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Amazon’s first mis-step?

TroyTroy
edited October 4 in Bond 26 & Beyond Posts: 388
According to the Daily Mail, Amazon Prime has sanitised the digital posters for past Bond films, to remove the girls and guns

Arguably, this is a modernisation to avoid fetishising violence and objectivation of women. Others might say they are removing the essence of James Bond.

Hopefully this isn’t a foretaste of Amazon Bond.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15161727/James-Bond-fans-blast-woke-Amazon-007-posters.html

Comments

  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited October 4 Posts: 26,555
    I bought the entire series from Prime a few years ago, they generally have bland art work, I saw the images from the link they are not great. The Goldeneye image looks terrible, Bond looks like he is holding an invisible gun.

    I have just had a look now on Prime and they have already replaced those images with images from the films, they must have read the article lol
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,397
    Quite frankly, in these times of MAGA, Amazon doing something "woke" (I think this term is stupid, no matter which side uses it, but so be it) is something to celebrate. Other than that, I don't give a [insert expletive here] about the posters being changed, as long as they keep the movies intact.
  • ShakenNotStirredShakenNotStirred San Monique
    Posts: 1,430
    Apparently they have already reverted the ‘disarming’ edits due to the backlash: https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/amazon-prime-2025-ditch-gunless-james-bond-key-art
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,660
    This is one argument for physical media…
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited October 4 Posts: 19,262
    Of course the Mail made something of this, I expected nothing less. Well done Mr Page, hope you're happy.
    As ShakenNotStirred said, they've already gone (amusingly replaced with equally gun-less images).
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,961
    Ow, I was hoping for less violent titles too, like The Man With The Golden Pun, A View To A Shrill, and Licence To Thrill. Now I'm stuck with these offensively brutal references to weapons and murder.
  • DaltonforyouDaltonforyou The Daltonator
    edited October 4 Posts: 920
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Quite frankly, in these times of MAGA, Amazon doing something "woke" (I think this term is stupid, no matter which side uses it, but so be it) is something to celebrate. Other than that, I don't give a [insert expletive here] about the posters being changed, as long as they keep the movies intact.

    That's coming next. Ian Fleming's nepo baby grandchildren have already edited his books. So imagine what Amazon might do in 10-20 years. They'll come out with the unedited version of the films and another, thats more palatable for "modern" audiences. People will find an excuse to justify anything.

    Nobody could've predicted twenty years ago they would be editing Fleming's books so anything is possible.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,961
    Daltonforyou wrote: »
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Quite frankly, in these times of MAGA, Amazon doing something "woke" (I think this term is stupid, no matter which side uses it, but so be it) is something to celebrate. Other than that, I don't give a [insert expletive here] about the posters being changed, as long as they keep the movies intact.

    That's coming next. Ian Fleming's nepo baby grandchildren have already edited his books. So imagine what Amazon might do in 10-20 years. They'll come out with the unedited version of the films and another, thats more palatable for "modern" audiences. People will find an excuse to justify anything.

    It’s happened to Roald Dahl’s books as well. The difference, I think, lies in the target audience: Dahl wrote for children, while Fleming clearly did not. Either way, I resent the idea of altering an author’s original work, especially after it has been cherished by readers for decades. If current rights holders insist on making such changes, they should at least continue publishing both versions, so readers still have a choice.

    That said, I’m not a fan of the practice in any form. You can’t make insults or violence disappear simply by pretending they never existed. And you don’t educate future generations by covering their eyes with a gentler version of reality.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 19,262
    Daltonforyou wrote: »
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Quite frankly, in these times of MAGA, Amazon doing something "woke" (I think this term is stupid, no matter which side uses it, but so be it) is something to celebrate. Other than that, I don't give a [insert expletive here] about the posters being changed, as long as they keep the movies intact.

    That's coming next. Ian Fleming's nepo baby grandchildren have already edited his books. So imagine what Amazon might do in 10-20 years. They'll come out with the unedited version of the films and another, thats more palatable for "modern" audiences. People will find an excuse to justify anything.

    Nobody could've predicted twenty years ago they would be editing Fleming's books so anything is possible.

    It's easy to work yourself up into a state of anger about something which hasn't happened.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 18,008
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Daltonforyou wrote: »
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Quite frankly, in these times of MAGA, Amazon doing something "woke" (I think this term is stupid, no matter which side uses it, but so be it) is something to celebrate. Other than that, I don't give a [insert expletive here] about the posters being changed, as long as they keep the movies intact.

    That's coming next. Ian Fleming's nepo baby grandchildren have already edited his books. So imagine what Amazon might do in 10-20 years. They'll come out with the unedited version of the films and another, thats more palatable for "modern" audiences. People will find an excuse to justify anything.

