The Inner evolution of the cinematic Bond

JohnBondJohnBond France
in Bond Movies Posts: 20
> be careful, this message contains some small spoilers for those who haven't seen SPECTRE yet…



Because Bond appears, to me, as one of the very rare film characters that one can follow over a long period of time, with different looks and through different visions, i decided to put on paper, or more exactly on a board, my thoughts about his inner evolution over the course of more than half a century of films.

The recent vision of SPECTRE confirmed my feeling, which is that Daniel Craig's films stand as pillars which together structure the whole cinematic Bond experience. Why ? Because he is the only one whose Bond both starts and finishes his career, in a clear way.

That being said, it is now interesting to consider the unclear moments between the Craig films, the gaps. The gaps that make Craig's Bond appear and behave differently from one film to another. What happened to him during those gaps ? In that purpose, I wanted to introduce the idea of open spaces between films, spaces of mystery that can act as "windows to the past". In other words windows to the other Bonds. Windows that can remain closed and empty as one decides to jump between the 4 Craig films, or windows that can open and reveal more detailed aspects as one decides to dig into the space between the films. In the later choice, that leads us to a saga with 2 levels of reading.

One last remark before reading the following board : this evolution is not supposed to be a timeline that desperately tries to link Craig's films and all the others into one story. That is impossible. This document focuses on Bond's character only, and how he interacts with his immediate environment (the service, the women he meets…).

Hope that you will find this board inspiring and would like to express your opinions !



[img][/img]INNERBOND1.jpg

Comments

  • Thunderball007Thunderball007 United States
    Posts: 306
    Wow! This is fascinating! :D
  • Aziz_FekkeshAziz_Fekkesh Royale-les-Eaux
    Posts: 403
    I would put Dalton more towards the end of the spectrum. He seemed exasperated with his job and ready to quit at any time. Lazenby being relaxed curves quite nicely into Moore's Bond as well.
  • JohnBondJohnBond France
    edited November 2015 Posts: 20
    Thank you for your appreciation !

    You're right Birdleson, there is an evolution process inside Moore as well, i can easily imagine the transition from LTK's Dalton to TMWTGG's Moore (at the dinner with Scaramanga for instance).

    As for Dalton, he is a tough one indeed… it depends on your vision of Dalton's Bond of course… and since the 2 films he made show very different portrayals of the character…
    What is clear for me is that his Bond is not a beginner at all, he has experience in both work and love, so he is clearly suitable for the 2nd window.

    In the end, what pushed me to put him there is Craig's Bond. In SP, Bond is getting near Roger Moore's, and away from Dalton's… And i thought Dalton's moments of anger (and moments of strong romance with Kara in TLD) could be a suitable follow-up to what the character experienced in OHMSS. After the lost of his wife, Bond becomes more sensitive and softer with the women (unlike Connery!), while keeping the dangerous aspect. Then the dangerous aspect dicreases and the softness remains : that is Moore.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 6,758
    Excellent work, I might even consider watching the whole series in that order for the next Bondathon.
  • JohnBondJohnBond France
    Posts: 20
    Thank you GoldenGun, hope it will be satisfying when you do it.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    An interesting thread from the past here. Wonder if NTTD will be a fitting addendum to this thesis?
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