Fan Phenomena: James Bond

By Claire Hines

The mere hint recently that British actor Idris Elba might take up the mantle of James Bond in future instalments 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 favourite 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Intellect Books
• Release date: Apr 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781783205189

Book preview

Credits

First published in the UK in 2015 by Intellect Books, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2015 by Intellect Books, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2015 Intellect Ltd

Editor: Claire Hines

Series Editor and Design: Gabriel Solomons

Typesetting: Stephanie Sarlos

Copy Editor: Emma Rhys

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written consent.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Fan Phenomena Series

ISSN: 2051-4468

eISSN: 2051-4476

Fan Phenomena: James Bond

ISBN: 978-1-78320-517-2

eISBN: 978-1-78320-518-9

Printed and bound by

Bell & Bain Limited, Glasgow

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 FUNNELL

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, Masculinity, Identity and Cultural Nostalgia

KAREN BROOKS AND LISA HILL

Fan Appreciation no.4

CousinCecily and Winter

Bond crossplayers

A Bloody Big Ship: Queering James Bond and the Rise of 00Q

ELIZABETH J. NIELSEN

Contributor details

Image credits

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I am indebted to James Bond in all his many forms, and to Bond fans new and old alike. As a fan myself from childhood, putting together this collection was a Bond adventure I just couldn’t pass up.

On the professional front, I’d like to thank Gabriel Solomons at Intellect for his invaluable advice, assistance and enthusiasm for this project from start to finish and everything in between. I have been privileged to work with an amazing group of contributors who have made my job as editor both easy and enjoyable, and with whom I’ve relished spending the past six months talking about Bond. My deep appreciation also goes to those fans who generously agreed to be interviewed for this volume. Further thanks go to the students and my colleagues at Southampton Solent University, especially Mark Aldridge for his insight and feedback on my ideas.

On a personal level, a special note of appreciation must go to my family and friends for the love and support. In particular thanks to my family for my first encounters with Bond: to Nan and Grandad for taking me to the cinema when I was a child to see the latest Bond movies on the big screen, and to Mum and Dad for buying me some of Ian Fleming’s Bond novels as a teenager. Extra special thanks as always to Jackie Furby for her unfailing patience, wise advice and encouragement, and most importantly, for life with a Bond fan: from me with love.

Claire Hines

Introduction: Claire Hines

‘My name’s Felix Leiter,’ said the American. ‘Glad to meet you.’

‘Mine’s Bond. James Bond…’

– Casino Royale (Ian Fleming, 1953)

‘You have a nasty habit of surviving.’

– Kamal Khan to James Bond in Octopussy (John Glen, 1983)

It’s been more than sixty years since James Bond was created by Ian Fleming, first appearing in the 1953 novel Casino Royale, and I think it’s safe to say that the character of Bond has had a profound and ongoing impact on global popular culture. James Bond has an enviable habit of surviving and even thriving amid the changing trends of media and across many different textual incarnations, having escaped numerous near death experiences that include a few commercial misfires. He’s also very much alive and kicking in the contemporary contexts of convergence culture, which bring together new and old media technologies, strategies and practices, especially those associated with fans. This achievement is particularly remarkable, given the range of forms that can currently be used to experience Bond, from print to digital and social media, and emergent forms of fan engagement through various means of transformation, appreciation and investment.

Of course, James Bond has now been introducing himself and ordering his signature vodka Martinis long enough to engage and inspire generations of fans worldwide, creating a large and devoted fan base. Like Bond’s famous self-introduction, the phrase ‘shaken, not stirred’ has become truly iconic, instantly conjuring the 007 image and its associations, and beyond his drinking habits variations on the popular catchphrase seem especially fitting to describe relations in the world of Bond. For sure, some fans have been shaken, and others may well be stirred by the enduring appeal of James Bond, and the new and sometimes challenging approaches to the Bond character.

Obviously, James Bond’s tremendous popularity and reputation for survival is thanks in no small part to the success of the films made by Eon Productions, turning Bond into a long-running and highly lucrative franchise and figure capable of being reinvented. There have been 23 Bond films produced by Eon to date, starting with Dr No (Terence Young, 1962), and at the time of writing this introduction, production on the highly anticipated 24th film Spectre (Sam Mendes, 2015) is well underway. While the films and books are a core element of the franchise, the Bond character and 007 logo has also been licensed to video games and other media and tie-in products. Importantly though, James Bond has a life that extends far beyond the official films and brand partnerships and licences. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that many scholars and commentators have become interested in Bond as a popular hero, intertextual phenomenon and cultural icon, there has always been more to Bond than just these official manifestations and collaborations. In print and on-screen for example, Bond has variously been taken up and imitated, parodied and reinterpreted.

