#james bond meta

[aniron48]

i just need to share this since i rewatched spectre: i don't know if i'm projecting on a different level, but i'm like 80% convinced (with no proof whatsoever lmao) that daniel craig and ben whishaw portrayed 00Q /like that/ even if they knew they were never gonna be canon. like the glances and chemistry between those two characters are always off the charts, the actors had to have known what they were doing. lol idk im delusional.

Hi Anon! This is making me want to do another Spectre rewatch. I also remember the glances being off the charts, and I feel like there was a fair amount of chemistry in some of the Austria scenes as well. 😁 It's a good question about whether they were acting it this way on purpose--I've sometimes wondered the same thing about Skyfall, since one obvious reading of the meet cute in the National Gallery is that Bond thinks Q is just a random patron hitting on him at first, and of course that could have ripple effects in terms of how the actors interpret the characters throughout the films. Both Daniel Craig and Ben Whishaw are incredible actors, so it would make sense for them to be aware of all the layers upon layers there. That also seems possible when you think about the original Spectre script, which had Q being kidnapped--it would have been important to show the chemistry (whether platonic or otherwise) between the characters for that plot to have maximum effect as things played out.

And speaking of chemistry, I've been flipping through the Being Bond book that just came out (so good! so many tidbits!) and in the section about the National Gallery scene in Skyfall, Sam Mendes mentions that it was very helpful for him that Ben Whishaw and Daniel Craig had worked together before, and that Daniel "adores" Ben, so I think the fact that they both just really like each other and are good friends in real life probably also shines through! (I'm thinking of those gifs of them hugging at an awards show...BAFTAS maybe...? don't quote me on that, but I do love their friendship.)

Honestly, I'm here for it either way. 😁

Thanks for sending this to my ask box, I love chatting about this sort of thing! 💜

#ask box answers #james bond meta #skyfall #spectre #00q

[patrice-bergerons]

M calls him 'Bond' for all of Casino Royale but then Vesper dies and he is suddenly James.

The first thing we hear anyone tell him after Vesper's death is M's "I'm sorry, James." She in fact calls him that three times in that single scene. "You don't trust anyone, do you James?" she says - and I could talk about the two of them and the concept of trust til kingdom come - and, when he questions why he would need time, given that "the job is done and the bitch is dead",

"James," she tells him, "did you ever ask yourself why you weren't killed that night? Isn't it obvious? She made a deal to spare your life in exchange for the money." Three Jameses in one conversation. "I'm sure she hoped they would let her live. But she must have known she was going to her death."

I don't think anyone ever accused M - or this franchise to be honest - of being kind but there is so much kindness in that scene.

#james bond #casino royale #dench!m #james bond meta #im waiting for meds to kick in so have my stray 1.30am thoughts in the meanwhile #she also only calls him james once in quantum #and it's when she is calling him out on miss fields' death (see how well your charm works james) - which - oof #my skyfall script is not ocred so analysis incomplete

[thestalwartheart]

Unpopular opinions & Bond meta masterlist.

My ask box has blown up over the last couple of days with all sorts of opinions and thoughts on the world of Bond, 00Q and fic. It’s a lot to scroll through, so I’ve put together a masterlist.

bond morality I

bond morality II

writing dark fic can attract the purity police

bond is not a jerk

q and stereotypes I

vesper, madeleine and the women bond loves

bond morality III

bond and severine

q and ethics/work

bond morality iv/q's character

bond, spectre and moneypenny

spectre's lack of realism (leaky brains!)

MI6 and the psychology department

bond's character arcs and relationships (some discussion of 00Q)

bond in jamaica (during NTTD)

madeleine's character I

age differences

q wears too many hats

madeleine's character II

q and stereotypes II

moneypenny's character (follow-up to 'bond, spectre and moneypenny' above)

they should have put craig!bond in connery's terrycloth robe

q and stereotypes III

#james bond #00q #james bond meta #unpopular opinions #you can send more and I can update the list as needed

[silverbrume]

The spy who betrays... expects only betrayal from others

[Many thanks to @stormofsharpthings for workshopping this with me!]

