When it was announced that Amazon/MGM had bought the creative rights to the James Bond franchise “RIP James Bond” started trending on Twitter. After being shepherd by the Broccoli family, first by Albert and then his daughter Barbara, the megacorporation has finally taken over and can do with the character whatever it wants. Why would Barbara, now 64, sell the family trust that she’s been a part of since she was 17 years old?
To borrow from Bond spoof Austin Powers, “One billion dollars.”
At least, that’s the story. Apparently Barbara told her friends that those at Amazon were “[F-ing] idiots” for seeing the franchise as content, and when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos heard about it he said, “I don’t care what it costs, get rid of her.” One has to imagine that after a lifetime of telling stories with James Bond she had something of a personal relationship with the character, and was offended by the idea of making him more grist for the entertainment mill.
A fate worse than being cut in half by a laser.
While the Bond film franchise has endured for 62 years, the movies aren’t the big events they were. The world has changed. Maybe Barbara Broccoli is tired of fighting against an industry that doesn’t value characters and creativity. Perhaps a billion dollars was too much to refuse. But I wonder if she realizes something that many are loath to accept, though previous generations took it for granted.
Everything dies.
“I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War…” said M in 1995’s Goldeneye. That was the state of Bond then, and 30 years later it’s undeniable. The James Bond films, and before that the books, were designed to appeal to men who would never see the world (or after WWII, had seen enough), could only dream of fantastic gadgets, and didn’t want to make friends with globalists.
Admittedly, the desire to bed beautiful women will never go away.
Now the target audience can see exotic locations whenever, no Bond event film required. Fantastic gadgets are so mundane I see self-driving cars on back country roads. And most men of my generation want to play nice with everyone, globalists included. Not even James Bond can survive that, can he? Perhaps it is time to throw Bond into the recycling with other pop culture icons like The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, and Bulldog Drummond, and see what comes out.
Again, it used to be a given that some characters fade away.
I think Barbara saw the writing on the wall. Even so-called “legacy characters” will eventually fade away. What makes this so different is that in the past they were giving way to new characters. The Shadow had to make space for Batman, for example. Unfortunately, we in a cultural moment so bereft of ideas, we can’t help but notice when something that’s seemingly been around forever and we assumed would go on forever, bites the dust.
Or maybe I’m wrong.
There’s a possibility that Amazon will breathe new life into the Bond franchise. But I’m not holding my breath. I do think that something will come along that captures the imagination of today’s audience, though in all probability it will come about organically. Someone (an individual, not a megacorporation) will take the things he loves and find inspiration to make something new.
So let’s just enjoy James Bond as he was.
And not look to him to save us anymore.