Saturday, November 29, 2008

A word about my Bond experience

Recently I have been watching the old Bonds. I just watched The man with the Golden Gun. This is a historic event because it means that I have *gasp* gone from Sean Connery to Roger Moore. After I finish with the roger moore era I think I will do a compare and contrast between him and Connery. Connery still wins no doubt, but Moore was a pretty good replacement. But now a word on old films.

I think we are all sort of apologetic towards the old Bond films. Instead of willfully suspending one’s disbelief, the viewer is caught in a state of light-hearted incredulity. Mixed with the 60’s milieu and bawdy misogynism one comes out feeling refreshed. Like you just had a warm cup of hot apple cider. Old Bond films are feel good. Contemporary film has focused too much on realism. 007 used to be so suave that it was laughable. Now he really is suave. The humo(u)r is gone. It’s no longer feel good. Its feel serious, for serious. And screw that! Who can take these things seriously anyway? The classic 007 films exemplified this sillyness and for that reason they are more intelligent than the new ones.

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