Fictional Figures and the Historian: The Politics of James Bond (2003)

30Historically Speaking · February 2003 Fictional Figures and the Historian:The Politics of James Bond Jeremy Black James Bond is the most successful adventure hero in history. I became interested in writing about Bond as a result of my work on maps. Having published Maps and History (Yale UniversityPress, 1997) andMaps and Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1997), I thought I would take forward my concern with geopolitics by writing an essay on "The Geopolitics ofJames Bond." This was designed to focus on two issues: first, the range and nature of die settings of die stories and how these changed in accordance with historical developments; and second, the image of the globe in the films, as both demonstration ofrange (Thunderball) and target for megalomaniacal attack (Diamondsare Forever, The Spy Who LovedMe, Golden Eye). Instead, I wrote a book because the narratives ofdie books, films, and (a crucial source that is generally neglected) the many books involving Bond published byothers after Ian Fleming died in 1964, provide such a fascinating source for changing views about die world. Bodi novels and films drew on current fears in order to reduce the implausibility ofdie villains and dieirvillainy, while they also presented potentimages ofnational character , explored the relationship between a declining Britain and an ascendant United States, charted die course of die Cold War, offered a changing demonology, and were an important aspectofpostwar popular culture, not onlyin Britain but throughoutdie world, particularly after Hollywood created and financed die filmic Bond. Bond's villains believe in planning and, indeed, represent a conflation ofplutocratic and bureaucratic man, the lastunderstood by Fleming as a characteristic of Communism. In Weberian terms, Bond was die persistence of charisma against die iron cage of rationalism and bureaucracy. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Stromberg—the villain—claims that modern civilization is corrupt and decadent, that itwould inevitably destroy itself, and that he is merely accelerating die process when he plans a nuclear holocaust followed by die construction of a new civilization under die sea. The mechanistic megalomania of many of the villains and the sadistic evil of their agents are contrasted with Bond's sexual appeal. There is much male fantasyhere, but it is central to die image of Bond's sexuality diat he gives as well as receives pleasure, an ability and desire that can be imagined offew of die male villains. As a sign of die times, however, die sexuality ofdie Bond character has recendy been under discussion from critics keen to suggest that he is at least partly gay ("archly flirts with homoeroticism," Barbara Ellen, TimesofLondon, November 21, 2002). What will critics make of die latest film in the series, DieAnotherDay, and its take on the world situation? A contrast could well be noted between a Britain with global reach, whose fictional star agent prevents a laseraided North Korean invasion ofSouth Korea, and die real situation where, at die time of the film's release, a large part ofthe country's armed forces were dealing widi die consequences ofa firemen strike. Indeed, die gap between fact and fiction has rarely seemed wider as far as Britain is concerned. Even more distressing, a Harvard education leads bodi die son of a "moderate" North Korean general to become a decadent enabler ofthe expansionist plans ofhardliners and a beautiful British agent to betray, dien bed, dien betray Bond anew. So much for higher education . No wonder the British government is letting its universities go bankrupt. Class, place, gender, violence, sex, race— all are themes thatcan be scrutinized dirough die Bond films' shifts in characterization and plot. So also can the relationship between fantasy and reality. The interview with Oleg Gordievsky (who, as head of die KGB station in London and earlier, doubled as an agent forthe British) was the item in die BBC Radio 4 program "The Politics ofJames Bond" (January 1, 2001)—which incidentally, I planned and narrated—diat excited press comment. Gordievsky claimed that die Central Committee of the Communist Party watched Bond films. He was instructed to secure a copy as soon as one came out. The KGB also asked him to obtain the devices used by Bond. In die interview, Gordievsky suggested thatdie Bond stories contributed to...