For over six decades, James Bond has been a fixture of global culture, universally recognizable by the films’ combination of action set pieces, sex, political intrigue, and outrageous gadgetry. But as the British Empire entered the final stages of collapse, as the Cold War wound down and the “War on Terror” began, and as the visions of masculinity and femininity the series presented began to strike many viewers as outdated, the Bond formula has adapted to the changing times. Spanning the franchise’s entire history, from Sean Connery’s iconic swagger to Daniel Craig’s rougher, more visceral interpretation of the superspy, James Bond Will Return offers both academic readers and fans a comprehensive view of the series’s transformations against the backdrop of real-world geopolitical intrigue and sweeping social changes. Leading scholars consider each of the twenty-five films in the series, showing how and why Bond has changed and what elements of the formula have stood the test of time. Each chapter examines a single film from a distinct position, giving readers a full picture of the variety and breadth of the longest-running series in cinema history. Close formal readings; production histories; tracings of the political, social, and historical influences; analyses of the series’ use of then-new filmmaking technologies; reflections on the star personas that have been built around the character—these and many more approaches combine to produce a wide-ranging view of the James Bond film franchise. Essential reading for Bond scholars and aficionados alike, James Bond Will Return brings out the many surprising complexities of an iconic character.

A deep-dive into the unique connections between the two titans of the British cultural psyche—the Beatles and the Bond films—and what they tell us about class, sexuality, and our aspirations over sixty dramatic years. The Beatles are the biggest band in the history of pop music. James Bond is the single most successful movie character of all time. They are also twins. Dr No, the first Bond film, and Love Me Do, the first Beatles record, were both released on the same day: Friday 5 October 1962. Most countries can only dream of a cultural export becoming a worldwide phenomenon on this scale. For Britain to produce two iconic successes on this level, on the same windy October afternoon, is unprecedented. Bond and the Beatles present us with opposing values, visions of the British culture, and ideas about sexual identity. Love and Let Die is the story of a clash between working class liberation and establishment control, and how it exploded on the global stage. It explains why James Bond hated the Beatles, why Paul McCartney wanted to be Bond, and why it was Ringo who won the heart of a Bond Girl in the end. Told over a period of sixty dramatic years, this is an account of how two outsized cultural phenomena continue to define American aspirations, fantasies, and our ideas about ourselves. Looking at these two touchstones in this new context will forever change how you see the Beatles, the James Bond films, and six decades of cross-Atlantic popular culture.

Breaking Down Six Decades of James Bond Movies #1 New Release in Action & Adventure Movies & Video, and Movie Reference Hosts Mike Kalinowski and Brad Gilmore team up in this comprehensive examination of the longest running film series in the history of cinema. In Bond, James Bond, they explore the cinematic history of the James Bond collection to celebrate everything it got right and reflect on everything it got wrong. The complete cinematic biographies of James Bond. Since his initial portrayal by Sean Connery, James Bond has become a timeless icon worldwide. Now, comes the first-ever era-by-era breakdown of the much loved international spy—on and off the silver screen. Following the men who portrayed James Bond—Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, and Sean Connery—readers will discover the characteristics that made him resonate, as well as the less glamorous relics that made him evolve. For fans of the Ian Fleming James Bond novels and movies. Cinephiles and fans can finally unscramble some of the best action movies of all time. Covering everything from cars to court cases, Bond, James Bond looks at the evolution of the 007 movies from all angles. Featuring bonus chapters on Bond women and musical scores, inside, you’ll also find: • The origins of 007 in the early James Bond books • Off-screen politics, drama, and movements that shifted the series trajectory • The “other” James Bond, comic books, and animated series If you’re looking for Father’s Day gifts, gifts for men, or James Bond gifts—and enjoyed books like Some Kind of Hero, Nobody Does it Better, or Shaken—then you’ll love Bond, James Bond.

Celebrate the heroic swagger of Agent 007 with the ultimate fan’s guide to all things James Bond. For millions of American men who grew up in the 1950s and 60s, James Bond was the ultimate masculine icon. He was stylish, smart, and sophisticated. He was ready for adventure, unafraid of danger, and irresistible to women. In short, he was everything his young male fans wanted to be. In this volume, authors Bob Blackwood and John L. Flynn think back on the importance of James Bond in their lives, and the lessons they learned from his movies and novels. Covering everything from cars and clothes to how to order a martini, this is a loving celebration of the man they call “Bond, James Bond.”

