Shaken Not Stirred: the Cold War Politics of James Bond, from Novel to Film Noah Jacoby Lewis Western University

Liberated Arts: A Journal for Undergraduate Research Volume 4, Issue 1 Article 3 2018 Shaken Not Stirred: The Cold War Politics of James Bond, From Novel to Film Noah Jacoby Lewis Western University Follow this and additional works at: https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/lajur Recommended Citation Lewis, Noah Jacoby (2018) "Shaken Not Stirred: The Cold War Politics of James Bond, From Novel to Film," Liberated Arts: a journal for undergraduate research: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 3. Liberated Arts is an open access journal, which means that its content is freely available without charge to readers and their institutions. All content published by Liberated Arts is licensed under the Creative Commons License, Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Readers are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without seeking prior permission from Liberated Arts or the authors. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Cold War Politics of James Bond, From Novel to Film Shaken Not Stirred: The Cold War Politics of James Bond, From Novel to Film1 Noah Jacoby Lewis – University of Western Ontario Abstract Ian Fleming presented a unique view of post-war British societal realities and Cold War politics in his James Bond novels. A comparison of the Bond works Casino Royale (1953), Dr. No (1958) and Goldfinger (1959) with their official Eon Productions film adaptations released in 2006, 1962 and 1964 respectively, shows how the original plots have been successfully adapted in order to evolve with changes to the social, cultural and political backdrop and to remain relevant and popular long after the end of the Cold War. Keywords James Bond; 007; Cold War; Politics; Consumerism. Although fictional, the name “Bond – James Bond”2 and his code name “007” have become synonymous with spies and espionage. Since the creation of the James Bond series over six decades ago, it has significantly evolved from the Bond adventures depicted by Ian Fleming in his novels to the theatrical Hollywood portrayals. Ian Fleming’s original creation and depiction of James Bond in the novels Casino Royale (1953), Dr. No (1958) and Goldfinger (1959) set and shaped the novels’ plots around British post-war culture and the political realities of the Cold War at the time they were written and published. Fleming intended to portray James Bond as a patriotic British spy and the villains as part of a Soviet Communist conspiracy. However, for the post-Fleming film adaptations by Eon Productions, the film plots evolved and were adapted to appeal and relate more to American audiences, and, significantly, to keep up with changes in the political climate and perceptions of threats to national security. This has resulted in James Bond’s continued popularity today and has contributed to his characters becoming a modern cultural icons. While the Bond novels were grounded in post-war nostalgia for a world-leading Britain and the fears attending the Cold War, the movie incarnations have updated both the hero and the threat. As a comparison of the 1 This author would like to thank Dr. Amy Bell and Dr. Nicholas Van Allen for their valuable feedback and support in the research, writing, and editing stages of this article. 2 I. Fleming, “Rouge Et Noir” in Casino Royale (New York: GoodBook Classics, 2015), Location 624, normal font size. 1 The Cold War Politics of James Bond, From Novel to Film books Dr. No (1958), Goldfinger (1959) and Casino Royale (1953) with their movie adaptations in 1962, 1964, and 2006 respectively will show, the films have addressed specific and shifting anxieties in Western society, enabling them to remain relevant long after the end of the Cold War. Background – British post-war culture and politics Although victorious, Britain came out of World War Two in a state of austerity, essentially bankrupt and largely in ruins, recovering from the heavy damage caused during the Blitz. Having entered World War Two as a world power in 1939, Britain would emerge from the war six years later to almost immediately confront the dissolution of the British Empire, triggering the country’s rapid decline from the centre of the world stage. By the beginning of the 1950s, the Soviets had consolidated their control of the Eastern Bloc, the second Red Scare gained momentum, and the very public accusations of the McCarthy era were in full force. The nuclear espionage trials of atomic spies Klaus Fuchs and the Rosenbergs, occurring in Britain and the United States, respectively, “gnawed at the sense of security the victors of World War [Two] should have felt…[warning] that communism was a world-wide threat.”3 Additionally, the defections of the Cambridge Spy Ring