Joe Macaré looks at how the James Bond franchise manages to stagger on even as the agent's empire disintegrates around him.
"You're living in a ruin -- you just don't know it yet!" --Silva, Skyfall
What is it with England and its love of reactionary matriarchs?
Like James Bond, my country of origin needs a lot of therapy. Like Bond, we tend to prefer self-medication instead. Daniel Craig's 007 is explicitly diagnosed with a drug and alcohol problem in Skyfall, before being declared fit for active service -- because, frankly, alcoholism in Britain is considered less a disease and more a mark of character.
In Skyfall, a ruthless matriarch takes center stage in the former of Judi Dench's M, who is beloved by the emotionally damaged adoptive sons she sends to their death (and in more than one case, resurrection).
M is possibly short for Emma (as in Emma Peel, one half of British super spy duo The Avengers?) and Mother, but it's also for Maggie and for Her Majesty. These two looming female figureheads in British history, Margaret Thatcher and Elizabeth II -- both undeservedly venerated by both recent cinema and politics -- can be seen as clear inspirations for the character of M.
Dench's head of MI6 is very much an Iron Lady who's not for turning, indeed she's arguably colder and even more committed to duty and the mission above all than Bond. But when Javier Bardem's villain Silva mocks Bond's love and veneration for an old woman running things on her little island whose empire has crumbled, at the same time as he is mocking his love of country, it's England's dear old Queen for whom M is standing in.
What is it with England and its love of reactionary matriarchs?
Like James Bond, my country of origin needs a lot of therapy. Like Bond, we tend to prefer self-medication instead. Daniel Craig's 007 is explicitly diagnosed with a drug and alcohol problem in Skyfall, before being declared fit for active service -- because, frankly, alcoholism in Britain is considered less a disease and more a mark of character.
In Skyfall, a ruthless matriarch takes center stage in the former of Judi Dench's M, who is beloved by the emotionally damaged adoptive sons she sends to their death (and in more than one case, resurrection).
M is possibly short for Emma (as in Emma Peel, one half of British super spy duo The Avengers?) and Mother, but it's also for Maggie and for Her Majesty. These two looming female figureheads in British history, Margaret Thatcher and Elizabeth II -- both undeservedly venerated by both recent cinema and politics -- can be seen as clear inspirations for the character of M.
Dench's head of MI6 is very much an Iron Lady who's not for turning, indeed she's arguably colder and even more committed to duty and the mission above all than Bond. But when Javier Bardem's villain Silva mocks Bond's love and veneration for an old woman running things on her little island whose empire has crumbled, at the same time as he is mocking his love of country, it's England's dear old Queen for whom M is standing in.
MI6: the action, the intrigue, the clap
Of course, Bond has interacted directly with Queen Elizabeth herself recently, during the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Together with the Queen's fascistic Golden Jubilee, golden barge and all, the Games formed two pompous, ridiculous spectacles in which Britain attempted to reaffirm its Greatness in 2012, and it's tempting to see the movie that is in part its own anniversary celebration (50 years of Queen Liz, 50 years of Bond!) as a third.
On one level, Skyfall is indeed another piece of imperialist, nationalist kitsch (as all Bond films are by definition), as much so as the Churchill bulldog M keeps on her desk. But it comes awfully close to saying the opposite of those spectacles -- implying the hollowness at the heart of "Great" Britain that they revealed only by accident.
Then again, Danny Boyle's opening ceremony for the Games was hailed as subversion by many liberals, somewhat over-generously. As a left-wing, anti-imperialist feminist who enjoys Bond movies, it's tempting to make the same mistake with Skyfall, and see it as pure subversion: A critique of British imperialism disguised as a celebration of it. The truth is inevitably more complicated, as is the film's relationship with misogyny.
"Job's done. The bitch is dead." --Bond, Casino Royale
Daniel Craig's Bond, through a combination of the writing and his performance, has always worn his misogyny on his sleeve. It is true that his Bond's sexism is an explicit character trait and one depicted more as a symptom of emotional damage than something to be admired, ever since Casino Royale.
