Bond "anachronistic"?

[Dr Doran]

Did anyone get the impression that the original Bond books were cruel, sadistic even?

 

[Senator Jack]

Of course. Wasn't Fleming told by his shrink to write so he could work out his agression?

 

[Dr Doran]

Of course. Wasn't Fleming told by his shrink to write so he could work out his agression?

I see. Interesting.

 

[MrBern]

Apparently Damon is becoming the poster boy for idiotic comments.

Why is that comment idiotic?

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Of course. Wasn't Fleming told by his shrink to write so he could work out his agression?

Fleming's biographer, Andrew Lycett, never mentions a shrink and its unlikely Fleming would have visted one.

Lycett further details Fleming's writing Casino Royle at 43 because of two reasons, rarely mentioned:

1/ His bride-to-be was pregnant and he wanted the book to the child's birthright.

2/ His wife moved in literary circle and the book was a present to her, showing he too could be a man of letters.

Fleming was a complex and interesting man who had a deep dark side. Lycett's book is very much worth a read.

 

[Feraud]

Why is that comment idiotic?

Damon's only interest is to push his current bad film.

 

[Dr Doran]

Damon's only interest is to push his current bad film.

Well that may be the case but he is not 100% jerk. His performance in Talented Mr Ripley was superb, as a sociopath closet case. He was also good as an extremely reserved bureaucrat in the CIA in Good Shepherd. Let's give him credit for his accomplishments. Dogma however was the worst film I have ever seen, and very offensive to my ancestral religion (papism) as well.

 

[MrBern]

Damon's only interest is to push his current bad film.

So you dont think Bond is Imperialistic or Mysogynistic even a bit?
Just cuz he has an opinion doesnt mean its idiotic.

 

[Feraud]

Well that may be the case but he is not 100% jerk. His performance in Talented Mr Ripley was superb, as a sociopath closet case. He was also good as an extremely reserved bureaucrat in the CIA in Good Shepherd. Let's give him credit for his accomplishments. Dogma however was the worst film I have ever seen, and very offensive to my ancestral religion (papism) as well.

I think The Bourne Identity was a fine film. Much better than the recent Bond film in fact. I do not say he is a 100% jerk but his current comments are idiotic.

To clarify - Knocking someone else's film (or character) to promote yours is crass and speaks volumes about his current film. The Bourne franchise dropped off sharply with #2 and I will be seriously shocked if this one is any better. The curse of the sequels...

 

[Feraud]

So you dont think Bond is Imperialistic or Mysogynistic even a bit?

Those terms coming out of Damon's mouth at a movie premiere are irrelevant. He is there to sell his movie and knocking Bond is too easy because it may be true.
Cheap shot on Damon's part.

 

[Diamondback]

Cheap shot on Damon's part.

Playground-bully behavior by pretty-boy--"why work to build up my own character, when I can just cut down the other guy's instead?" Geez, these actors are worse than the [unintelligible] politicians...

 

[Flitcraft]

To clarify - Knocking someone else's film (or character) to promote yours is crass and speaks volumes about his current film. The Bourne franchise dropped off sharply with #2 and I will be seriously shocked if this one is any better. The curse of the sequels...

Agreed!
I thought he might have been feeling more heat from the recent Bond than he cared to admit....

 

[Flitcraft]

Playground-bully behavior by pretty-boy--"why work to build up my own character, when I can just cut down the other guy's instead?" Geez, these actors are worse than the [unintelligible] politicians...

Touche!

 

[KL15]

So you dont think Bond is Imperialistic or Mysogynistic even a bit?
Just cuz he has an opinion doesnt mean its idiotic.

I believe Bond is Imperialistic and Mysogynistic. And I love every minute of it!

 

[Rooster]

I've never made it through a Bond film with out falling a sleep. [huh] Just not my thing I guess...

 

[Twitch]

Haha! This sort of reminds me of a defunct topic about celebrities getting involved in politics or other causes and using their noteriety to get in front of the camera once again.

Actors are meat puppets to me! I don't want to see what they do in "real" life or read what they say about anything. They're just empty vessels to hold a character when called upon for film portrayal.

Actors' opinions on anything and 85¢ will get you a cup of coffee.

 

[Jovan]

I think it's fairly obvious some of you, especially Twitch, don't recognize that actors are people, like you and me, who play characters and ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE OPINIONS. As much as I enjoy Bond, I do see some of what he's saying.

Anyways, it's not constructive to pass actors off as "meat puppets" just because they say something that you disagree with. If someone you knew said the same thing, you'd just agree to disagree with them.

 

[Dr Doran]

I think everyone here, definitely including Jovan, is making good points.

Here are a few thoughts.

When it comes to deciding whether I should pay attention to an artists's private personality/philosophy as opposed to simply how he makes his art, I put artists on a scale.

I DEFINITELY care what a philosophical writer's philosophy and personality are. I have a hard time with Heidegger for this reason. Being rector of Freiburg and an ardent national socialist is troublesome to me because of my disagreements with certain aspects of national socialism (the killing of Jews being a rather big one).

I care somewhat less about a novelist's philosophy. I can deal with Celine for this reason. He paints a picture of France before, during, and after WWi and WW2 and he does it with a style that is absolutely unequalled before or since. His support for Germany in WW2 was clearly because of his horror of war due to his experience of trench warfare in WW1 and because he thought France should not go through another war. I still do not like what he said about Jews but his stylistic greatness, IN MY MIND, trumps this ugliness in his character.

I care even less about a painter or sculptor. Admittedly I am being naive: I actually like figurative art and I actually base my love of art more on immediate emotional reactions than on the artist's [or more likely his bloody publicist's] statement which nowadays is full of postmodernist gobbledygook.

As for actors, I cannot care much about their philosophy or personality unless it negatively impacts their performance. THEIR JOB IS TO DISSOLVE THEMSELVES INTO THE ROLE. Admittedly this is not the case with post-Brando acting. However, if someone can play Richard III well, I do not give a fig if his politics are disagreeable to me. I only care if he acts the part well. Again, with the collapsing of roles and actors' personalities that is characteristic of today's drama, a separation cannot always happen.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Why didn't they just ask Damon, "Who would win in a fight? Bond or Borne? Superman or Spiderman?"

 

[HadleyH]

... I totally agree, but totally, with what Walter Winchell, who had a pretty low opinion of Hollywood said once :

" They shoot too many pictures and not enough actors"

____[huh] ____