Re: Meet the next 007
Originally Posted by
Silver Tabby
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Ignore the films for a minute and go back to the books - Ian Fleming gave a detailed description of James Bond in most if not all of them - and the character was quite definitely male! Not only that - but if you read between the lines - Fleming was rather racist - so there is no way on this earth he would have allowed a black person to play Bond. Quarrel, the Cayman Islander in Dr No, is the only black person about whom he had anything good to say. Not PC by today's standards but that is how it was.
Have to say I prefer the books - Bond manages to extricate himself from most situations by using some degree of intelligence - and without the stupid gimmicks and gizmos used in the films.
Indeed ..... this is the Wiki description:
Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR, is a fictional character created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953.
The character is a Secret Intelligence Service 00 Agent, code number 007, residing in London but active internationally. Bond was a composite character who was based on a number of commandos whom Fleming knew during his service in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, to whom Fleming added his own style and a number of his own tastes. Bond has a number of consistent character traits which run throughout the books, including an enjoyment of cars, a love of food, alcohol and love-making, and an average intake of sixty custom-made cigarettes a day.
I recently re-visited "Ian Fleming: Where Bond Began", a documentary presented by the lovely Joanna Lumley:
in which she frequently points out the similarities between James Bond's fictional life and Ian Fleming's real life:
Many of the events in the books actually happened or Fleming, as part of his role in Naval Intelligence, had planned to happen .....