While in the middle of drafting a meta post comparing Dalton!Bond to Craig!Bond, a side thought came to me.

One of the things that always perplexed me about Craig!Bond was how readily he assumed that both Vesper and Madeleine had betrayed him. With each woman, he declares himself in love and gives up the world of spycraft for them, and yet, at the first sign of trouble, he assumes they've thrown him under the bus and he disavows them.

He tells Vesper that she's left him without armor and he wants to wander the world with her, then assumes she's betrayed him as soon as he sees her handing over the money to the bad guys. Even after she apologizes and commits suicide, he doesn't pause to dig deeper and just calls her a bitch to M. Years later, even Madeleine knows that Bond *still* hasn't forgiven Vesper.

Then we have Madeleine, with whom he walks away from a burning crime scene, steals a DB5, and rides off into the sunset. But as soon as one of Bond's enemies makes a vague statement about how Madeleine is a daughter of Spectre (he knew this already??) Bond just storms in and won't listen to anything Madeleine says. He doesn't consider trusting her until Blofeld (again one of his enemies!?) tells him that Madeleine didn't betray him. Why does Bond trust the word of his enemies over that of the woman he loves?

Then it occurred to me--Bond doesn't expect the women to be loyal to him because he's not loyal to his friends and lovers. He can't be, given how he's internalized MI6's ideals: people are just expendable tools, a means to an end for the perfect spy. How many times do we see this Bond ply Moneypenny or Q for assistance, often threatening their job security or physical safety, without being a dependable friend in return? How many times do we see Craig!Bond seduce a woman, obtain their assistance, and then leave them to a terrible fate?

Solange, Fields, Severine, and we could even argue Vesper--each woman died because they were loyal to him and he abandoned them (or failed to save them) when they were no longer useful to him. Solange is tortured to death because she won't give up Bond, Fields is drowned in oil for helping Bond escape from Quantum, Severine is shot for bringing Bond to Silva, and Vesper dies having traded Bond's life for the Treasury's money. If you sacrificed lovers for your greater cause, wouldn't you expect them to do the same for you?

The greatest tragedy of Craig's Bond: when he is finally ready for love, it is too late for him to learn how to trust.

#james bond meta #007 fest #craig!bond #007 fest 2022 #meta day #I made myself sad writing this

[ineffectualbookseller]

It just really GRINDS MY GEARS the way Crowley is keeping so much from Aziraphale this season but also I TOTALLY understand why he's doing it

The thing is we saw Aziraphale keep a huge secret from Crowley in season 1 after he got his hands on the Nice and Accurate Prophecies and went to heaven with the information about Adam rather than telling Crowley, but then we saw him grow from that mistake. He realized how wrong a decision that was and that's why he's SO committed to them working as a team in season 2. The way he immediately goes to Crowley when Gabriel shows up and keeps him updated whenever he talks to heaven and even calls from Edinburgh to tell him about the new Clue (and maybe to brag a little because he's feeling proud)

and YEAH Aziraphale lies. I'm not saying he doesn't. He's a liar. Lies to himself, to heaven, to hell, to god's face, and sometimes to Crowley. But in my opinion, the biggest lie he tells Crowley about the occult/ethereal goings-on this season is not telling him about Shax on the drive back to Edinburgh. And I think the reason he doesn't is the same reason he's SO nervous to tell him about Gabriel at first; he's afraid Crowley will overreact - will totally freak out when he realizes Aziraphale is being threatened. Which is, frankly, justified. He would.

But then Crowley is over here lying about SO MUCH all season. And some of the lies are about his own pride (i.e. not telling his self-described bestie that he has been UNHOUSED for YEARS during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC) but mostly he does it because he thinks it is protecting Aziraphale. Because he is so obsessed with saving Aziraphale.

Everyone knows it - Demons are using threats against Aziraphale as a way to intimidate Crowley all over the shop (a good tactic tbf, far more effective than threatening Crowley himself), and Aziraphale openly speaks it.