James Bond entered the world in 1953 with the novel Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. Since then, the British secret agent codenamed 007 has become the biggest media phenomenon of the modern age, surpassing and outlasting previous cultural icons such as Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan and The Saint. Bond has conquered all forms of media - from books, films and radio to comic strips and video games - while inspiring a tidal wave of merchandise and a legion of imitators. Although the world has changed almost beyond recognition since his debut, his continuing relevance is affirmed by the multiple generations who have thrilled to his exploits. This book for the first time provides the full enthralling story of how the espionage fantasies of a rather melancholy journalist came to captivate the world. It exposes the setbacks behind the triumphs, from Fleming’s increasing boredom with his own creation to regular crises over re-casting of the cinematic Bond and legal battles in the 1990s that almost destroyed the film franchise. With the help of Bond scholars, Fleming intimates, Bond film crew and others, James Bond: The Secret History shows how the man with the Licence to Kill overcame every hurdle to become the greatest fantasy hero of all time. With a foreword by Jeremy Duns

"From the inception of cinema to today's franchise era, remaking has always been a motor of ongoing textual production. Hollywood Remaking critically examines the persistent economic and cultural relevance of film remakes, series, sequels, crossovers, spin-offs, and prequels that emerge from the large-scale system of remaking actively shape how the film industry, cinema, and audiences imagine themselves as these movies constantly negotiate past and present, stability and change through a serial dynamic of repetition and variation. The book develops a theory of Hollywood remaking as an inherently dynamic practice situated between the film industry's economic logic and the cultural imaginary and analyzes how remaking has developed as a business practice in the United States, how it has been imagined, discursively constructed, and defined by networked stakeholders from production and reception contexts, how it has shaped cinematic aesthetics and cultural debates, and how it has fostered film-historical knowledge, promoted feelings of generational belonging among audiences, and become deeply enmeshed with constructions of the self"--

Beginning with Casino Royale (2006) and ending with No Time to Die (2021), the Daniel Craig era of James Bond films coincides with the rise of various justice movements challenging deeply entrenched systems of inequality and oppression, ranging from sexism, racism, and immigration to 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, reproductive justice and climate change. While focus is often placed on individual actions and institutional policies and practices, it is important to recognize the role that culture plays within these systems. Mainstream film is not simply 'mindless' entertainment but a key part of a global cultural industry that naturalizes and normalizes power structures. Engaging with these issues, Resisting James Bond is a multidisciplinary collection that explores inequality and oppression in the world of 007 through a range of critical and theoretical approaches. The chapters explore the embodiment and disembodiment of power and privilege across the formal, narrative, cultural and geopolitical elements that define the revisionist-reversionist world of Daniel Craig's Bond.

“Bond. James Bond.” Since Sean Connery first uttered that iconic phrase in Dr. No, more than one quarter of the world’s population has seen a 007 film. Witty and urbane, Bond seduces and kills with equal ease — often, it seems, with equal enthusiasm. This enthusiasm, coupled with his freedom to do what is forbidden to everyone else, evokes fascinating philosophical questions. Here, 15 witty, thought-provoking essays discuss hidden issues in Bond’s world, from his carnal pleasures to his license to kill. Among the lively topics explored are Bond’s relation to existentialism, including his graduation “beyond good and evil”; his objectification of women; the paradox of breaking the law in order to ultimately uphold it like any “stupid policeman”; the personality of 007 in terms of Plato’s moral psychology; and the Hegelian quest for recognition evinced by Bond villains. A reference guide to all the Bond movies rounds out the book’s many pleasures.

This book is an analysis of the most significant elements that compose the "Bond formula," such as names, binary oppositions and narrative patterns. It tackles Ian Fleming's novels as well as the 22 films of the Eon Productions series and follows the evolution of certain determining features (paradigms) from the text to the screen, to determine their function within the narration. This study reveals how the James Bond universe goes well beyond mere spy adventures to become a genre in itself as well as, now, a standard cultural reference. The book also shows that the underlying ideology of the James Bond narration is not as conservative as it might appear, for it promotes ideals of the Enlightenment period such as secularity, pragmatism and the common good.

James Bond, Ian Fleming’s irrepressible and ubiquitous ‘spy,’ is often understood as a Cold Warrior, but James Bond’s Cold War diverged from the actual global conflict in subtle but significant ways. That tension between the real and fictional provides perspectives into Cold War culture transcending ideological and geopolitical divides. The Bondiverse is complex and multi-textual, including novels, films, video games, and even a comic strip, and has also inspired an array of homages, copies, and competitors. Awareness of its rich possibilities only becomes apparent through a multi-disciplinary lens. The desire to consider current trends in Bondian studies inspired a conference entitled ‘The Bondian Cold War,’ convened at Tallinn University, Estonia in June 2019. Conference participants, drawn from three continents and multiple disciplines – film studies, history, intelligence studies, and literature, as well as intelligence practitioners – offered papers on the literary and cinematic aspects of the ‘spy’, discussed fact versus fiction in the Bond canon, went in search of a global Bond, and pondered gender and sexuality across the Bondiverse. This volume of essays inspired by that conference, suitable for students, researchers, and anyone interested in Cold War culture, makes vital contributions to understanding Bond as a global phenomenon, across traditional divisions of East and West, and beyond the end of the Cold War from which he emerged.