James Bond and the End of the World
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James Bond and the End of the World ANDRÉ J. MILLARD The creation of James Bond marked a signifcant change in Ian Fleming’s view of technology. Once a technological enthusiast, a believer in the efcacy of new ideas, and a su""orter of technological change, Fleming became disillusioned with science and scientists during his intelligence work in #orld #ar II. $is fa% mous character emerged at a time of dramatic and discomforting "ost%war change in both Fleming’s "ersonal life & a marriage, a new home, a new 'ob & and in his world. As he writes in Casino Royale, )*h+istory is moving "retty ,uickly these days- ./012, /345. The dysto"ian fears grew stronger in Fleming’s fction as the 6old #ar heated u", and his o"timism for the future & as well as his health & declined. $is villains grew more ambitious, the threat of technology in the wrong hands increased e7"onentially, and the end of the world grew closer with every novel & as one of his readers told him: )*y+ou are doing your bit to make the world a beastlier "lace- .,td. in Fleming 9:/1, /9;5. As the fctionalised Bond evolved into the flmic Bond, these dystopian themes grew stronger, and the technological threat became more "otent, em% bracing terror weapons of mass destruction. Bond stood for human agency in negotiating technological change, and his inevitable triumph symbolised Flem% ing’s elief in the resilience and ingenuity of the individual. So while the charac% ter of Bond changed very little, the malicious technology he faced grew in "ace with the rapid advance of technology during the arms race that followed #orld #ar II. As a 6old #ar hero, Bond o"erated within the conte7t of mutually as% André J. Millard is /ro0essor o0 1is(or2 3( (he -ni5ersi(2 o0 Ala&3m3 3( +irming43m6 3n) (he 3u(hor o0 Equipping James Bond: Guns, Gadgets, and Technological Enthusi- asm 7201!8. Volume 4 · Issue 1 · Spring 2020 ISSN 2514-21 ! DOI# 10.24! $%bs.'5 Dis(ribu(ed under ** +, 4.0 -. sured destruction, and so "erhaps it was inevitable that the Bond canon imag% ined the end of the world. #hen a real global threat emerged in 9:9:, it was not sur"rising that some commentators inter"reted it within a Bondian framework8 6ovid%/0 was seen as something that )a Bond enemy could try to unleash on the world- .6ollins 9:9:, n.".5. Fleming and his generation of well-educated, u"wardly-mobile =nglish% men entered the frst years of the twentieth century when rapid technological change was transforming their world. This generation inherited )the absolute faith that men in the nineteenth century had in the enefcial efects of scientifc, technological and industrial "rogress-, as John Ellis "ut it ./0;3, 29%225. And this "rogress made available .to those in the know5 a wondrous stream of new ma% chines: motor cars, aeroplanes, radios, motion "icture cameras, and s"eed boats. Fleming was lucky enough to be among this afuent grou", and was able to in% dulge his "assion for s"eed and his love for all things mechanical. Although edu% cated in the classics, Fleming exhibited a "ractical, mechanical bent, and was ,uick to adopt the technology that was changing his frst "rofession as a 'ournal% ist & telephones, ty"ewriters, and cameras & as well as the steam-turbine "ow% ered shi"s, reliable touring cars, and afordable air travel that facilitated his yearnings to be a world traveller. Fleming was a technological enthusiast & one who not only marveled at the complexity and beauty of new machines, ut was also one who convinced that they had the "ower to change history. $e told his wife’s brother that he was )only interested in tomorrow- .,td. in Fleming 9:/1, @5. Auring his "re"aration to take the Foreign Service exams in the /09:s, Fleming read u" on su 'ects not normally taught at English schools: social his% tory, anthropology, and the history of science and technology. #hen he had made a little money through banking deals in the early /02:s, he enlarged his book-buying hobby into a "lan to build a library of technical and intellectual de% velo"ments since /;::8 )the milestones of human "rogress- as he "ut it .,td. in Bearson /033, @/5. $is book-buyer Bercy Cuir started with Aarwin’s The Origin of Species and Dils Bohr’s Quantum Theory, and then extended to books about motor cars, miners’ lamps, Ei""ers, and tuberculosis. Fleming "oured money into his li% brary and y /020 could claim that the )Fleming 6ollection- was )one of the foremost collections of scientifc and "olitical thought in the world- .Bearson /033, @95. 