members Guy Burges and Donald Maclean evoked anxiety and a lack of confidence in British intelligence services: “Their betrayal and defection showed the underlying problems of the post-war British society that still trusted too much and unquestioningly in the old boys’ network.”4 The biggest blow to British power came in 1956 with the Suez Crisis, which had a serious political impact on British politics and ultimately marked an end to much of Britain’s international influence. From that point forward, Britain would take a secondary position to the proceeding Cold War showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union.5 3 T. J. Price, “The Changing Image of the Soviets in the Bond Saga: From Bond‐Villains to ‘Acceptable Role Partners.’” The Journal of Popular Culture, 26, 1, (1992), 17-38, 26. 4 C. Berberich, “Putting England Back on Top? Ian Fleming, James Bond, and the Question of England.” The Yearbook of English Studies, 42, (2012), 13-29, 23. 5 T. Judt, “Lost Illusions” in Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, (New York: The Penguin Press, 2005), 278-323. 2 The Cold War Politics of James Bond, From Novel to Film Ian Fleming’s Bond novels This backdrop of British austerity and decline in power set the cultural and political landscape for Ian Fleming’s highly regarded superspy, James Bond. In his book on the cultural history of James Bond, British media historian James Chapman sums up Bond’s political origins and significance: Bond was a product of the historical and ideological conditions of the Cold War…in which the enemy was the Soviet-dominated Eastern bloc, an enemy which was no longer just a country (Russia) but an ideology (Communism) which presented a very real threat to the ‘free’ West.6 Using the plots in the Bond novels to portray the underlying East-West tensions that were occurring on the world stage at the time, Fleming fashioned the James Bond character to be the quintessential patriotic and ideological British hero the country needed. In his loose representation of the Cold War political setting, Fleming chose to ignore most of the political realities surrounding Britain’s decline, and instead continue to depict the country as the superpower it once was, fictionally placing it at the centre of the world stage where it could be the target of criminal conspiracies. Authors Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott in their book, Bond and Beyond: The Political Career of a Popular Hero, recognize this nostalgic function of the Bond stories: Imaginarily, the real trials and vicissitudes of history could be halted and put into reverse…[embodying] the imaginary possibility that England might once again be placed at the centre of world affairs.7 A product of the Cold War, James Bond, also known simply by his agent number “007,” gained initial recognition for his representation of the lone British hero, who served at Her Majesty’s pleasure in defending the West from the looming communist threat, upholding those values the West held in such high regard.8 According to Bennett and Woollacott, since his inception in the early 1950s, Bond has come to symbolize not only a universal Western hero, but specifically a hero 6 J. Chapman, “Bond and Beyond: the James Bond Films and Genre,” in Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films, ed. Jeffrey Richards (London: I.B. Tauris, 1999), 19-64, 30. 7 T. Bennett, and Janet Woollacott, “The Moments of Bond,” in Bond and Beyond: The Political Career of a Popular Hero, ed. Stuart Hall (London: Macmillan, 1987), 22-43, 28. 8 G. F. Burnett, “Nobody Does It Better: Ian Fleming’s James Bond Turns Sixty,” Society, 51, 2, (2014), 175- 179, 175. 3 The Cold War Politics of James Bond, From Novel to Film of the British middle class, whose expressions of individuality and British patriotism contributed to a national sense of pride and joy at a time when Britain did not have much to rejoice in as a nation.9 At the same time, Dr. Christine Berberich asserts that Bond’s fixation with indulging in only the finest brand-name goods and his use of the foremost electronic gadgets of his day in completing his missions are representative of the prospering consumer age that began to emerge following the coronation of the new Queen, Elizabeth II, in 1953.10 In Casino Royale, Bond smokes a premium “Balkan and Turkish mixture [cigarette] made for him by Morlands of Grosvenor Street.”11 This new societal era of indulgence and consumerism that Fleming sets Bond in is consistently depicted through the namedropping and product placement of the most illustrious British brands at that time. Consumerism is also evident in the state-of-the-art gadgetry and technology used by both Bond and his enemies, which have become one of the foremost staples in the James Bond series.

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