It’s no secret that American film, namely Hollywood, had and continues to have a chokehold on the film industry. This gives America a sort of monopoly on film heroes. The most prominent American film hero has to be the American cowboy. The cowboy practically defines American culture, having such an integral part in its history as an agricultural society. The gritty idealization of the American cowboy has thus been engrained into American culture and therein film. It is this way that idealized cowboy values have defined a strong place in American film. Such values have been continued on in American film ever since. The effects of the American cowboy monopoly in film, in conjunction with globalization, have completely changed what is expected of a film today. If it’s not in America style, it likely won’t go international. Many film cultures have been forced to Americanize in this sense. I believe Britain’s film industry’s single major production exhibits this Americanization very well. This major production is the James Bond series. Americanization has made this series more politically correct, ending the gross misunderstandings of other cultures by the older Bond films. However, this is a change that I don’t appreciate. I do appreciate political correctness and realism, but I appreciated the interesting interpretations of other cultures in Bond flicks. Even if these interpretations are skewed, I believe we can understand this and simply enjoy them for vibrant fictional experiences.
The American cowboy made its place in film with the success of the American western film, headed by actor John Wayne. Wayne’s breakthrough role in the American western was the film Stagecoach (1939). “This revolutionary, influential film - a story of redemption - is considered a landmark quintessential film that elevated westerns from cheaply-made, low-grade, Saturday matinee "B" films to a serious adult genre” (Dirks). In other words, Stagecoach was the American western that started it all. In this film cowboy Ringo Kid escapes from prison to get revenge for being framed for his family’s murder (Dirks). Ringo personalizes justice, which contradicts social justice (in this case prison). This makes him an outlaw, but he is still considered a hero because he is only an outlaw by mistake (he was framed). Ringo is thus the more righteous one because he upholds true justice on the real criminals – those who murdered his family. The government (sheriff) is shown to be wrong and, contrary to it’s purpose of fulfilling justice, impedes justice. In this sense the film is very anarchistic – a hatred of structure and government. Further, this glorifies individual freedom and personal strength. American film has carried on these traditions ever since.
First Blood (1982), the first film of the Rambo series, has continued on the American western values even still today. In this movie Rambo, a Vietnam War veteran, has had trouble fitting back into the life of an ordinary American citizen. Tensions against Vietnam veterans caused Rambo to embrace a life as a drifter, where the movie takes place as he looks to reunite with an old war friend in a small mountain town. When Rambo enters the town, he is bullied by the local police for being a Vietnam veteran. While being bullied, Rambo has a flashback to Vietnam and retaliates against the police, sometimes with lethality (“Synopsis of First Blood”). Again we see an anti-government and pro-individual message. In this case, the government (police) is wrong for misunderstanding Vietnam veterans, and personal strength and freedom is used to overcome the government. These are the recurring values of the American western – individual justice and freedom. These values have continued to be major themes in the Rambo series to this day with the latest Rambo film, self-titled John Rambo (2008), coming out only a year ago. Rambo 5 has also been announced to be out by 2011.
Since the time of Stagecoach, American film has been growing immensely. And in the time of Rambo, Hollywood nearly had a chokehold on the film business. This chokehold is only stronger today. American films remain the major films that are distributed internationally. This is known as globalization – the process of a non-global phenomenon becoming a global one. In this case, culture is globalized. I believe this monopoly, in conjunction with globalization, has forced non-American films to cater to the American style and therein the American hero.
I believe the James Bond series, Britain’s only major film production still lasting, exhibits this globalization of the American hero well. To show this, I believe the James Bond series can be generalized into three chronological categories: realistic, idealistic, and Americanized. The realistic is found in the books; idealistic in the films; and Americanized in the later films, where James Bond is an action hero alike Ringo and Rambo.
The realistic stage (roughly 1953 to 1962) is found in the beginning of the whole series – in the books. It can be characterized as having more realistic characters and plotlines. Main protagonist James Bond, a British secret agent, is multi-dimensional. He offers perspectives on his job. At one point he even considers quitting. Being that he works for the British government, this is a message about many things including militant jobs, government jobs, and the British government. Further, other characters are also realistic. The women Bond has romance with – ‘Bond girls’ – usually have some incentive to want to be with Bond other than the superficial. Bond has bandaged wounds and helped a girl through depression, all while keeping a polite and considerate attitude around the women. Characters from other cultures also bring some insights. Character Tiger Tanaka, from You Only Live Twice (1964), is Japanese, and as much as Bond challenges his culture, he challenges right back. Each side seems to have a strong case, which lends to the realism that no one culture is inherently right.
