Fowler, Christopher. "Why James Bond May Be Over"

A blog entry which touches upon some of our discussions

Blog of Christopher Fowler

'Jargonn is the new illiteracy' is a nice line but, having worked in the defence industries, I don't think it's anything new. Perhaps Fowler's referring to the Cultural Marxists/feminazi's New Speak. The stuff Below the Line was more interesting; I thought this comment was spot-on:

Quote :

If the movies hadn't happened at the right time Bond would be a semi-classic series of books placed in the Chandler league rather than Saint or Baron level. Its sad that few of the movies have anything to do with the novels, except Thunderball which was commissioned as a movie script before being adapted as a novel. It would be great to see someone like Netflix do a real bond series based in the 50's and 60's from the original novels.

Sexton Blake, Bulldog Drummond and the astonishingly prolific Edgar Wallace showed a phenomenal dislike of the Evil Chinee, an attitude mostly summed up in Sax Rhomer's Fu Manchu stories. Anti-Semitism was rife in popular fiction until the 1940's. This stuff was a constant drip for over 50 years.

The lone male Hero thing is as old as Greek mythology, and the ancient Greeks were fairly (or unfairly) misogynistic too.

Bond, like Sherlock Holmes, Dracula and Frankenstein are peculiarly English characters who seem to be continually re-invented and have lives beyond their origins.

True to some extent, but I'd say the real problem with James Bond today is that no one likes him.

Modern Movie Morons think the car chases aren't up to scratch;
People who like the novels (that's me and my dog) think 90% of the films are shit;
Closet homosexuals who fancy Brosnan think Craig is crap;
Craig thinks Bond is crap;
Babs thinks Bond is crap.

It's pretty difficult to find anyone who has a good word to say for Bond these days.

I respect Daniel Craig as an actor but he is not how I ever imagined James Bond.
Since "Spectre" it is also very clear he is tired of the role and is only returning for the huge paycheck, which he would be unlikely to get for any other part.
And yes, there is a certain sense he also deems the material "beneath him".

This would have been the perfect time to recast the part.

Salomé wrote:

This would have been the perfect time to recast the part.

I was hoping Michael Assbender would get it.

Haven't been able to watch a Craig film in months without hearing the cash register go off and his other unprofessional blathering.