But the actual reason he does it is because he's so concerned about proving his worth to Aziraphale. We know Crowley has self-esteem issues. He's all smoke and mirrors - not a man (nb) just a flashy jacket wrapped around a bundle of insecurities and anxieties. He still thinks he needs to prove himself to Aziraphale, that he needs to make himself worthy of his partnership. He cognitively knows they should be equals, a team of the two of them on their own side, but he just can't shake the notion that Aziaphale needs a reason to fraternize with a demon.

And of course, Aziraphale doesn't. He loves Crowley as he is and sees just as much worth in the small acts of bringing him chocolates at the bookshop opening or clearing them a table at the Ritz. True, he does love that Crowley loves saving him, but not because he actually needs it, because it's part of the flirty game they play. But he's not honest enough to tell Crowley as much clearly (not that speaking it would solve Crowley's self-worth issues).

The thing is, "Saving me makes him so happy" is so much cuter when you're fully PRETENDING to be stuck in the Bastille and don't know any other way of asking your crush out on a lunch date. Because now the forces of heaven and hell are knocking on THEIR bookshop door and all they have is each other but Crowley hasn't been honest with Aziraphale about the seriousness of this threat and Aziraphale didn't warn him about Shax BECAUSE he knew he would be overprotective. Crowley needs so badly to be the hero he's undermined their power as a team.

And that's the dramatic irony of it all. As an audience, it is spelled out so clearly for us that they are at their best, their most powerful, as a team. They are a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The fact of Crowley's incessant need to prove himself, to be the hero, to "protect" Aziraphale from all this information that he has been choosing to lie about all season - it's just making them weaker.

TLDR; Crowley is lying to Aziraphale to keep him safe because he still feels like he needs to prove himself to be worthy of Aziraphale's partnership but this makes it impossible for them to truly work as a team and is hurting them both

#Im always thinking about how Crowley idolizes James Bond in the book #he wants to be Aziraphale's hero so badly #Good Omens #good omens meta #Crowley #And the thing is Aziaphale could absolutely do more to dispell this type of thinking by being more honest about his feelings #but the words of your partner cannot fix your deepseeded problems and insecuries - thats not healthy or sustainable #honestly I think the breakup will be good for Crowley - I hope he gets to experience Aziraphale fighting for him #even when Crowley is offering nothing in return #and it will help start his healing process #Good omens 2 #gos2 spoilers #ineffable husbands

[tvckerwash]

you know, an interpretation of ct that I don't see that I personally really love is that she's a fuck up. like yes she's cool and she has some good fight scenes, but a huge part of her character is that she makes mistakes. the mistakes that she makes are ones that on their own aren't the end of the world, but she keeps making these little mistakes, and they eventually add up until she's out of room to make any more.

a really good example of this phenomenon in action is the actions she took leading up to her final confrontation with carolina and tex.

strike one, she thought she saw something in the water, but when asked by the leader what it was, she brushed it off as nothing when even if it had been nothing, it would've been smart to tell him what she thought she saw.

strike two, she didn't sense or notice florida's presence when the leader did, and she looks at the leader twice, once as she pulled out her magnums, and again after she did a scan of the room, almost like she was looking at him for guidance before he finds florida and takes him out with one good axe throw.

strike three, she couldn't convince the leader to leave when they had the chance to get away, and her cheap tricks were not enough to hold off either tex or carolina in a fight. they were only good for incapacitating her opponents enough for her to get away, which doesn't work when she has no escape.

ct is not tex, or carolina, or south. she is not a one woman army who can get herself out of trouble when she's stuck in tough situations. she needs people who can watch her back, she need a team who can cover her when she does mess up, and the leader and his team were not those people. she couldn't bring herself to trust them, and they couldn't bring themselves to trust her, and that cost all of them their lives.