The idealistic stage (roughly 1962 to 1989) is found in the beginning of the film series. It can be characterized as having more idealistic characters and plotlines. James Bond is so idealized that he is practically invincible. In any hand and gunfight he is never harmed beyond being quickly incapacitated, contrasted to him enduring knife and other wounds in the realistic stage. However, Bond blasts and karate chops through waves of enemies. Bond could be threatened by falling into a trap, but some beautiful girl never fails to save him. Bond is so invincible that the Bond girls fall immediately for him on just the superficial. Sometimes there would be only two lines of dialogue between Bond and a Bond girl and he’d be in bed with them. Further, the villains and other cultures are extreme stereotypes. Without fail, a Bond villain has some deformity – be it physical, cultural, or personality. For instance, the leader of SPECTRE, a villainous organization, is bald and has a large scar on his face. There is also a heavy dependence on stereotypes of voodoo and tarot cards in Live and Let Die (1973) to characterize the Caribbean black person. In this film, the audience is treated to wild jungle parties involving bizarre traditions, which is supposed to represent Caribbean culture. The main villains in this film also depend on tarot cards to make their decisions. These superstitious ways are contrasted to the modern technology of James Bond, and Bond’s success shows the superstitions, and therein Caribbean culture, to be silly and useless. It seems obvious that there is a heavy reliance on stereotypes here – the black person being pictured as non-modern and superstitious.
The Americanized stage (roughly 1989 to present) begins with the actor Pierce Brosnan’s Bond films. This is when the films began to deviate more from the books, the reason being that simply they had already filmed most of the books. It can be characterized as having more American western characters, plotline, and style. James Bond himself is almost never directly related to Britain anymore, instead indirectly being related to by his clothing and personality. There remains to be some stereotyping and idealizations of villains. Xenis Onatopp, a Russian femme fatale from Goldeneye (1995), for instance, kills her enemies during foreplay with her thighs. This is a Russian stereotype to be so cold as to kill someone during sex, or even equate killing and sex. However, some characters do capture some realism. 006, James Bond’s partner in Goldeneye, backstabs Bond to get revenge on the British government for his parents’ deaths (“Goldeneye”). 006 was not only a partner, but a friend to Bond. 006 is like Bond in many ways – handsome, physically fit, and with a like personality. Here we have a villain that is not a stereotype. Rather, he is picturesque of an American cowboy – a rebel against government. Well, Bond may kill the American cowboy in this film, but he feels the most for 006. In the end, Bond almost can’t kill 006 because of this. This shows some preference for the American cowboy. But Bond does end up killing 006, preferring government justice to the personal justice of the American cowboy. The situation is complicated, but I’m only speaking of the overt message here.
This preference for government justice has always been a theme in Bond, but we’re beginning to see Bond experimenting with personal justice more and more. In the idealistic stage Bond does everything for the mission, and never questions that mission or the government issuing it. However, in the Americanized stage we have 006 in Goldeneye challenging Bond’s government justice. This challenge is strongest in the latest Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008). In this film, Bond’s mission is to capture a man who indirectly caused the death of his lover, Vesper. Here we see a conflict between the mission and Bond’s revenge. This is seen throughout the movie and amplified by the Bond girl who joins Bond in seeking her own revenge for a separate incident. Ultimately in the end Bond overcomes his urge to enact revenge and kill the man, leaving him for interrogation (“Quantum Synopsis”). But, there is obvious tension for Bond in that decision; he truly wants to kill the man and fulfill his vengeance. This, I believe, is the influence of the American western. It is common for the American cowboy’s personal justice to be based on revenge, revenge that defies the government’s justice (the mission). And Bond considers this – justice based on revenge and defying government.
Now we can see a strong progression of American western influence in Bond films. First, in the Brosnan series Bond is torn between government justice (the mission) and personal justice in understanding 006’s pain. And second, in Quantum of Solace Bond actually considers personal justice over government justice. Further, even superficially, Rambo is an action hero and Bond is changed from a secret agent to an action hero beginning in the Brosnan series. That the American action Rambo series came out and grew before the Brosnan series of Bond began I think is no coincidence. I think there is apparent influence of Rambo and popular Rambo-like American films of the same time in the Bond series marked by the change in the Brosnan series.
