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But while Eon continues to have a lockdown on the rights to a very successful franchise, it would be nuts to make any radical changes that upset core fans.
And core fans do matter. The fan base is only so big. Not all regular moviegoees dutifully trot out to each new Bond release or buy Bond related product.
Bond has it's own fan base, both very dedicated thru to varying levels of casual, but it's the core fanbase, the ones that spend the most money, and make the most noise, that marketers take notice of.
Take care of the fans that are most invested and actually providing feedback pro and con, and the more casual fans will fall into place too.
Marketers work very hard at gathering data.
What they learn can generally be applied across the entire fan base.
But if the Bond franchise as we know it ever wanes significantly in popularity, then all bets are off. The rights will become less valuable and radical new interpretations might be tried to generate fresh audience.
Quite. Fleming's meaning was quite clear.
Come on! What is daft is to immediately assume if you are scottish or swiss you have to be white! Congratulations on that part...
The point here is not weather Fleming intended Bond to be white or not. Nobody denies that. (Duh...)
The point is that no, it doesn't effect Bond's heritage as one of scottish decent if he was black, as stated by one member previously. You don't have to rewrite his entire history to make him black.
I obviously have, which you would have known had you read my previous comments...
And where did you get the feeling Bond may not have been white? Was it in LALD? Or perhaps YOLT?
You don't get the point at all, do you? Well... I am not surprised... ;)
It's art. A film is an artistic expression of a story. It's less about the form itself and how the story is told, opposed to the themes and ideas that interest me. If Bond had been played by an ethnic actor in the Craig films it wouldn't have impacted the ideas and issues explored. Nor would the actual execution have differed
Any talk of the 'franchise' and preserving the way the series has always been is just subtle dog-whistle racism.
Talk of keeping Bond white boils down to people associating the character to their ethnonationalist views. Bond is a symbol of Britain and is, therefore, white. If you attack the sanctity of the character's skin colour, you encroach on people's national identity.
The discussion as to whether a black actor plays James Bond is a superficial debate about a much bigger issue.
Mr. Bond was envisaged and imagined as a white man by his creator, and he has been white for the past 65 years.
Nobody has given a valid or convincing reason why he should be anything other than what he was originally intended to be. His being white isn't infringing on minority rights in any way shape or form as far as I can tell. So his complexion and skin tone shouldn't be seen as an affront to minority sensibilities.
Will a black actor necessarily be better at playing James Bond? Do they bring something so immeasurably amazing to the role that they must be cast in lieu of a white man? I don't see any evidence of that - yet. So this is all rather pointless imho.
I always found the dismissal of such a preference for Bond to stay white as racist to be highly lazy and ignorant.
For what it's worth, I'd have enjoyed Idris very much as Bond; yes, I do think so. But he is too old for the role now. Skin color has no bearing on who plays Bond in the films for me.
I know you went back and edited your initial post, the way you often do.
Good one! ;))
As others have asked the same question, why does a change of ethnicity immediately equate to a black actor playing Bond, so I’ll ask the question again? Why not an Indian or a Chinese actor, or even a person of Turkish persuasion? Are these people not British with a longstanding presence in our community as well? If we’re going to open the door to changing Bond’s ethnicity then I want to see it open to all men of colour, not just actors that have an African ancestoral background that are good at self-promotion.
And many actors of Turkish or Jewish origins, heck, some Asians as well, could easily pass as white. They'd talk of the first Muslim or Jewish Bond, but otherwise the character on the screen would be no different.
Although I understand a Muslim Bond would create all sorts of controversies, but not from the fans.
Black Panther has grossed 1.3 billion worldwide. If EON and MGM believe there is untapped box office potential in casting a black actor as Bond, I think they'll do it. It's similar to what's happened with Doctor Who. The new Doctor is a woman, actress Jodie Whittaker. First time a woman has been cast in the role.
I think you can argue Doctor Who is the British tv equivalent of James Bond. It's been running since 1963, the role gets recast, and the show maintains a loyal fanbase. Bond and the Doctor are two icons of British 20th century pop culture. If the female Doctor is a success then a black James Bond can be a success?
I'm sure some Doctor Who fans will hate the new female Doctor and will never accept it, the same is likely to be true if Bond becomes black, but I'm guessing the larger fanbase won't care that much. Bond, like Doctor Who, has to move with the times. I'm not a huge fan of a female Doctor nor a black Bond, but sticking your head in the sand and pretending/wishing things remain the same is counter-productive. Life moves on. You just gotta accept it. ;)
In other words, I do think an Elba Bond flick could work--but I'd have to forego what I know about the original character and not try to imagine why this edition of Bond got excited by the unusual exoticness of black women in Fleming's Live and Let Die, and so on.
Still...I think most of the "support" for such casting choices come from those who want to be noticed for their "enlightenment" (heh) or if you find that word choice problematic, non-racism. A clue is if you engage in a "why?" conversation and discover that they want to race to characterize those who want CaucasiBond as some deviation of a "Nazi" etc.
Instead of pondering the laziness and transparency of targeting characters for redefinition following a political agenda...meaning if you want to see a Bond (or Superhero, or martial arts, or zombie, or golf, or romcom) story with a (insert-your-pet-demographic-here) lead...I get it. So go do that...but don't prefer changing James Bond instead of building any new and more authentic story/character? Black Panther works well because he was created as T'Challa, and is not a redefinition of Steve Rogers.
Are you suggesting much of Elba's desire to play Bond is a manifestation of some deep rooted narcissism? He craves the attention? Surely not! :P
Yes, Bond changes with time. One just has to accept that. Most people would agree that a completely faitful adaptation of Moonraker or LALD would be completely unthinkable today. Maybe one small group of hard core fans would appreciate it (me included), but the large majority would say "this is not Bond! Where are the elaborate action scenes, the cars, the gadgets, the jokes (etc)"? "No formula"?? By and large the franchise has left Fleming's original creation behind long ago. And lets face it, wether you like it or not, this is one of the main reasons the franchise still exists.
You forgot to put vile and downright nasty, annoying doesn't quite cut it with Hopkins, possibly not a good example to quote unless of course you swing in her direction that is.
some deep rooted narcissism, craves the attention.
She could be describing herself with that comment.
I'm not a snowflake liberal, but if people are going to actively quote someone as repugnant as Katie Hopkins on this forum, then I'll happily quit and not come back.
Her views and opinions are harmful and really shouldn't be endorsed.
If you do agree with her political philosophy, then I don't condemn you. But I don't think a James Bond forum is an appropriate place to be putting her videos to support your opinion. It's quite literally the wrong forum.
I understand wanting Bond to be British. But sure, any skin color is fine with me.