How James Became Bond

Fantastic Birthday. Once tax was over the day was pretty much non-stop awesomeness. Everything went right. The afternoon was fantastic, the Keg was reliably great, and Casino Royale was everything I expected. Phenomenal movie, I think it will end up being my second favorite Bond movie, after GoldenEye. I have to rewatch some of the old ones before I can definitively say that though. Anyway, now that I have a few hours to chill before the T&F potluck and the joint birthday event, I can start on this post that I've been meaning to write for a while now.

The most fascinating thing about Casino Royale was understanding how someone could become James Bond. Most interesting film and literary characters are quite one-dimensional, they have a single event that defines them, makes them who they are. This is a convinient literary tool because of its simplicity, but is fairly unrealistic. There are a few characters though, who are slowly forged into their final persona, through a long series of events and choices. "It's our choices that make us who we are, far more than our abilities." These are the characters that one can learn from. Unfortunately, they are quite rare, due to the fact it usually takes many seperate incarnations of the character at different stages of his life in order to illustrate the character's progression. Off the top of my head, in addition to Bond, the characters that fall under this category include Harry Potter (but we don't know where his journey is taking him yet), Anakin Skywalker (but his transition left a little to be desired), and the Lost characters (especially Jack and Eko). It isn't a long list. It is, however, a useful list. Even though I have little in common with any of those characters, it is still an instructive exercise to look at the areas in which there are similarities, and the areas where there are opposite parallels. Additionally, there are common threads that run through all these journeys and they can be constructive to look at as well.

Examining this is one small part of me trying to figure out a coherent strategy for planning my own journey. My journey is still in the early stages, but the next couple of years are going to be critical in defining my path. In an attempt to light my way with regard to next summer and the following year, I have undertaken a number of fact-finding activities. I have gathered information, laid out my options and have tried to talk to as many people as I can about the options that are available to me. Using this information, I have begun to think about which options best reflect who I am and who I want to be. I have added to this the more minor contributing factors, like my short term goals, the effect my decisions would have on others and their consequent opinions, thought experiments like this one, and many other things. It is my hope that when all this is analysed as a whole, I will know what decision I should make.

At the start of Casino Royale, 007 isn't that unique. All the ingredients are there, but he has yet to make himself into something more. He's not any different than a Jason Bourne, a Jack Ryan, a spy that is capable but not yet distinguished. The things that make him into 007, the vodka martinis, the gadgets, the dry wit, and the persistient belief that commitment is both dangerous and painful have yet to surface. But as we see in Casino Royale, Bond is this way for a reason.

Although Bond is essentially ageless, the way I see the movies is a progression of the character. Despite the different time frames that the movies are made, I personally see a very clear evolution of James into Bond. Obviously, Casino Royale is intended to be the first Bond movie chronologically. Craig's Bond has all the technical skills needed to take on the world's best, in terms of martial skill, poker/baccarat ability and sexual prowess. However, he but is still figuring out how to define himself. (I too, am still defining myself, so I think I can learn the most from Craig's 007) By the end of Casino Royale, he is beginning to understand where his great strength lies, and is adjusting himself accordingly.

The way I see the evolution of Bond is the following. Craig's rookie Bond is cocky, and hasn't yet learned to control his ego and use it to his advantage. He understands humour, and finds pleasure in wit, but it is not the staple of his personality that it will become. He has a hard edge, the toughest incarnation of Bond, and he is more ruthless in his younger days.He has yet to develop a cynicism about the world and his job, although he understands that what he does is morally grey. Perhaps most importantly though, he is willing to love. He already has a thourough understanding of women, but he lacks the armour that characterizes most of the later Bonds. However, with Vesper's betrayal, Bond is shattered, and becomes a man bent on revenge, letting his emotions guide the use of his considerable power. Where he goes from here is not known yet, but future Craig films will undoubtedly reveal that.