6ollecting rare books was a hobby, ut Fleming also recognised that in% formation about science was useful in the felds of fnance and 'ournalism. $e believed that technology made things hap"en, a sentiment shared y his genera% tion who saw innovation as driving force of social, economic, and "olitical change. $is friend #illiam <tephenson said that )Fleming was always fascinated 2 In(ern3(ion3l Journ3l o0 J3mes +on) Studies · Volume 4 · Issue 1 · Spring 2021 y gadgets- ./0@3, 90@5, and as a young man he was convinced of the inFuence of technology on history. Get at the same time Fleming was also a traditionalist, one whose "osition in the social hierarchy led him to "ublicly su""ort the old hierarchy and values during a time when they were coming under some stress. $e e7"lained his resig% nation from the Hoyal Cilitary 6ollege in /09@, which efectively ended his mili% tary career, thus: )I didn’t become a soldier afer "assing out from Sandhurst be% cause they suddenly decided to mechaniEe the Army and a lot of my friends and I decided that we did not want to be glorifed garage hands & no more "olo, no more "ig sticking and all that 'azE- .,td. in Jycett /001, 9;5. This was sheer bravado as Fleming was a "oor horseman, did not "lay "olo, and described his e7"erience in Sandhurst’s 6avalry School as )horri le- .i id., 9/5. In fact, Fleming and his alter ego Bond rather en'oyed hanging out in garages, efriending garage hands and valuing their technical knowledge. Fleming’s associates noted that he had a fondness for men of mechanical ability. $is friendshi" with the maverick inventor Sidney 6otton during the #ar is a case in "oint. Fleming’s biographer Andrew Jycett writes that )6otton e% came the frst in a line of "ractical inventors befriended y Ian- ./033, /:35. They met for brain-storming sessions while Fleming worked in Daval Intelligence and as 6otton e7"lained his latest gadget, Fleming would respond with )Amazing, Sidney, amazing” .i id., /:@5. Fleming had great respect for Amherst Killiers, who he described as )an engineer of the highest ,uality- .,td. in Bearson /033, 2235, the designer of the su"erchargers for Tim Birkin’s racing Bentleys in the /02:s. In Casino Royale, Bond drives a 4L litre Bentley with a Killiers su"ercharger. Fleming was born too late to see the full horrors of #orld #ar I in "erson, but old enough to ap"reciate the "rice "aid8 his father Kalentine Fleming was killed on the #estern Front in /0/@. The horrors of modern warfare "ut an end to late-nineteenth century technological optimism and "laced the "ost%war decades under the ever-darkening shadow of total war waged with strategic bombers, submarines, and "oison gas. Aespite dire "redictions for the next world war, Fleming’s enthusiasm for technology, especially fast cars and boats, was undi% minished. $e enthusiastically 'oined in the struggle against Bolshevism in the /09:s and /02:s, which represented a more immediate threat to British hege% mony than enemy airshi"s and submarines. But an aspiring writer could not ig% nore a "o"ular culture increasingly refecting anxieties of technology out of con% trol. A.J. Mill3r) · J3mes +on) 3n) (4e 9n) o0 (4e :orl) ; Aysto"ian "redictions about the end of the world "robably began with $.M. #ells and books like War of the Worlds. Meorge Orwell noticed this new trend of weapons of mass destruction in the "o"ular culture of the /09:s: )*t+he one theme that is really new is the scientifc one. Aeath rays, Cartians, invisible men, helicopters and inter"lanetary rockets- .,td. in 6arey 9::9, 9:/5. The death ray moved from fction to fact in the /09:s when several individuals claimed to have developed high-energy "article or electromagnetic beams strong enough to cause in'ury. These ,uasi-scientifc "redictions, combined with the imagination of "ul" fction and serialised flms, "roduced an alarming and ap"arently well% informed vision of the end of the world. Fleming had grown u" with literary vil% lains empowered with futuristic technology, such as Fu Manchu, FritE Lang’s Ar. Mabuse, or Flash Mordon’s Ming the Cerciless. In the serial flms of the /02:s, heroes like Buck Hogers and Flash Mordon have to contend with "oison gas and biological wea"ons in addition to Eombies and bombs. It is no coincidence that much of the usiness of villainy in these /02:s and /04:s flms was taken u" thirty years later in the Bond flms. The giant s"ider crawling over the hero, the trapdoors that drop the unsus"ecting to a spectacular death, and the deadly "oi% son-gas assassination wea"ons had all een flmed well before Bond encountered them.