This influence of the American western and globalization have had effects on the Bond series that aren’t even cultural, but rather political. The globalization of the American film hero would’ve caused conflict for Britain’s Bond series because it creates another standard of competition – global appeal. One major part of this global appeal is the fact that a movie has to appeal across vast cultures and ages to be globalized. Now, Bond has always had a great appeal because of the idealization of his militant job. This idealization allowed him to karate chop an enemy and incapacitate him without any of the dirty work. This gives the old Bond films an edge for appeal across ages, but it was still lacking an appeal across cultures. Cultures, as discussed in the idealized stage, were depicted in Bond films as extreme stereotypes. There is no doubt that there stereotypes would be upsetting to other cultures and hamper the series’ global appeal. So, beginning in the Brosnan series I have noted that already more characters, notably the villains, are more realistic. The same global appeal tactics were continued on since then. There is nothing seriously deformed about the villains’ appearance or culture in Quantum of Solace, only that he is just plain evil. So, the American standard of political correctness for global appeal is seen here to have influenced the Bond series. Not only is it an influence, but it is almost forced upon the Bond series in order to compete with the thriving American film industry. Bond would have to adapt to global appeal to stand a chance to the money earning that America’s international film does. This way, Britain can also get in on the international film industry. But the point here is that Bond cannot remain idealized and still be a success.
My personal opinions about this however is that I kind of appreciated the idealized Bond more than this global Bond. I fell in love with Bond because of the interesting interpretations, relations, and contrasts of other cultures, even if they are very skewed. The bizarre characters and locales in Bond films always created a vibrant, interesting fictional experience for me. The global Bond has been, like unrealistic depictions, similarly skewed by globalization. Bond is no longer a historic figure, capturing a time and place. Bond is Rambo with some new mission. To me, this makes Bond more of a clone or copy rather than a unique independent hero, which loses some of his original appeal.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for equality and realism and the acceptance of all people. Surely the idealized Bond that I loved is not acceptable with the standards today, right? Yes, but I believe humans are more capable than such a paternal thought makes them out to be, and do not need to be told that stereotyping is unrealistic and wrong. Most people I think would agree that the depictions of culture in older Bond films are very unrealistic, and yet the success of the Bond series tells me that these people still enjoyed the films. After all, we don’t see many people, if any, committing any racist acts because of unrealistic racial depictions in Bond films. It seems apparent then that your average person is understanding enough to not take Bond seriously.
Am I too idealistic to expect this? Perhaps the stereotypes in Bond films affect culture in a more subtle way than I perceive here. I will not deny the possibility of this.
Regardless of the affection I show for the older Bond films, the new Bond films are not something I hate. I really enjoyed Rambo, and so do I enjoy the new Bond-Rambo. These American western influenced films can still be interesting, unique, and creative. I will continue to watch future Bond films. All I am saying here is that the older Bond films have an appeal that is not so offensive, and may be enjoyed for their own unique fictional experiences.
Concluding, the globalization of the American film hero has come a long way. Because of Stagecoach, the American western has thrived. And because of the Rambo series, American western themes are still carried on today. When globalization came into play, creating a global film industry, America’s stranglehold on international film influenced other cultures film industries. The Bond series is one excellent example of this. I broke down this series into three chronological categories: realistic, idealistic, and Americanized. The realistic is found in the books; idealistic in the films; and Americanized in the later films, where James Bond is an action hero alike Ringo and Rambo. American western values can be seen to have a slow but lasting impact on the Bond films noticeably starting with the Brosnan series, when America’s monopoly on the film industry was set in stone. This marked cultural changes in the Bond films, notably the understanding of justice. American western justice (personal justice) contrasts and threatens British governmental justice (the mission), as seen in Bond films today. While I do reminisce about how I enjoyed the older Bond films, I have nothing against the new Bond films. In fact, I enjoy them a lot. My only point being that older Bond films are not so offensive, and could be enjoyed for their own unique fictional experiences.
Works Cited
Dirks, Tim. Stagecoach 1939. Filmsite. URL = [http://www.filmsite.org/stagec.html]. Accessed May 12, 2009.
Synopsis for First Blood. The Internet Movie Database. No author, only “contributors”: Top contributors listed screen names: stp43 and cemetery_gates. URL = [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083944/synopsis]. Accessed May 12, 2009.
Goldeneye. Wikipedia. No author. URL = [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldeneye]. Accessed May 12, 2009.
Release dates for films double-checked using: The Internet Movie Database. URL = [http://www.imdb.com/]. Accessed May 12, 2009.
