A Bond Of A Different Color

[Jack-Hammer]

Probably a month ago, maybe a bit longer, I read an article talking about the longevity of various characters in film and said characters' respective franchises. It was generally a ho hum sort of article, nothing everyone hasn't read a thousand times before, but one thing that did stick with me was when the article asked the question "Is it time for a black James Bond?"

Off & on, we've seen examples over the years in which film portrayals of fictional characters differ from their primary medium by racial factors. For instance, we saw in Thor that the sentry of Bifrost, Heimdall, was African American despite the comic book character has always been depicted as Caucasian. Also, the mythological god Marvel based the character off is white, I don't think there were very many black Vikings or Norsemen in general circa 1000 B.C.E. to 1100 A.D.

Given that the character is a mythological being no longer recognized or worshipped by significant numbers and is a relatively minor character in Marvel Comics, nobody really cared or said boo about it. However, I think that James Bond might be a bit of a different story to some people as Bond has become a genuine pop culture icon; hardly anyone in Western Civilization doesn't at least know who "Bond...James Bond" is and what he's all about. Personally, I've never been a mega fan of Bond, though I do enjoy the Connery films and Daniel Craig's darker, more visceral portrayals; however, I do think there are some people who'd have an issue with James Bond's race being tinkered with. I also think that most of the animosity wouldn't be based on the skin color issue itself so much as just tinkering with tradition. To my knowledge, race has never been something that's sparked controversy in the Bond films; we've seen Bond interact with all skin colors, especially pertaining to women...damn, he's gonna catch somethin' one of these days.... At any rate, I mean, how weird would it be to see Chow Yun Fat as Batman or Antonio Banderas as The Joker?

 

[Reflection]

I don't think it would be a good idea, sir. From a viewer's perspective, Bond is flamboyantly British, a white guy in a suit, very charming, sips champagne, rides an Aston Martin... you get the point. A guy with Black American accent or Chinese appearance just won't suit the character of James Bond. That's one argument.
On the other hand, from a smark's perspective, he serves Her Majesty's Government or something... And traditional Britishers with authority, loyal subjects of the monarch crown, have historically been unkindly towards people with darker skin, be it people from Africa or the Indian subcontinent, and look upon them as inferior to Whites. So those guys would never choose anyone but a white man as 007. That's another argument.

 

[Alex]

Idris Elba. Thee guy happens to be British, suave and a badass. Just look at that speech from Pacific Rim.

As to the actual question its weird. I had this discussion with a friend a few years ago and he reckoned it couldn't work. He felt you'd have an easier time making a film about a black secret agent who's Bond in everything but name, and the thing is unfortunately I'm inclined to agree.

Remember when people were losing their shit about Daniel Craig being blonde. People were saying you couldn't have a blonde Bond. This is the same scenario except with race.

Now I'm not saying that people wouldn't warm to the idea of a black Bond providing he had all of his trademark personality and mannerisms. But it would probably be the same reaction people gave when they realised they were getting a blonde Bond.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

If you subscribe to the idea that James Bond is a codename, there is no reason for him not to be black.

Bond has been white since his inception so if the reason for him not to be portrayed by a black actor because he hasn't before, point those people towards the films where he has been white and let them watch those.

Britain has become much more culturally and ethnically diverse since the novels were first written and the film versions shouldn't be afraid to reflect the modern makeup of Britain and experiment with different actors based on their skin colour in the 21st fucking century.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Sure, there's no real reason why a black James Bond couldn't work, but as Jack-Hammer and Alex alluded to, it's hard to ignore the inevitable backlash and the uproar from fans of the franchise and the James Bond character.

I still remember all the rumblings for the decision to cast Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and the recent backlash to rumors for Donald Glover as Spider-Man/Peter Parker. To add to that, you know a good amount of people will criticize the move to cast a black James Bond as a transparent PR publicity stunt.

When it's all said and done, the powers that be are going to have to decide whether they want to deal with the shitstorm from the media and the public, and the news of a black James Bond overshadowing the actual movie. Times have changed, and maybe it'll happen someday, but I honestly can't imagine the change happening in the near future.

 

[pipebomber]

I not generally opposed to racial changes in characters except when they don't make sense. You wouldn't make Huggy Bear white, and you wouldn't make King Arthur black. Their characters just don't make since as any race other than what they are. Bond, all depends on how you depict him. you couldn't make him like the 1970s agent he used to be, but you could make a modern bond who was black,but still needs to be british IMO, cant deviate too far from the original and modern day he will be allowed into the high end establishments that you wouldn't have found many black people during the time of the original bond movies.