Fan Phenomena: James Bond
The mere hint recently that British actor Idris Elba might take up the mantle of James Bond in future installments of the film franchise was a major international news story—a testament to the enduring interest and appeal of Bond, a figure who has become a true global icon.

Fan Phenomena: James Bond explores the devoted fanbase that has helped make Bond what he is, offering a serious but wholly accessible take on the many different ways that fans have approached, appreciated, and appropriated Bond over the sixty years of his existence from the pages of Ian Fleming’s novels to the screen. Including analyses of Bond as a lifestyle icon, the Bond brand, Bond-inspired fan works, and the many versions of 007, the book reveals a fan culture that is vibrant, powerfully engaged, and richly aware of the history and complexity of the character of Bond and what he represents.

Whether your favorite Bond is Daniel Craig or Sean Connery (or even George Lazenby!), Fan Phenomena: James Bond is sure to go down as smooth as a shaken—not stirred—martini.
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Fan Phenomena: James Bond
The mere hint recently that British actor Idris Elba might take up the mantle of James Bond in future installments of the film franchise was a major international news story—a testament to the enduring interest and appeal of Bond, a figure who has become a true global icon.

Fan Phenomena: James Bond explores the devoted fanbase that has helped make Bond what he is, offering a serious but wholly accessible take on the many different ways that fans have approached, appreciated, and appropriated Bond over the sixty years of his existence from the pages of Ian Fleming’s novels to the screen. Including analyses of Bond as a lifestyle icon, the Bond brand, Bond-inspired fan works, and the many versions of 007, the book reveals a fan culture that is vibrant, powerfully engaged, and richly aware of the history and complexity of the character of Bond and what he represents.

Whether your favorite Bond is Daniel Craig or Sean Connery (or even George Lazenby!), Fan Phenomena: James Bond is sure to go down as smooth as a shaken—not stirred—martini.
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Fan Phenomena: James Bond

Fan Phenomena: James Bond

Fan Phenomena: James Bond

Fan Phenomena: James Bond

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Overview

The mere hint recently that British actor Idris Elba might take up the mantle of James Bond in future installments of the film franchise was a major international news story—a testament to the enduring interest and appeal of Bond, a figure who has become a true global icon.

Fan Phenomena: James Bond explores the devoted fanbase that has helped make Bond what he is, offering a serious but wholly accessible take on the many different ways that fans have approached, appreciated, and appropriated Bond over the sixty years of his existence from the pages of Ian Fleming’s novels to the screen. Including analyses of Bond as a lifestyle icon, the Bond brand, Bond-inspired fan works, and the many versions of 007, the book reveals a fan culture that is vibrant, powerfully engaged, and richly aware of the history and complexity of the character of Bond and what he represents.

Whether your favorite Bond is Daniel Craig or Sean Connery (or even George Lazenby!), Fan Phenomena: James Bond is sure to go down as smooth as a shaken—not stirred—martini.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781783205172
Publisher: Intellect, Limited
Publication date: 12/15/2015
Series: Fan Phenomena
Pages: 150
Product dimensions: 6.60(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Claire Hines is a senior lecturer in film and television at Southampton Solent University in Southampton.

Read an Excerpt

James Bond


By Claire Hines

Intellect Ltd

Copyright © 2015 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-78320-517-2



CHAPTER 1

The Many Lives of 007: Negotiating Continuity in the Official James Bond Film Series

William Proctor

Will the real 007 please stand up?

We all know his name. But just how many James Bonds are there? Given that the character combats not only Cold War and post-9/11 saboteurs, terrorists and assassins, but, also, periodically regenerates to stave off the ravages of old age, is 007 simply a codename bestowed upon successive secret agents rather than the identity of a single man? In short, is there any such individual as the character we know as 'Bond. James Bond'?


For some, continuity between the various iterations of Bond is tenuous. But what I want to do in this chapter is explore how some fans provide textual evidence to support the notion that 007 is, indeed, one man with a cohesive biography. Like other long-running character-brands, such as Batman, Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes, Bond is a mutable and elastic figure capable of being activated in multiple ways to take account of shifts in the sociopolitical and cultural landscape, as argued by Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott in their seminal study, Bond and Beyond (1987).

Despite this multiplicity, however, what I find fascinating is the way in which some fans navigate and negotiate the official film canon – the series produced by Eon Productions beginning with Dr No (Terence Young, 1962) through to Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012) 50 years later – to repudiate the 'codename theory' and rationalize the incredible life of 'Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' as one bound to the principle of continuity. In so doing, these fans act as what Matt Hills describes as 'textual conservationists' who work to preserve a rationale that follows serial principles of cause and effect thus constructing a constant narrative history even if the text resists taxonomies of durability and permanence.


Continuity, canon and hyperdiegesis

Continuity and canon are interrelated textual phenomena that govern the authenticity of what is 'real' or 'official' within a particular story-system, a system bound by spatiotemporal rules and an obeisance to principles of story logic. As Richard Reynolds puts it, the principle of continuity 'is a familiar idea for all followers of soap opera' where the backstory 'comprising all the episodes previously screened [...] needs to remain consistent with the current storyline as it develops'.

Tying in with continuity is the concept of canon, which Will Brooker describes as 'the strict sense of what counts and what happened, what is true and what isn't'. To further complicate matters, it is possible to have multiple story-systems – and thus multiple continuities and parallel canons – populated by the same dramatis personae. Eon Productions's Bond film series does not include the Ian Fleming novels as part of the continuity regardless of those books which have been adapted. In other words, Fleming's 007 oeuvre is a separate story-system to that of the film series and has a different canon and continuity. Further, Never Say Never Again (Irvin Kershner, 1983) is not a part of Eon continuity, despite the fact that Sean Connery returned to play Bond. The same goes for the US TV version of Casino Royale (CBS, 1954), the first audio-visual adaptation of a Fleming novel, and the 1967 spoof film of the same name, directed by John Huston and others. Thus, the Bond storyworld is comprised of multiple narrative co-systems that all connect dialogically, but remain separate entities at the level of story.

Of course, we understand that fictional texts are not 'real' at all, but for fans of this-or-that serial narrative, the veracity of continuity is a cornerstone of imaginary worlds. In this way, continuity is the bedrock, the foundation whereby individual chapters are welded to an overarching narrative architecture. By recognizing the importance of continuity in serial fiction, whether in TV, film or comics, or other narrative mediums, Matt Hills coined the term 'hyperdiegesis', which can be defined as 'the creation of a vast and detailed space [...] which [...] appears to operate according to principles of internal logic and extension'. This is not to imply that hyperdiegeses are strictly linear by design; indeed, many hyperdiegeses are created from an assemblage of temporal slices that may be produced 'out-of-sync' but combine and coalesce into a logical narrative sequence when cognitively rearranged by the reader.

This principle of seriality – or, more pointedly, sequentiality – is the sine qua non of continuity: from the soap opera through the vast world-building continuities of DC and Marvel Comics to film franchises and television series/serials, the concept of sequence or, following Roger Hagedorn, 'episodicity', is 'the crucial trait which differentiates series and serials from the "classic" single-unit narrative text'.

But what about James Bond? Can the Eon canon form an overarching 007 hyperdiegesis? Do the 23 official Bond films to date cultivate a 'serial effect', rather than a series of self-contained texts? Simply put, is there any such thing as a Bond storyworld?

It is certainly true that one can watch an individual Bond film without being concerned about continuity and sequence; but many fans turn to web 2.0 to marshal evidence to challenge the 'codename theory' and argue that 007 is one man, one secret agent with a licence to kill.


'Connect the Bonds'

In Time on TV: Temporal Displacement and Mashup Television (2012), Paul Booth argues that certain online platforms, such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, wikis and Internet forums, are examples of what he terms 'transgenic media', which 'refers to the specific type of online/digital/social/new media that has become influential in the past ten years of our culture'. For Booth, transgenic media can be differentiated from all web content, and is 'specifically related to online media that invites user participation'. YouTube, for example, allows users to become producers through the creation of older media – I am thinking specifically of video here – which can then be uploaded to the platform and spread globally via Internet connectivity.

One such example of transgenic production is Bond fan Calvin Dyson's YouTube video 'James Bond Codename Theory Debunked', which was uploaded to the platform on 9 September 2012. In this short video, Dyson sets out to challenge the codename theory by providing evidence from the film series to support the contention that Bond is, indeed, a singular identity shared by actors Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan (I shall return to the latest (re)incarnation played by Daniel Craig below). Produced by Dyson to review Casino Royale (Martin Campbell, 2006), he begins the video by stating that

there is a little matter that I want to discuss [...] a little matter that has been causing me some grief recently, and that little matter is the James Bond codename theory [which is] a theory used by 'casual' Bond fans to explain why Bond has remained at relatively the same age for the past fifty years and why his personality has changed from incarnation to incarnation. It proposes that James Bond is not actually a person but a codename that MI6 uses and shifts around from agent to agent [...] it annoys me so freaking much when people call this a 'fan' theory 'cause it's not. 'Casual' fan, maybe, but 'actual' fan? No. Why? Well because an actual fan would know that codename theory does not hold up at all when it comes under scrutiny. So, with that in mind let's play a little game called 'connect the Bonds'.

