Short Paper #1

Good Intention, Bad Connotation

Ian Fleming's novels revealed a seemingly unnoticed underbelly of London by much drama and action through an endless roller-coaster thrill ride. English readers from every class were naturally drawn to Fleming’s novels because they maintained the superiority of England that seemed to have been lost after the Second World War The popularity of the novels skyrocketed and paved the way for a huge franchise in the film industry that put British films at the top of the lists alongside American classics in Hollywood. However, Fleming said himself that he only wrote the books to escape from his wife’s nagging and wanted them to be read by scholarly A class readers (Bennet). The division between Fleming’s intentions and its assimilation into society caused a phenomenon that critics would agree is a pompous and exaggerated version of what England’s Military Intelligence was really like during the time it was written.

The James Bond Character oozes with style, class, and masculinity even when his libido is put to the ultimate test. The prime example of such a test is in Casino Royale when Bond is captured by Le Chiffre and repeatedly whipped in the testicles with a knotted rope, Bond maintains his composure. Even when Vesper betrays his, he keeps cool while responding to M’s inquiring about his grief by simply stating, “The bitch is dead” (Black). However, beneath the excitement and grandeur of the films and novels lies an unnerving subtext. The books were written during the first World War in which London had been bombed halfway to hell. The British were caught off guard and strategically crippled by the German aerial forces which left them all but helpless. It was only after America joined the alliance that the momentum of the war finally shifted. Thus, one can infer that this shift also represented a shift in power and influence throughout the world from the English to the Americans. In this situation, England would have felt completely emasculated, which is monumentous on a historical scale because for centuries prior to the world war, England maintained an unabated stranglehold of influence on the entire world.

Thus, an ironic situation developed as a result of the veil of superiority that the Bond novels appeared to be. Critics began to wonder whether Fleming had actually written the novels to save face in front of the Americans after the war had ended. If this were really the case then Fleming had done a great disservice to Great Britain. By attempting to save face, not only did it make Britain look pathetic, but it solidified the fact that Britain was truly no longer a colonial power, but rather a “paper tiger” in a manner of speaking. Had this been the case, the United States would not have seen Britain as a formidable ally for support against the Russians during the Cold War. This would have left the U.S feeling cornered and would have greatly increased the likelihood of the U.S launching its missiles at Russia with precedence as a pre-emptive defensive strategy.

In retrospect, if Fleming had been around to take into consideration the critics of his novels today, he would certainly not have written his novels in the way he did. Most likely, he would have incorporated Americans as equals and globalized the enemy in an effort not to alienate any one particular country. If he had taken this route when writing his novels he would not have come under suspicion of coddling the general public in a pathetic attempt to save face for the sake of England, but rather attracting more A class readers and fewer from the B and C class.

Works Cited

Bennett, Tony and Wallocott, Janet. The Moments of Bond (class handouts)

Black, Jeremy. The Politics of James Bond: From Fleming’s Novels to the Big Screen. Westright: Praeger. 2001.

Baron, Cynthia. Dr. No: Bonding Britishness to Racial Sovereignty. (class handouts)