    It’s happened to Roald Dahl’s books as well. The difference, I think, lies in the target audience: Dahl wrote for children, while Fleming clearly did not. Either way, I resent the idea of altering an author’s original work, especially after it has been cherished by readers for decades. If current rights holders insist on making such changes, they should at least continue publishing both versions, so readers still have a choice.

    That said, I’m not a fan of the practice in any form. You can’t make insults or violence disappear simply by pretending they never existed. And you don’t educate future generations by covering their eyes with a gentler version of reality.

    Ummm... YES!
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 14,278
    Daltonforyou wrote: »
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Quite frankly, in these times of MAGA, Amazon doing something "woke" (I think this term is stupid, no matter which side uses it, but so be it) is something to celebrate. Other than that, I don't give a [insert expletive here] about the posters being changed, as long as they keep the movies intact.

    That's coming next. Ian Fleming's nepo baby grandchildren have already edited his books. So imagine what Amazon might do in 10-20 years. They'll come out with the unedited version of the films and another, thats more palatable for "modern" audiences. People will find an excuse to justify anything.

    Nobody could've predicted twenty years ago they would be editing Fleming's books so anything is possible.


    Unedited classic text in 2025, you musht be joking.

    I'm so grateful for Sensitivity Readers. I might get upset at reading hurty words in books published over 20 years before I was born...
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 19,262
    ShakenNotStirred wrote: »
    Apparently they have already reverted the ‘disarming’ edits due to the backlash: https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/amazon-prime-2025-ditch-gunless-james-bond-key-art

    I'm loathe to mention it, but the Skyfall one does have a gun digitally removed.
  • SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷ Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 2,915
    What's the point of removing the guns, when there's gun play in the First Light game? Or is James Bond going to use a Banana as a PPK in Bond 26? I just don't understand this present world at times.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,660
    It seems as if they have pulled these images; a cynic would say that this was a calculated , inexpensive way of garnering a tremendous amount of free publicity.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 9,233
    talos7 wrote: »
    It seems as if they have pulled these images; a cynic would say that this was a calculated , inexpensive way of garnering a tremendous amount of free publicity.

    Publicity for what? Bond 26 is over 3 years away.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited 12:51pm Posts: 14,773
    Well publicity for James Bond films available on Amazon Prime Video. That's specifically what the images are used for. And more longer term, yes to associate with the future BOND 26 whenever it's eventually released.

    All publicity is good publicity. There's no news like bad news, even.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,660
    Mendes4Lyfe wrote: »
    talos7 wrote: »
    It seems as if they have pulled these images; a cynic would say that this was a calculated , inexpensive way of garnering a tremendous amount of free publicity.

    Publicity for what? Bond 26 is over 3 years away.

    For the films being available on Amazon and the James Bond brand in general
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 19,262
    Nah it's not part of some grand calculated conspiracy, they made some images and changed them.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 6,140
    Would a character named Pussy Galore make it into a movie if it were made today? Would the character being a lesbian that Bond converts to heterosexual make it into a movie today?

    On the last Bond and Friends podcast Dr. Lisa made the point that we have likely not had female villains due to not wanting to portray females in a negative light. Not sure if that is accurate. I have wondered why no femme fatale since Xenia and no female baddies since Electra in TWINE?

    Course I am old enough to remember the uproar for True Lies when the ethnicity of the villains created some controversy.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 19,262
    thedove wrote: »
    Would a character named Pussy Galore make it into a movie if it were made today? Would the character being a lesbian that Bond converts to heterosexual make it into a movie today?

    No, there also wouldn't be a bit where he forces himself on the female lead to do so. That's not a bad thing, time has moved on, as it always has done. Connery's Bond likely wouldn't have turned down Bibi in FYEO because time had moved on by even then, and that movie is over 40 years old now itself. I'm not sure what the question is asking really..?
    thedove wrote: »
    On the last Bond and Friends podcast Dr. Lisa made the point that we have likely not had female villains due to not wanting to portray females in a negative light. Not sure if that is accurate.

    I'm often a bit dubious about her analyses, I don't find her to have particularly interesting or convicing insights. I agree with you that I don't think that's the reason, I doubt there's been any hard and fast rule about not doing female villains, I think the development of each film has just gone in the direction of a male villain coincidentally if anything. Le Chiffre had to be a male as he's from the novel, Green had to be male because of his relationship with Camille (who obviously had to be female because she was the lead female character), Silva was set up as a sort of vague reflection of Bond, Blofeld is Blofeld, Safin was slightly obsessed with Madeline etc. C is the one I think might have been more interesting if he were a woman, but there we go. Craig's Bond was so ultra masculine perhaps it felt more interesting to have him face off against other men.
    I hope we do get another female baddie though, not for any particularly progressive reasons but just because it would give us a bit of variety.
  • ShakenNotStirredShakenNotStirred San Monique
    Posts: 1,430
    Calvin’s video in case anyone was curious :
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,157
    Those are impressively ugly.
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