in 1983. Roger Moore was the longest-serving and the oldest Bond actor, beginning the role at the age of forty-five and ending at fifty-eight. Moore’s Bond was sophisticated and witty, while his antagonists were often unscrupulous thugs.
SEXISM AND FAKE NEWS
After Moore left the films, Timothy Dalton played Bond twice with an interpretation closer to Fleming’s character in the novels, that of a reluctant agent. Dalton’s serious approach was not well-received, but his screen performance is significant in its anti-heroic turn. In the 1990s, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan reflected the political correctness of the time by not smoking and by being less dominant over women; although this required some intervention from his boss M, played by Judi Dench. (In the 1995 film GoldenEye, M dismissed Bond as a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur”.)
AMBIGUITY AND ANARCHY
Daniel Craig was another controversial choice for Bond. In Fleming’s books, the character was described as having “dark, rather cruel good looks,” and blond-haired, blue-eyed Craig broke the mould. Yet Craig has proven himself incredibly addictive as a dangerous, emotionally damaged and egotistical 007. The 2012 film Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, was the biggest box office success to date, acknowledging his advanced age and obsolescence in a globalised world that idolises youthful tech genius. Both Bond’s motivations and those of his adversaries became increasingly subversive, closing the gap between hero and villain.
BOND FOR A NEW DECADE
Who will be chosen to play the next Bond remains a mystery. Whoever he — or perhaps she — is must follow up on some phenomenal portrayals as well as evolving the character to cope with a new chaotic, extremist era, personified in the new film, No Time to Die, by the terrorist and anarchist villain Safin. Those who have been linked with the role include actor Idris Elba, pop star Harry Styles and even No Time to Die female co-star Lashana Lynch.
bond villains
The baddies in Bond personify the perceived threats of the era. They are often physically-scarred and inevitably foreign. In the 1960s, Cold War tensions informed plots that worried about deadly missiles and fragile US-Soviet relations. Villains included evil genius Dr. Julius No, who threatened nuclear war. The 1960s also introduced the dangers of excessive materialism: deranged psychopath Auric Goldfinger, for example, who was obsessed with gold.
One memorable criminal first appeared in 1963 and reappears throughout the film franchise, up to the most recent films. Austrian-born Ernst Stavro Blofeld is the cat-stroking mastermind behind SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), an organisation intent on world domination. In the 1970s, social evils, such as drugs and violence, predominated: a Harlem cartel boss known as Mister Big wanted to control the streets by giving out free heroin, and Jaws was a seven-foot-tall killer with vicious steel teeth. The avaricious 1980s and early ‘90s introduced money-mad global villains such as Victor Zokas and Max Zorin, who tried to rule the planet by dominating its petroleum and microchip market, respectively.
The approach to the 21st century saw antagonists reflect doubts about the ethical standards of the system itself; unscrupulous media baron Elliot Carver created real-life disasters so that his network could report them first. With technological advancement, concerns about cyberterrorism and surveillance grew, as well as concerns about the psychological toll of modern life. Recent villains have been complex characters we can almost relate to: Raoul Silva was a Julian Assange-like figure, a cyberterrorist with emotional issues; while the new movie promises the deadliest villain yet, a highly-sophisticated sadist called Safin.
BOND girlS
The so-called ‘Bond girls’, props as they are, are hardly the demure feminine type. Assertive, with sporty figures, they are usually quite handy with a weapon. While in the early films they have sexually suggestive names, such as Pussy Galore and Holly Goodhead, later films did away with this unfortunate tendency. Reprised female characters include the smart Miss Moneypenny, secretary to M, Bond’s boss who has been played by three men and one woman. One of the few female super-villains appeared in From Russia With Love: Rosa Klebb was a socialist, a champion of women’s rights, and a lesbian, undermining Bond on every count! For the recent film, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the acclaimed creator of Fleabag and Killing Eve, co-wrote the script. She makes sure “the film treats the women properly” even though Bond “does not have to.” Some of the defining female participants in the Bond films never actually appear: Shirley Bassey, Adele and Billie Eilish are among a number of prominent vocalists to provide the best of the film theme tunes, giving the Bond girl the defiant voice that may seem missing in the movies.