#i say i never see this interpretation of ct as if I'm not the only person having ct thoughts in 2024 lmao #red vs blue #rvb #agent connecticut #this is why wash and ct work so good together they function best in teams but theyre put in situations where theyre on their own #and they suffer because of it #but where wash had no choice in ending up w/o a team ct did #the ability to choose is a powerful tool. but being able to choose means that sometime somewhere someone will choose wrong #oh to further clarify the interpretation of ct I'm used to seeing is stereotypical hyper competent badass bitch type character #I've never really seen ct that way though tbh. she's a rebellious smart-ass who loves stating the obvious #it's honestly a pretty childish trait which i think goes well with her complex about being seen as a kid who needs excuses made for #her subpar performance in the field #basically in her head ct is james bond but in reality she's cringefail loser girl who wants to be a hero #you know what analyzing and discussing how heroism is viewed in rvb might be a pretty good essay #these colorful guys and gals aint heroes theyre all losers trying their best #anyway I'm off to attempt drawing a meta! tucker piece that may or may not turn out

[ageofgeek]

Bond falls victim to what I am now calling "Steve Rogers Syndrome," where a main character throws away his found family (which the audience has become much more attached to) in favor of a bland, boring, nuclear/heterosexual life. Just because Bond doesn't get his "happy ending" doesn't mean that he doesn't fall into this trope.

I think a lot of people would agree with me when I say that Bond & Madeline have no chemistry. They had no chemistry in Spectre and they continue to have none in NTTD. And yet, we're supposed to care about their relationship because 1) the narrative (i.e. Bond) tells us, instead of shows us, that he loves her, and 2) there is a child (which the narrative also tells us that we should care about).

But the truth is that Bond doesn't trust Madeline. Not really. The second he's attacked by Spectre, he immediately blames her and doesn't even question if he's wrong (and she doesn't really try to convince him otherwise). Now, you may chalk this up to Bond not trusting anybody, but here's where we get to the found family: because he does trust his MI6 family, implicitly, immediately.

He trusts Eve enough to tell her about the scientist, Feliks, what happened in Cuba, etc., and to ask for her help. He trusts Q so much that he gives him the flashdrive he recovered in Cuba, he stays with Q in his apt while he's in London, he places his life in Q's hands multiple times throughout Skyfall, Spectre, and NTTD. He trusts Mallory - even after knowing his shadiness with Herakles, he still trusts him enough to go back under his command. He even trusts Nomi after only a few days of meeting her - enough to trust her to have his back on the island, enough to trust her with Madeline and his child.

So the fact that Bond doesn't trust Madeline is a huge, huge red flag. To me, the "trilogy" of Skyfall, Spectre, and NTTD were all about establishing Bond's support system and family within MI6. In Casino Royale and QoS, he really only had M, and no other connections to MI6 beyond her. But starting with Skyfall, he begins to build a support network of people he does trust in MI6, and the audience begins to trust them (and love them) along with Bond.

This simply doesn't apply to Madeline, because Bond doesn't trust her, and so the audience is never shown why we should trust her or love her.

#this rant has been in my drafts for months since i saw NTTD and you know what??? #i'm posting it #b/c it's true af #still bitter #james bond #no time to die #nttd #nttd spoilers #skyfall #spectre #quartermaster #eve moneypenny #gareth mallory #mine #meta #rant

[luminiferocity]

Part-time badass, full-time girl dad Bill Tanner

Some Tanner appreciation and headcanons for Tanner Tuesday

Bill Tanner is a bit of a shit

He chewed the ear off Bond while he pushed through his evaluations montage in Skyfall with butter-wouldn't-melt relentlessness. He ain't afraid of no double-ohs

Thinks nothing of loitering for the spectacle of Q and Bond almost weaponising UST

Not forgetting "I believe I said 'bring it back in one piece', not 'bring back one piece'" - Q, you are delightful, yes, but Tanner's smirk

Bill Tanner is a bit of a BAMF

Happily joins in with illicit mayhem. Multiple times. Spectre ending: squad goals

Look at those cuffs: precise; military, even. Tenuous, but do I like to think maybe Tanner had a highly classified investigative/diplomatic field role for the Foreign Office before becoming Chief of Staff? Yes I do

Bill Tanner is a family man

I read a headcanon forever ago that Tanner is a girl dad and immediately accepted it as truth

Drives a brightly coloured SUV, with a roof box for their family camping holidays. 100% unbothered when the double-ohs take the mick

He's a karaoke legend (entirely based on Rory Kinnear in Bank of Dave). Belts out a mean Bat Out of Hell

#Tanner Tuesday #bill tanner #james bond #007 fest 2023 #team civilian #teamcivilian #headcanons #meta #my stuff

[annamarabella-grumble]

Glass Onion is just so... love the murder mystery, love the thriller, love the subverted Bond movie elements. They all slot into each other really well; thankfully the Bond references never turn into pastiche or parody that might take over the whole thing. I want to talk about some of them though because I'm a nerd.