However, if Mad Men has taught us anything, it's that you can cram as much scathing critique of patriarchy, white supremacy and male privilege into a piece of popular culture, show the protagonist to be as damaged as you like. But so long as he looks good doing it and still gets to have sex with lots of women, he will be seen as aspirational.
The Bond movies, meanwhile, continue to be more complicit in sexism than critical of it -- were this balance to shift, they would probably not be Bond movies anymore.
Skyfall shows its complicity in colonial racism and sexism in the character of Severine (Bérénice Marlohe). There's a fairly shameless reveling in Orientalist fantasy during the film's sections set in Shanghai and Macau, especially the latter during which Bond arrives at Severine's casino on a boat looking as much the great white adventurer in the East as he ever has.
Critiques of this white knight can be found -- Bond brings with him, of course, nothing but betrayal and death. Severine is the victim of two white saviors: First Silva "rescues" her from the sex trade (Nick Kristof would be proud), then Bond extends the promise of salvation from Silva.
The end result? The woman is murdered so callously that both I and a companion I watched the film with did not immediately understand that she was dead. Neither Bond or the film pause to mourn her. (Skyfall's final female casualty does get a reaction from Bond, in fact we see him in tears, but not for long.)
But at the end of the day, white, cisgender, heterosexual men (who might have experimented with their sexuality a bit at some point) like Bond are also ultimately disposal as far as the modern imperial power is concerned. Silva was handed over to the Chinese as chattel when M cut a deal to ensure a peaceful transition as the UK gave up Hong Kong, one of the last jewels in its colonialist crown. Bond is equally easily sacrificed for the sake of the national interest. But what on earth does that mean anymore?
On one level, Skyfall is indeed another piece of imperialist, nationalist kitsch (as all Bond films are by definition), as much so as the Churchill bulldog M keeps on her desk. But it comes awfully close to saying the opposite of those spectacles -- implying the hollowness at the heart of "Great" Britain that they revealed only by accident.
Then again, Danny Boyle's opening ceremony for the Games was hailed as subversion by many liberals, somewhat over-generously. As a left-wing, anti-imperialist feminist who enjoys Bond movies, it's tempting to make the same mistake with Skyfall, and see it as pure subversion: A critique of British imperialism disguised as a celebration of it. The truth is inevitably more complicated, as is the film's relationship with misogyny.
"Job's done. The bitch is dead." --Bond, Casino Royale
Daniel Craig's Bond, through a combination of the writing and his performance, has always worn his misogyny on his sleeve. It is true that his Bond's sexism is an explicit character trait and one depicted more as a symptom of emotional damage than something to be admired, ever since Casino Royale.
However, if Mad Men has taught us anything, it's that you can cram as much scathing critique of patriarchy, white supremacy and male privilege into a piece of popular culture, show the protagonist to be as damaged as you like. But so long as he looks good doing it and still gets to have sex with lots of women, he will be seen as aspirational.
The Bond movies, meanwhile, continue to be more complicit in sexism than critical of it -- were this balance to shift, they would probably not be Bond movies anymore.
Skyfall shows its complicity in colonial racism and sexism in the character of Severine (Bérénice Marlohe). There's a fairly shameless reveling in Orientalist fantasy during the film's sections set in Shanghai and Macau, especially the latter during which Bond arrives at Severine's casino on a boat looking as much the great white adventurer in the East as he ever has.
Critiques of this white knight can be found -- Bond brings with him, of course, nothing but betrayal and death. Severine is the victim of two white saviors: First Silva "rescues" her from the sex trade (Nick Kristof would be proud), then Bond extends the promise of salvation from Silva.
The end result? The woman is murdered so callously that both I and a companion I watched the film with did not immediately understand that she was dead. Neither Bond or the film pause to mourn her. (Skyfall's final female casualty does get a reaction from Bond, in fact we see him in tears, but not for long.)
