This Spectred Isle James Bond, Alan Partridge, and Englishness
This SPECTREd Isle James Bond, Alan Partridge, and Englishness GILLIAN GROSZEWSKI Like the Aston Martin car he drives and the Savile Row tailors he frequents, James Bond is an English cultural icon. ndeed, in !"#!, $aniel %raig, as Bond, was the natural choice to &act' as the securit( escort for )er Majest(, the +ueen, as she made her wa( to the o,ening ceremon( of the -l(mpic .ames in Lon/ don, itself a celebration of all things English. Although ap,roximating the iconic, Steve %oogan2s 3ctional character, Alan 4artridge, does not ,ossess the same cul/ tural cachet as 5leming’s international man of m(ster(. A self/,rofessed Bond su,er/fan, 4artridge attempts, on a regular basis, to achieve the im,ossible: to become an icon. 7here Bond and brand become inseparable due to their so,h/ isticated interdependence, 4artridge desperatel( seeks cor,orate ,artnershi, in an attempt to increase his ,ersonal wealth and social ,ro3le. )owever, while 4artridge ma( ap,ear, at 3rst sight, a ,ale imitation of 5leming’s iconic sleuth, both characters ,ossess a similarl( acute awareness of what it means to be Eng/ lish. %hristine Berberich has written of Bond that &behind the suave secret agent lurks a character 0oth at ease and at odds with his time' 8!"#!, #9:. Looking be/ hind the ,reoccu,ation of Alan 4artridge with all things Bond highlights the changing conce,t of what it means to be English in contem,orar( Britain. Like Bond, 4artridge frequentl( 3nds himself to 0e at odds with those that surround him ; not least due to his encyclo,aedic knowledge of the Bond franchise ; but Gillian Groszewski +e12hes Englis3 1+ -higwell S2hool.
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