Spoilers under the cut!

Like, the obvious references are Whiskey's dramatic Beauty Emerging From The Water moment -- beautiful stuff. Shot like a Bond. Cut to Benoit (Daniel Craig here finally getting his own back for those blasted swimming trunks in Casino Royale) standing in the pool in his whole entire outfit, complete with a yellow dotted necktie, holding his drink and looking like a grumpy cat. Like he might speak to someone firmly.

The obvious stuff is the Evil Genius On Private Island plot -- a staple of the spy/Bond genre, and here they are. Curd Jürgens would be so proud. BUT. This guy is not a genius. This guy is a dimwitted jackass. He's dangerous because he's a moron and obsessed with his own image, not because he can actually plot a murder worth a damn.

Another, more subtle nod is that Bond stories do often begin with a murder mystery of sorts: someone got killed (usually another agent) and Bond has to go find out who did it. It's just that that stuff gets swallowed up by the world-saving pretty quickly; aside from that Bond is actually a decent detective.

Now, my favourite bit of kit was Blanc's awe at Miles' car. That beautiful, sleek, absolutely Bond-worthy car. It's a Porsche 918 Spyder, and as far as I know a Porsche 918 hasn't been used in any Bond film, but it could have been. So when Blanc stares at it and goes, "Is that a motorcar??" like he's never seen one in real life? It's such a tongue-in-cheek moment.

And when that car comes crashing through the ceiling, fully on fire, at the end? Blanc's not even there to see it, and I couldn't help but think of Skyfall and the sheer disdain on Bond's face when Silva blows up his beloved Aston Martin. And in Glass Onion, he couldn't give less of a shit. It's beautiful.

Aside from these little things, Glass Onion is a wonderfully crafted closed-circuit murder mystery (my favourite). It's also an excellent piece of thriller when it comes to Andi and Helen's story -- Janelle Monáe needs to receive all of the awards for their performance. What an absolute powerhouse; they carried that part of the investigation and the film.

#glass onion #knives out glass onion #glass onion spoilers #james bond #daniel craig #janelle monae #meta #movies

[fiftytwotwentyfour]

Puzzle 4:

I Expect You To Die

Created by Schell Games

Puzzle Classification: Digital Escape Room; VR Escape Room

Price: $24.99 (I purchased the "I Expect You To Die Bundle, 3 Games, making each individual game ~ $20.83 before tax)

Review:

I discovered this game via a late night scrolling search through the Meta Quest App Library - obviously the catchy title lured me in.

Based off a one time viewing of a game trailer and reading NO reviews, I took a gamble and purchased not only I Expect You To Die, but I also purchased the 2nd and 3rd counterparts/follow ups - Yep- I spent over $60 on three puzzle games.

And, Boy-Howdy, It was well worth it.

I loved this experience.

It's James Bond meets a comical version of Edge of Tomorrow (or a comical (less gory) version of Happy Death Day).

I also admired the unique concept of the "escape room" where your (constant) failures helped you progress through "the room".

I thought the stages were the right amount of challenging, but not too hard where the scenarios sparked aggravation.

If you do plan to play this game - I highly suggest playing this game utilizing your own wits and merit - this game is a few years old so it could be very tempting to find a forum or thread with guidance and walkthroughs , but trust me, if you just sit (or just blow yourself up enough times) solutions will come to you and the gratification of escaping with no assistance will be pure exhilaration.

And as I said earlier, your failures are a good thing as they help you progress throughout the game - but - they also provide a unique bit of humor as well.

I may still be in the honeymoon phase of this game - I found the format of I Expect You To Die infiltrating my dreams, no joke.