Over time, Bond has proven to be highly influential and widely appropriated. Most recently, new media technologies have enabled new forms of interaction, circulation and creative expressions and appropriation that directly impact on both Bond fan culture and aspects of the existing Bond mythos. This collection of new essays and interviews brings together a group of international scholars and Bond fans to particularly consider what exploring fan engagement, experiences and perspectives might bring to long-standing debates about James Bond’s longevity and the question of his cultural relevance. Beyond the endless (enjoyable) disputes about the best and worst Bonds, and the obvious differences between versions of the character, there is a rich and vibrant Bond fan culture to explore, and meaning is often generated and/or expressed by fans in particular and personal ways. The emphasis here is largely on fan culture in relation to the wider context of the Bond phenomenon, and this volume seeks to shed new light on the significance and appeal of James Bond for fans, and in turn the nature of Bond fandom.

Figure 1: Sean Connery’s Bond receives his iconic signature drink ‘Shaken, not stirred’ in Dr No © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. and Danjaq, LLC, 1962.

The collection begins with three contributions with the common theme of continuity. Firstly, William Proctor writes about the question of continuity in the Eon-produced Bond films, and the controversial theory around which there has been much discussion by Bond fans about whether or not 007 is a codename. His chapter, which demonstrates very well how fans actively and passionately engage with Bond, is followed by a fan appreciation interview with former Bond continuation author Raymond Benson, who shares some of his experiences and involvements in the world of Bond. Matthew Freeman offers his insights on continuity in the Bond franchise in relation to the emergence of existing transmedia practices, where storytelling crosses multiple platforms, by examining the relationships between some of the recent Bond films and video games. He argues that Bond is something of a transmedia anomaly, and further considers what this might say about Bond fans.

In addition to the films, novels and video games, James Bond has appeared in various comic book forms, including Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series (1999–), where ‘Jimmy’ is portrayed in a less than positive light. In their chapter, Jesús Jiménez-Varea and Antonio Pineda examine Moore’s version of James Bond, and what this reveals about his own oppositional response to aspects of the character. Joshua Wille also frames his examination of the practice of fan editing through reference to an ‘unofficial’ Bond, Never Say Never Again (Irvin Kershner, 1983), in order to highlight the question of who owns Bond. He finds that Bond fan edits provide highly creative reinterpretations of the Eon-produced films, in dialogue with past and present versions of the Bond character. To follow, in his fan appreciation interview, among other things, Peter Lorenz talks about what has motivated him to create his own artwork in tribute to Bond.

Figure 2: ‘Perfect’: Bond speaks a single word in approval of the making of his signature drink in Skyfall © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., Danjaq, LLC and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., 2012.

As every Bond fan knows, there is a distinct formula to Bond which can be used, developed or perhaps even tested. Through the lens of phenomenology Lucy Bolton discusses the experience of watching a Bond film, and the relationship between what is expected, and when those expectations are or aren’t met. Next up, I consider whether cult might be an appropriate word to describe Bond. These days Bond certainly has mass box office appeal, but is James Bond a cult hero? Can fan appreciation make Bond cult? Or is Bond a cult brand? I look back at the history of Bond and discover there are cases to be made on each of these grounds. In her thought-provoking chapter Lisa Funnell writes from the perspective of a feminist, female Bond scholar and fan to analyse responses to her relationship with the film series, which appears to be regarded as problematic for a number of reasons that she extends to call attention to wider issues of gender, media and culture.

The next three contributions address how aspects of James Bond and the Bond lifestyle fantasy appeals to fans. In the third fan appreciation interview, Sweden’s own James Bond reflects on his name change and connections to Bond and Bond’s creator Fleming. After that Stephanie Jones focuses her attention specifically on Paul Kyriazi’s self-help lifestyle guide, which uses Bond as a role model based on his highly personal engagement with the character. Then Llewella Burton uses the 50th anniversary of Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964) as an opportunity to research how fashion has been important to the marketing and merchandizing of Bond, and the ongoing influence of the clothing worn by Bond on generations of Bond fans.

The final two chapters and accompanying fan appreciation interview close-out the collection by bringing us up to date with the Bond franchise and fan phenomena in the era of Daniel Craig’s Bond. Karen Brooks and Lisa Hill examine the latest reinvention of Bond, in part inspired by a nostalgic approach to past and present aspects that shape the Bond character. Nan King interviews two Bond cosplayers who offer unique first-hand accounts of their experiences at fan conventions, crossplaying as James Bond and Q. Lastly, Elizabeth J. Nielsen provides a context for understanding the recent wave of fanfiction that followed the release of Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012) and the casting of Ben Whishaw in the role of Q, based on an interpretation of his relationship with Bond. Though some Bond fans might find the 00Q pairing unexpected, it’s yet another good example of how James Bond continues to inspire the imagination, giving rise to a range of new fan engagements.

All in all the contents of this volume reflect that no matter what your take on James Bond is beyond his legendary introduction and famous cocktail order, he’s a powerful cultural figure who continues to shake and stir not only the commercial entertainment industry, but also the appreciation, imagination and creativity of his many fans, from past years to the present and, no doubt, also into the future. •

‘YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE: ONCE WHEN YOU ARE BORN AND ONCE WHEN YOU LOOK DEATH IN THE FACE.’

IAN FLEMING, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1964)

Chapter

01

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