Fast forward a few years and you find Bond had changed a little. The second evolution of Bond is Bond as portrayed by Timothy Dalton. Aside from a single line in Licence to Kill, which implies that it takes place after On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Dalton is the next logical portrayal of the character. He is what I imagine Bond becomeing after he has hunted down Vesper's killer and taken his revenge. He retains the hard-edge and ruthlessness of Craig, but has become more polished. He knows how to carry himself now, and after his early trials and his quest for revenge he has learned how to keep his ego in check. He is still a fighter though, perhaps the most balanced of all the incarnations of Bond, half suave secret-agent and ladykiller, and half arrogant, and sometimes cruel, assassin. With regards to women, he has learned to use his considerable charm to his advantage, but there is something inside him that isn't dead yet. You can clearly see his armour, set up to block anyone from doing to him what Vesper had done. But you can also see his pain, you can see that there is still a man beneath the armour. When another 00 agent is killed in front of him, he loses his composure for a few seconds, and all the rage and conflict within him are are clear as they are when Craig plays Bond.

After some time in that transitional stage, he reaches the a more mature stage, the stage where he becomes a legend. This is Connery's Bond, where the man inside is well hidden, where Bond has finally learned to use wit, humour and casual self-assurance to augment his emotional armour. He had softened a bit as the memory of Vesper's loss eases a little with time. He does not feel the need to inflict punishment on himself when he can accomplish his goal in another way. He has mastered the arts of wit and seduction, but seems to open up just a little as he ages. Throughout the Connery films, there exists the sense that Bond may one day find a woman he can let in. His considerable armour is there, and serves its purpose well, but there is a feeling of possibility that one of these women might win Bond's heart.

Eventually, one does. In George Lazenby's only outing as Bond, he lets a woman into his heart again. He initially agrees to marry her as a means to an end, but after spending considerable time with her his armour cracks and he lets her in. I guess by this time he is lonely enough, and far removed enough from Vesper, that he is willing to take another chance. But as Bond once said, you only live twice. Bond's arch-nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, kills Tracy shortly after they are married. Bond's armour goes back on, this time for good. There is no question in Bond's mind now, there is no room for love in his line of work.

The new Bond, the Bond that knows he will never have a happy ending, begins to look at himself in a different way. He realizes that the life he has chosen for himself involves sacrifices, and accepts that fact. Bond embraces who he is, who he has become, and what vestiges remained of James are swept away. He is 007, more a number and a legend than a man, "The ultimate gentleman spy, irresistable to women, deadly to his enemies," and nothing else. The armour will never come off again. This is Brosnan's Bond, master of the double entendre, committed to having as much fun as possible while saving the world. His ego has transformed into something extrodinary, an unshakeble self-assurance and belief that 007 is invincible and will always win. GoldenEye is the only Brosnan movie where I actually thought at anytime during the movie that 007 had met his match, and that was only because he was facing an adversary with the same 00 finesse, the same aura of invincibility.
At the same time, it is a little sad to see the human side of Bond slip away. Two scenes in GoldenEye drove this home to me, made be feel a bit sorry that saving the world has robbed Bond of his humanity. First, when Natalya asks him, "How can you be like this? How can you be so cold?" Bond looks her straight in the eye and says, "It's what keeps me alive." Later in the movie, Trevelyan tries to break through Bond's armour, take a stab at Bond's soul and remind him of Vesper and Tracy. He says "I might as well ask you if all those vodka martinis drown out the screams of the men you've killed, or if you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for the dead ones you failed to protect." Bond just gives him a raised eyebrow. Nothing more.

Bond's journey should probably end here, but it doesn't. There are several more Bond films, starring Roger Moore, that depict Bond in what I see as his elder years. Moore's Bond seems to think saving the world is a bit funny, he's done it so many times it really isn't that hard anymore. It's as if he could save the world on a whim. This deeply cynical attitude is perhaps a natural result of all Bond's previous adventures, but in a lot of ways it is a bit sad. Bond has already lost his soul, his chance at happiness, and now he isn't even as cool as Brosnan's Bond anymore. The movies are entertaining, but more entertaining in a comedic, Schwarzenegger sort of way. He's still got the skills with the ladies though. Those never go away.

So that's my analysis. What can I learn from Bond's journey? I'm not sure yet. But maybe there will be another post on that topic sometime. One thing though, is for sure. James Bond is the very definition of cool, but Daniel Craig has shown us that that cool came at a heavy price. And he showed us in a way that was both brilliant, exciting, and yes, pretty darn romantic. I didn't know Bond had that shower scene in him. Kudos to you, James.