I cannot find a single gripe about the game. After completing all the stages - I even found myself going back and revisiting all the missions so I could complete/collect each achievement/souvenir - and - upon revisiting I also discovered there are sooooo many different ways to go about completing a mission - sure, there is the same end goal, but there's definitely more than one way to skin a Zoraxis Henchman.

If I did have any negative statement... I wish there was more... and this is just me being greedy.

I think if you buy just the first installment of this game series - even at full price - you will definitely get the bang for your buck.

I am currently holding off playing I Expect You To Die 2 and I Expect You To Die 3 so I can drag out the enjoyment of the game... I don't want to... uh... blow my wad too soon... lordy, there's gotta be a more eloquent way to say that.

*photos/screenshots courtesy of Schell Games/I Expect You To Die*

Completion Time: 5hr17min42sec53ms

Hints/Clues Used: Zero

Items Not Included / Needed:

Nothing Once Downloaded

Personal Rating: 9/10

2024 Puzzle Record: 4/4

#52 in 24 #puzzle #VR #meta quest #oculus #IEYTD #i expect you to die #Schell Games #virtual reality #escape room #James Bond

[lucys-place]

Dental check-up: Some facts about Silva's super fancy prothesis!

Actually, a prothesis like this is called epithesis, as it replaces not only teeth but major parts of the facial bone, in Silva's case maxilla and zygomatic.

In Skyfall, it is said that Silva's teeth and facial bones were eroded by hydrocyanic acid. In fact, hydrocyanic acid is even less corrosive than citric acid. It does not lead to chemical burn of bones or tissue but inhibits cellular respiration which leads to organ failure and, without any medical help, to death.

It's also said that the acid was imbedded in Silva's molar. I wonder if this is medically possible...? I mean, does he have a crown with some kind of space underneath where the toxic capsule is in? How is this crown attached to his natural tooth, assuming the fact that it's hollow? And how is it guaranteed that the capsule is not activated by accident? I'd like to have a talk with Silva's dentist. And there's another point: In a previous take, we see Silva taking out his epithesis.

But, oh my, there are some rotten teeth beneath it! Which dentist on the planet would do that??? These teeth do not look as if they have any use for attaching the epithesis. They do not look like telescopic crowns, OBVIOUSLY. They are extremely decayed and might be a chronical focus of inflammation, which means a lot of avoidable stress for poor Silva's immune system. I don't have to mention that they should be removed as soon as possible.

#okay call me a dental nerd or whatever #who is your dentist silva? #he's gonna loose his licence #skyfall #skyfall meta #raoul silva #dentistry #james bond #villains

[aniron48]

Apropos of nothing, but what little items/collections do you all envision the Craig!Bond characters being just slightly weird about?

In my mind, Q has a “filing” system to keep track of all his quirky socks. Moneypenny refuses to lend out any of her books because she doesn’t want them to come back with pages dogeared and the spines cracked. Bond has an actual wine fridge. Tanner has a bunch of those commemorative plates with pictures of the royal family on them (sometimes he puts them away when he brings home a date, but then he apologizes to the queen before he puts her back on the wall).

#james bond meta #mi6 crew #just thoughts #also tag yourself I’m Moneypenny 😭

[patrice-bergerons]

My hot take for the day is that Fandom (TM) likes to talk a big game about how Terrible Madeleine is, how awful and manipulative and with no chemistry, especially in comparison to Vesper.

But while it's true that Vesper is the better written character and love interest, the real reason fandom likes/tolerates her is because she dies tragically for Bond.

Switch their places, let Vesper be the love interest who is not only end game but survives Bond, and see how the fandom starts shrieking about how awful and horrendous and shoddily written she is at the drop of a hat🤷‍♂️💅

#james bond meta #vesper lynd #madeleine swann #not to say you can't have (often very valid) criticisms of Madeleine #(scripts do her a little dirty) #but that contingent of fandom who are acting like she is the worst thing to happen to bond #you can smell the misogyny masquerading as character analysis/moral high horse from miles away #sorry im sick and have been exposed to Opinions TM against my will

[theboost]

Going through old fanfic I’ve written that i will never finish and laughing my ass off I really am the funniest person alive

#I truly have the range re fandom #I have jurassic park. mission impossible. Star Trek. Star Wars. psycho but only the sequels #uhh. James Bond. Hercules. xmen. comics in general really. and I will not finish any of it #here’s a fun ask game. send me a fandom and and I will respond with a snippet of work that will never be released and maybe a summary #ooh and mash #like three paragraphs for the movie showdown in little tokyo??? #SLIDERS??? #evil dead time loop fic… #farscape as well and meta analysis on robocop 2 #I have to have cobra kai/karate kid stuff somewhere as well

[silverbrume]

Once you start watching Bond films, forever will they dominate your path.

Or rather, you’ll come to realize they were already a thread running through all the stories you know and love.

I was listening to an audiobook, and one of the characters said something about “as if we have all the time in the world,” and I immediately thought of the love theme in OHMSS.

Speaking of OHMSS, I recently learned that it’s Christopher Nolan’s favorite Bond movie, and provided much inspiration for the emotional arc of Inception. (Given Hans Zimmer scored Inception and then went on to quote *both* OHMSS main themes in the score of NTTD, I’m betting there’s a connection there, too, beyond the fact that connecting the two movies makes thematic sense. And how much have the Bond movies influenced Zimmer’s style in general?)

The Bond movies are inextricably tied with how music and storytelling has evolved over the past few decades, and exploring them allows me to appreciate all my fandoms in an even deeper way.

#inception #james bond #james bond meta #on her majesty's secret service #no time to die #hans zimmer #christopher nolan

[nevergeneralize]

Moriarty the Patriot meta:

The Man: James Bonde, Agency and Gender Euphoria

[yuukoku no moriarty spoilers for anime/manga scandal in Bohemia arc] [also this got so long wow who would have thought i had so many thoughts about my best boy]

[he/him pronouns for yuumori Bonde/Adler, she/her pronouns for Holmes-canon Adler]

Everything about the James Bonde reveal is so perfect to me. It’s Holmes-canon that Irene feels comfortable cross-dressing so that would be a fun slightly unhinged direction to take even though it could go so wrong and I was so braced for it to be a Bad Take.

I was so ready to have my heart broken but you beat the odds you stunning son of a gun

But then. Irene/Bonde becomes a perfect transmasculine fantasy, Irene is The Woman and Bond(e), who he becomes instantly and nearly seamlessly, is most definitely The Man, always the embodiment of super cis hetero masculinity, reincarnated forever to fit whatever that means for the times. (We like hairy womanizers because it’s the 70s so that’s who Bond is. We like Conflicted Dark Thoughtful Protagonists because it’s the 00s so that’s who Bond is. Etc.) And now. And NOW. Bond is again THE MAN, perfect masculine sex symbol, evolved from The Woman, a character who was actually a gender symbol to Holmes, and then became a more conventionally-understood sex(ualized) symbol only by repeated reinterpretation, meaning, yknow, lazily written misogynistic takes on Adler.

(I am forever yelling about how No One Understands A Scandal in Bohemia so, quick explanation of what I mean by that:) Adler’s whole (Holmes-canon) deal was taking back agency over her love life and sexual decisions from men who by default didn’t believe she deserved that autonomy. And then basically every adaptation of A Scandal in Bohemia has gone and done that to her metatextually by making her a manipulative criminal mastermind and/or some kind of super famous courtesan and/or serial blackmailer, explaining her behavior the maximally sexy way rather than honoring the (imho) more interesting original motivation to just move on from an old relationship but not believing she’d be allowed to do so without drastic measures. And also her non-criminal background is so much more interesting as a foil for Sherlock Holmes in that she’s not trained over a lifetime to be that foil, she is a regular fairly clever person who just happens to be overlooked by his prejudice, a lesson he explicitly tries to take to heart, making her “The Woman,” his personal model of all womanhood, remembering her as a worthy adversary.

