Advertisement

Movies & TV News & Features

Half a century in Bondage

James Bond has been around longer than 50 years, of course. Ian Fleming first published Casino Royale in 1953, almost a decade before Sean Connery walked in front of that gunsight at the beginning of Dr. No. But the movies have given Bond a greater reach than his creator’s prose ever could it’s not an accident that the name of the exhibit at TIFF Bell Lightbox is Designing 007 rather than Writing 007.

For half a century, the Bond films have served as a form of leisure tourism, showcasing exotic locations, fine dining, great clothes, tricked-out cars, barely clothed leading ladies and, more recently, Bond himself as beefcake. Daniel Craig is the first 007 to be treated as an erotic object he’s there to be desired as much as anything else in the frame.

The franchise brought this world to British and North American audiences, filming in places like Jamaica, Egypt and Japan long before globalization made the world feel more accessible. It influenced, then reflected social mores Bond famously became a one-woman man in response to growing awareness of the AIDS epidemic in The Living Daylights, but returned to banging everyone in sight once “safe sex” became something everyone could live with.

And like anything that’s been around long enough to imprint itself upon generations, its world has begun leaking into our own. What is Frank Gehry’s AGO but a fortress after Blofeld’s own heart? (Actually, scratch that it’s more a Karl Stromberg sort of space.)

Bond movies have been getting predictable of late, the formula a bit of a straitjacket. Casino Royale shook things up by putting all the action in the first half and dispensing with the super-villains and impregnable fortresses Quantum Of Solace played like a course correction, putting everything back where it was supposed to be. The latest film, Skyfall, opening next week, charts a new path, embracing the character’s legacy without being weighed down by it.

Oh, you’ll see. And maybe afterward you’ll consider switching to French cuffs. Bond makes them look bloody appealing.

Designing 007: 50 Years Of Bond Style and the film retrospectives Shaken, Not Stirred: Bond On Film (opens Saturday, November 3) and Beyond Bond: The Other Secret Agents (opens November 9) continue at the TIFF Bell Lightbox until January 2013. Skyfall opens November 9.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted