Amph 60+ Years of James Bond 007

Not Bond, 007.

Again, it seems that the franchise, moving forward, is possibly going to emphasis the designation, not the name.

if so, a very poor way of having their cake and eating it too because once you take James Bond out of 007, what's left? It's Everything or Nothing.

 

Well according to wikipedia, MI6 gave several agents Bond's name and code number in a bid to confuse enemies in Casino Royale (1967) so I assume it's the same device used here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/00_Agent

 

What they should do is give her a different agent number, any but 007.

 

IF the franchise becomes about 007, it trivialises the source material because it absolutely dethrones its titular protagonist.
Again, it's a "it's alright...we're listening" move.
The Bond franchise has always been about responding to the pop culture climate.

Live and Let Die = funkadelic blaxploitation
Moonraker = hey, there's this Star Wars thing that's kinda popular....hey, why don't we-
Licence To Kill = hard boiled 80s action films. This experiment actually worked.
Die Another Day = xXx
Casino Royale = back to its roots to be Bourne again
Bond 25 = hey, there's ladies in the audience!

 

Not to mention I believe there have been multiple agents with the same designation, although not at the same time. I think there was a 006 before Alec Trevaleyen (Goldeneye).

 

Well, impliedly, OHMSS is famous for the quote "that never happened to the other fella" in the pre-credits.

While more of a throwaway joke, you could say there was another 007 before James, not another James before James.

Trivial quote aside, Skyfall seems to very much hint toward the idea of MI6 agents being chosen to fill roles or designations. De Silva, at some point, was very much the man James Bond was during his prime. We've all seen the replacement for M take place twice; Brosnan's reference to her "predecessor" in Goldeneye and the obvious handover in Skyfall.

MI6 comes across very much as an organisation of designation and job title from the highest ranks down to field agents.

007 works fine as a female, because hired guns aren't exclusively a man's occupation.

James Bond, however, is absolutely a white British male with specific schooling, manner, ethos and, overall humanity - warts and all.

 

According to Hans Christian Andersen, "The Little Mermaid" is most likely a young white Danish girl.
Then according to Disney in 1989, she was a young white girl with red hair.
Then according to Disney in 2019, she is a young black girl.

I agree, that when you say the name, James Bond, I picture what you're saying in the quote above. If you say Mario, I picture a fat plumber. If you say Sonic, I picture a blue Hedgehog. If you say Optimus Prime, I don't picture flames on his cab.

With that said, I have no problem with Lashana Lynch's character having the designation 007, nor do I mind her being a Bond if that turns out to be the case. She could be Jaime Bond. I don't think she should be James. Maybe that's the gender bias in me. It's never been confirmed nor denied that the name "James Bond" is also a code name.

Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of Lashana Lynch's character in "Captain Marvel". I trust Cary Joji Fukunaga and his casting team to get the right person for the part for the new 007 in Bond 25 regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or age.

Who knows, maybe in the year 2119, a cybernetically enhanced raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper's son will play the part of 007.

 

Well, given where Skyfall takes place, it all but confirms that James Bond was his actual name, and more than just a code.

 

i don't think there was. 009 died in Octupussy, and there are references to several others, but not 006

 

Okay, maybe I was mistaken.

Still, I think it makes since that when one agent with a certain 00 code retires/dies, then another agent gets that code.

 

That's the premise behind Forever and a Day, the recent 007 novel by Anthony Horowitz. Set before Casino Royale, it features James Bond being granted 00 status and investigating the murder of the previous 007, who is unnamed.

 

did a little research and thinking. There were two 002's in the films. One killed in TMWTGG , the other in The Living Daylights.

 

The Rule of the 002?

 

For goodness sake. In OHMSS, Tracy didn't become Mrs. Codename. The clergyman said, "Mr. and Mrs. Bond."

 

As long there isn't a female Indiana Jones, otherwise we riot!

Did you stay for the post credit scene? Her tombstone says, "Here lies Mrs. Codename."

 

This is an interesting development and makes perfect sense. 007 is a title and Craig's Bond will retire in this one for sure. But if they reintroduce Bond, the GOAT Idris Elba needs to be James Bond after Craig. While the possibility of the Bond character being female is a bit blind siding but still can work, the next Bond should certainly not be another white male imo. Especially now that Lashana Lynch is 007.

 

In two instances, I believe. The gravestones being the most obvious, but there's Kincade. If Kincade knew him as a boy, long before his involvement with MI-6, wouldn't Kincade know his childhood name? Of course, he does. SPECTRE just beats a dead horse. Who was Franz Oberhauser's childhood rival? Not an international super-spy, alias James Bond.

 

Could the "black female 007" backlash be even more asinine than the "BondNotBlonde" nonsense fifteen years ago?

It's probably this simple: Bond left the service at the end of Spectre; MI6 replaced him with a younger agent with XX chromosomes. Apart from Bond's out-of-nowhere departure (Spectre sucks), there's nothing at all offensive with this conceit.

 

Absolutely. In the context of the universe, 007 can be given to other people. We witnessed the beginning of Bond's career in Casino Royale, so complaining about someone else taking the code, who happens to be black and a woman, is dumb as ****.

 

Logistically speaking, it goes without saying that it's not a codename.

Unless you believe that each version of James Bond each been brainwashed and programmed to enjoy vodka martinis, be straight, use precisely the same punchlines in a given situation, announce his name in precisely the same fashion, develop a sexual chemistry with Moneypenny....nah. It doesn't work.

But could De Silva have been a 007 before James? Maybe...

 

Don't go diving too deep into continuity here folks, that's how you get a Spectre!

But yah it seems to me really likely Bond retried and they used his codenumber again. not sure if number swapping has been confirmed in the films but we straight up saw the codename M go from one person to another in Skyfall.

 

Yeah, I like that idea. The trouble is, I feel that by having Bond (the relic as both yourself and the film refers to him as) try too hard to adopt a mindset that is cognisant with 21st century social/political sensibilities, at what point does that particular take of the character no longer resemble Fleming's vision?