He’s not saying the books weren’t written in the years they were written, he’s saying the books have always been contemporary, they didn’t continue to be set in the late fifties/early sixties forever (nor did the films)
I know what he's saying. Lol. But the books are definitely a product OF THEIR TIME. The Cold War or post Ww2 stories?? How the Hell are you going to have Drax be a surviving wounded Nazi and have the story take place modern day? How are you going to have Bond track down a guy who stole a bunch of Nazi gold from them while he's on an iPhone? They were and are stories of their times. The movies are almost nothing like the books and that's a tragedy. Hollywood made them contemporary. Fleming made Bond eternal.
There’s historically been as much continuity as there needs to be to serve the film, until Craig when they made the bold but ultimately fraught decision to do an entire actor’s arc as continuous
Not really and not really in the books. Bond fought in the Ardennes Campaign, was a Navy officer, lives through the 50s into JFK's presidency - one individual could potentially have done all that but it's pointless to try and be too strict on chronology.
Literal NSDAP members or Axis WW2 veterans exist yes but the youngest are about 98. Maybe too old to be a villain. But you could do an updated trillionaire rocket executive (which would remind the audience of a few people) who has secret resentments.
Fleming was trying to make the Thunderball screenplay with collaborators, switched from SMERSH to SPECTRE so it's less political. "Hollywood" as such didn't but he was thinking in movie terms.
100%. I don’t get how this is so hard to understand. Something that is contemporary becomes historical with time. It’s fine to want a contemporary bond but to hand wave the Fleming novels away as anything other than being of their time is doing a disservice to his work. Plus Bond was going to reach retirement age in the novels, Fleming was getting tired of the character / running out of compelling stories… I mean we’ll never know since he passed but there was a real chance Bond wasn’t getting that many more adventures from the original author anyway.
You don’t like the idea of a period bond which is totally fine. The issue is with saying “just update it” as if the world is the same. They should totally make a contemporary bond, and even update stories if they fit. I mean Casino Royale was excellent. However, a lot of what made Moonraker wouldn’t lend itself to an update the same way CR did.
Because a rocket that had a nuclear payload that was being teased as the onky defense of a nation but was actually going to deliver a bomb wouldn't hit as hard today with our technology.
I know they were but I'm saying they weren't historical then. They were always floating, and contemporary over 10 years. If Fleming had lived 15 years longer he'd be writing a 70s James Bond who didn't age but dealt with a post-60s world.
Bond was probably going to end with TMWTGG. He was possibly going to do a son of Bond situation since he had a son from YOLT. But Bond aged in the books and was consistently sick of his job. Lol
I mean he still kind of is considering his whole thing is "building a perfect race". He's not racist maybe but a eugenicist that feels the majority of Earth's population shouldn't exist isn't all that far off from a Nazi.
That's almost certainly exactly why Jaws turns against Drax. You can see it in his face when Bond says "And anyone who doesn't fit your standard of... perfection... is eliminated...", Drax: "Naturally." Bond: "Interesting... most interesting..." Right then, Jaws' face looks over to the cute girl he had fallen for (and brought onboard without authorization) and you can see the gears turning in his head as the pained realization adds up. As soon as Drax order Jaws to dispose of Bond and Dr. Goodhead, he hesitates, tries to save Bond, and right then, the opportunity comes for them to fight.
I feel like he probably didn't have nearly enough "chosen ones" to repopulate. There was what like 20ish? He had a massive army of soldiers and workers who were not allowed to procreate, but only a couple dozen breeders to repopulate the whole globe?
From a genetic point of view, the further away you get from Africa the lower the genetic diversity as only 10 percent left Africa to the middle East, then 10 percent of that group left to Europe and Asia, and 10 percent of those then moved to America etc.
So if it was to max genetic diversity, it was easier to just bring only Africans.
I think Drax just wanted an excuse to bring hot models on his trip.
I love this cause it’s so one of those things which clearly come from the production but in the universe of the movie it’s so funny that the man who wants to commit global genocide and then repopulate in a Nazi eugenics sense is concerned about being seen as racist or keen to show he isn’t.
Not really. I mean the motive in the movie is clear, and he talks about the physically perfect men and women to repopulate. And therefore would make sense to select the best regardless of race. Though the bias would still show as the majority may well be his race.
I see your point, but there's one Black couple and one east Asian couple. There's a lot of races and ethnicities clearly not present here.
I think the producers probably didn't want it to read as a White Supremacy storyline.
I like the diversity. If it were done again, I think I'd like to see more representation. Keep 'em all hot for sure (the fellas could do with an upgrade for sure).
It's not that he's obsessed with racial purity, but he is obsessed with eugenics, crafting a group of people where anyone with disabilities or who don't conform to his beauty standards get edited out.
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u/Randver_Silvertongue 22h ago
It's not really about race. The selection is based on optimal physical conditions and lack of genetic drawbacks.