Evidently, the notion that James Bond could be a codename irks Dyson, and he sets out to deconstruct 'that pesky theory' through textual scrutiny. What is also interesting is how Dyson constructs a cultural value system between so-called 'casual fans' which, from his perspective, can be read as an affront, even insult, to 'actual' fans (the adjective 'actual' constructing a binary between 'real' and 'casual', therefore 'not true' fans). The message is clear: 'actual' Bond fans would have no truck with this theoretical calamity.

Dyson then goes on to select snippets from the film series and seeks to dismantle 'that pesky theory' through textual exegesis. Firstly, he looks at the transition from Connery to the second Bond in the official series, Lazenby, and he rather contradictorily suggests that 'there is evidence for both sides of the codename theory presented in On Her Majesty's Secret Service [Peter Hunt, 1969 – OHMSS]', most notably when Lazenby says to camera and audience: 'This never happened to the other fella.' For Dyson, this episode 'really pisses me off' as it implies that

this never happened to the guy who had the job before me [Connery]. It was always intended as a fourth-wall-breaking joke [...] it's stupid, but it doesn't prove that this Bond is a different character to Connery's Bond.


Secondly, Dyson begins collating evidence from OHMSS to illustrate continuity. In the scene where Lazenby's Bond clears out his desk, we see artefacts from previous films such as Honey Ryder's knife from Dr No, Red Grant's garrotte watch used inFrom Russia with Love (Terence Young, 1963), and the breathing device from Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965) which, Dyson points out, are 'all objects that Connery's Bond obtained in his travels and as such we can deduce that Connery's Bond and Lazenby's Bond are the same character [...] existing in the same universe'.

Dyson recognizes another paradox at play, that being the fact that Bond had previously met up with the villain, Blofeld, in You Only Live Twice (Lewis Gilbert, 1967), yet the plot of OHMSS depends upon the two characters having never met. Dyson brushes this aside stating that this is 'an error and it must be treated as that [...] an error on the part of the filmmakers [...] does this mean that Blofeld is also a codename?'

Arguably, Dyson is flouting the rules of continuity here to ensure that a stable Bond identity is promoted and cultivated despite numerous ruptures and puncture points in the timeline, if such a temporal trajectory can be said to exist at all. Regardless of Dyson's contention that these anachronisms are simply erroneous oversights on the behalf of Eon Productions, or 'stupid' intertextual jocularities, what becomes explicit is that it is incredibly important that continuity is somehow rectified and repaired at the point of interpretation. Through transgenic media use, Dyson is performing a kind of textual surgery to stitch together what may be disparate episodes that play with intertextuality and self-reflexivity rather than a cohesive causality.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence that disputes the codename theory is in relation to the death of Bond's wife, Tracy di Vincenzo, at the denouement of OHMSS and the appearance of Moore at her graveside in For Your Eyes Only (John Glen, 1981). As 007 approaches, flowers in hand, we clearly see the markings on the gravestone which state: 'TERESA BOND. 1943–1969. Beloved Wife of JAMES BOND', along with the inscription, 'We have all the time in the world', a phrase from OHMSS and the title of Louis Armstrong's theme song. For Dyson, 'this proves that all three actors portray the same man'. Even Eon Executive Producer, Michael Wilson, claims that director, John Glen, 'came up with the idea of going to Tracy's grave [as he] wanted to show that he's still the same character [and that] he has a history'. Hence, the notion that James Bond is the same character from Connery to Brosnan is reified by the producers as well as fans of the franchise.

The recasting of Bond with Dalton in The Living Daylights (John Glen, 1987) 'is where [...] people really get their knickers in a twist. On a chronological timeline, it doesn't make any sense: you can't go from being 50-odd years old to 30-odd years old'. Once again, Dyson negotiates and navigates this conundrum by arguing that Bond retains his name even when he resigns from MI6 in Licence to Kill (John Glen, 1989).