And this version gets the same sexist setup, except that Adler made it up. Sherlock gets to learn the same lesson but Adler is involved in something totally different, and the whole Scandal in Bohemia story was a fabrication — Adler doesn’t just finally get agency back, Adler basically gets authorship of the canon story. (The government secrets situation, the actual tension in this version, is obviously out of Adler’s control but also kind of out of everyone’s hands.) And I think it’s important that Adler plays this role of a woman, The Woman, perfectly, to set up what comes later. I am reminded of a Daniel Lavery essay about the transmasculine impulse to defend one’s prior femininity — “a desire to maintain that one didn’t transition out of necessity but desire: being a woman is hard but I was good at it, I think is the underlying anxiety, nobody fired me, I quit.” The perfection of Irene Adler’s presentation as a woman neatly prevents the idea that transition might be an action taken with a kind of resignation (“I failed to be a woman”) rather than agency and positive desire (“I am and wanted to be a man”), relating nicely to agency and personal choice as a major theme from Holmes-canon Adler.

So then Moriarty the Patriot takes James Bond, The Man, a sex symbol but always in control of his sexuality because his masculinity grants him that privilege, and bestows that identity on a character whose sexuality has always been textually and metatextually out of that character’s hands. And he’s perfect at it, immediately, his transition is instantaneous (and with later argument only from Moran the stock Straight Guy Who Doesn’t Quite Get It, and his status as a man is not even defended so much as stated: it’s a basic, obvious fact confirmed by William as the voice of leadership and Louis as the voice of pragmatism). The transition scene obviously brought to mind another moment that looms large in my personal transmasc mythos, the Disney Mulan fantasy of cutting off your hair and that magically Makes a Man Out of You, except Mulan spends the movie kind of being visibly bad at Man Things and earns her power when she returns to her gender like masculinity was the unknown land on the hero’s journey, and Bonde’s hair cut scene equally set my brain on fire but with the payoff of actually being instant magical transition.

Look at him!!!!! That’s the man!!!!!!!!

I don’t know how other people feel about the name situation (certainly at least a little unusual to not choose one’s own) but I personally love the idea that Bonde is granted a shared first name, a brotherhood, and gets to choose his last name and discard the patronymic, breaking with patriarchal tradition but fitting into a new kind of family that has some of its own customs which he gets to be a part of. (This also fits the queer life pattern of learning about queer identity and culture by horizontal/peer association (brotherhood) rather than vertical/family association (fatherhood). Or more simply, hey look Found Family Trope.)

And this interpretation feels so joyous to me. Amidst all the crime drama we get a relatively positive and bright and uncomplicated character who is taking visible joy in his new identity, strutting around town being The Man, late to important mission meetings because he wants to try out a new car, flirting and winking all the time because now he gets to be in charge of that kind of interaction, inventing new drinks that sound pretty terrible, being playfully over-familiar with everyone he meets. I love that some of this borrows from who he was as Adler, and some of it manages to re-cast the sort of icky James Bond tradition of reveling in masculine power into simple fresh gender euphoria — arguably the performance of Bond’s hypermasculine persona was always a certain kind of gender euphoria, but too often at women’s expense, and now it’s not, because this Bonde is explicitly a little protective of women’s boundaries, taking the bar fight opportunity to get someone out of an uncomfortable situation, and being only reservedly flirtatious with Moneypenny (again we use Moran for Slightly Confused Straight Guy contrast here).

And this choice of Bonde’s origin also feels so generous to me, a gift for my little gay heart. “James Bond is yours now, transmascs,” says Moriarty the Patriot, “it’s your time to be The Man.” I just. Love this series so much. It’s always the opposite of queer baiting. It’s a subtle invitation to a queer feast, with a family who would happily and immediately call you brother if that’s what you ask.

#yuukoku no moriarty #meta #ynm spoilers #ynm james bond #moriarty the patriot #yuumori #james bonde #pls don’t cancel me for calling Moran the stock straight guy if u hc him as something else that’s ur business #my point is about his function in these scenes as The Avatar of Traditional Masculinity and Straight Guy Behavior #i love Moran but he gets the morigang yearbook award for least woke every year #yuumori meta