Dyson further proposes that an early scene in Licence to Kill makes the continuity explicit by symptomatically referring back to Bond's wife, thereby linking Moore with Lazenby and, by extension, Connery. 'There's also a reference to a "dead wife" in Licence to Kill,' argues Dyson: 'Tracy isn't mentioned by name, but, still, it's obviously intended to be her.' His insistence that the exclusion of Tracy's name does not warrant further consideration is another weak point of Dyson's argument, which I am not out to dismantle, but to use as evidence that a lack of continuity can be spun as a rhetorical device to persuade and lead us away from the codename theory. Where Dyson's interpretation fails to convince is if one looks at the scene in question itself: there is no mention at all of a 'dead wife', which Dyson relies upon to state his case, but, instead, an affective pause which may be interpreted as being filled by the spectre of Tracy Bond. In the scene, Della, Felix Leiter's spouse, newly married, throws her garter in the air and says: 'the one who catches this is the next one to ...' Bond is shown vulnerable and hurt. Leiter explains to Della that 'he was married once, but that was a long time ago'. To be sure, this can be read as a reference to Tracy, but it is hardly concrete proof of the continuity theory; it is an interpretative position that Dyson selects, filters and rearranges as intractable, even going so far as to invent the mention of a 'dead wife', which is not the case. Dyson insists 'that Dalton's Bond, Moore's Bond, Lazenby's Bond and Connery's Bond are all intended as the same man'.

According to Dyson, Brosnan, too, who was the final Bond prior to the Casino Royale reboot, demonstrates this lineage, most notably in Die Another Day (Lee Tamahori, 2002) wherein 'there's like a million gadgets from the previous films and Brosnan's Bond is clearly familiar with them'. This 'gadget scene', which takes place in Q's workshop, functions like its counterpart in OHMSS where Lazenby clears his desk of Connery's paraphernalia. Q's workshop is, indeed, replete with Bond 'moments' from previous films, including the jetpack from Thunderball (Connery), the cello from The Living Daylights (Dalton), Octopussy's (John Glen, 1983) crocodile submarine (Moore), and Rosa Klebb's weaponized footwear in From Russia with Love (Connery again). From Dyson's perspective, then, 'the events that happened to Connery's Bond in Dr No are the memories of Brosnan's Bond in Die Another Day' and all in between.

What is important about Dyson's account is not whether or not he can be proved wrong. Clearly, there is evidence to support either argument given the multiple anachronisms that could be seen as counterpoint to the continuity theory. And while I lay no claim to Dyson as representative of the fan culture entire, what we can extrapolate is that continuity is at the very least a crucial characteristic of this fan's enjoyment, who has shot a video to be disseminated via transgenic media to deal with ontological insecurities about the object of fandom as well as promoting a brand of subcultural capital (knowledge) about the Bond franchise. The codename/continuity debate is one which Bond fans regularly engage with and a discussion with which each individual's knowledge and expertise of the series, and other texts of Bond, can be brought out to stretch, mould and play with the narrative. In so doing, fans of Bond construct their own pathway through the 007 matrix. As Joyce Goggin and René Glas explain, the Bond series entices viewers 'to play a hermeneutic cat-and-mouse game with the text, so that the text itself is a kind of game' [emphasis in original].


(Continues...)

Excerpted from James Bond by Claire Hines. Copyright © 2015 Intellect Ltd. Excerpted by permission of Intellect Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Claire Hines

The Many Lives of 007: Negotiating Continuity in the Official James Bond Film Series
William Proctor

Fan Appreciation no. 1
Raymond Benson
Fourth official Bond author


James Bond as Transmedia Fan Anomaly
Matthew Freeman

The Ideology of "Ladykiller Jimmy": 007 in Alan Moore's Comics
Jesús Jiménez-Varea and Antonio Pineda

James Bond Fan Edits and the Licence to Cut
Joshua Wille

Fan Appreciation no. 2
Peter Lorenz
Bond collector and artwork creator


The Phenomenology of James Bond
Lucy Bolton

Nobody Does It Better: The Cults of Bond
Claire Hines

For His Eyes Only? Thoughts on Female Scholarship and Fandom of the Bond Franchise
Lisa Funnel

Fan Appreciation no. 3
James Bond
Owner of the James Bond 007 Museum in Nybro, Sweden


'How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle': Unpacking the James Bond Lifestyle Guide
Stephanie Jones

Fashioning a Bond Vivant: Dressing the Fans of James Bond
Llewella Burton

Resurrecting Bond: Daniel Craig, Masulinity, Identity and Cultural Nostalgia
Karen Brooks and Lisa Hill

Fan Appreciation no. 4
CousinCecily and Winter
Cond crossplayers


A Bloody Big Ship: Queering James Bond and the Rise of 00Q
Elizabeth J. Nielsen

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