But at the end of the day, white, cisgender, heterosexual men (who might have experimented with their sexuality a bit at some point) like Bond are also ultimately disposal as far as the modern imperial power is concerned. Silva was handed over to the Chinese as chattel when M cut a deal to ensure a peaceful transition as the UK gave up Hong Kong, one of the last jewels in its colonialist crown. Bond is equally easily sacrificed for the sake of the national interest. But what on earth does that mean anymore?
"For England, James?" --Alec Trevelyan, Goldeneye
All nation states are fallacies, but few have looked so transparently arbitrary as the idea of a Great Britain or United Kingdom in recent years.
Bond's patriotism is a defining feature but it is also a construct: He identifies specifically with England (not something broader like Britain or the United Kingdom) but turns out to be from Scotland. Yes, it's a nod to Connery, a little nostalgic in-joke. But it's also worth noting the history of these two countries, and that one was once the colonial property of the other. Bond recreates himself as the consummate Englishman and, once we're shown a reminder of his more provincial past, he does the only thing possible and destroys the evidence.
What is done to the ancestral home from which Skyfall takes its name is an apt representation of what the current Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government is doing to the United Kingdom: That is to say, torching it, burning it away from the inside out as surely as Silva's insides are burned out by the misfiring cyanide capsule he takes. It should be noted that Bond does the worst of this damage himself (although the place has already been sold, just like MI6 has sold Bond's London home, which come to think of it is an even better representation of Con-Dem policy).
In fact, the whole plot of Skyfall is about blowback, friendly fire and self-inflicted wounds. There's little sense that the country -- in the sense of its population -- is under threat. What's at stake is the security apparatus itself, but the security apparatus is also to blame. Not only are the threatened targets all part of the world of espionage (M, her employees and other spies are in danger, with civilian collateral damage, but Silva has no world-threatening machine), but former agent Silva steals a list of undercover "NATO agents" that it's implied MI6 wasn't supposed to have made. M has been spying on her allies, it would seem: "Mommy was very naughty," as Silva puts it.
M's justification of the need for a secret service is thus a self-reinforcing loop: MI6 must exist to protect MI6 from threats that MI6 has created. The security state is eating itself, preying on itself like the cannibalistic rats of whom Silva tells. (The Bond franchise is also cannibalizing itself, because Silva has very similar origins and motivations to Goldeneye's Alec Trevelyan.)
Skyfall's antipathy to technology can be interpreted in various timely ways, but it is also a reflection of the reliance of the idea of Great Britain on myths from the past. We see a gradual retreat into older architecture, older cars and older tools as the film goes on: First a move from the shiny MI6 building to an old Churchill bunker, then to Skyfall Lodge itself for a siege reminiscent of Straw Dogs. This is nostalgia as conservative force: Save the old order by literally going to hide in the past. This is also Bond under austerity: No more flashy gadgets, just a gun and a radio.
"The Queen is dead, boys, and it's so lonely on a limb." --Morrissey
So what are we to make of Skyfall's remarkably upbeat ending? Queen M is dead, but the ship of empire plows ahead more determinedly than ever.
After setting up protecting M as Bond's motivation and killing her as Silva's, we see an end result that apparently ends in victory for the latter. Except for Bond at least, it's not really about that: He declares himself the victor simply by virtue of being last rat standing.
Earlier, M and Bond lay out their real motivations: "I'll go when the job's done." "Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first." It doesn't matter what's left of you so long as you carry out the mission. Professionalism is another of Bond's defining features, one he shares with his mentor and one which, like alcoholism, keeps him from falling apart.
M's death also cuts Bond's final emotional tie with anything or anyone real. Silva says he has nothing extraneous in his life, neither now does Bond. The modern agent of a neoliberal power has no attachment to people or place, only to an abstract concept of nationality. And he's unflappable, because he's so burnt out and dead inside that he no longer feels anything.
And that's why the film ends with Bond throwing himself into his work, "with pleasure." Work here means not something you can't do because of your weaknesses and ills but a thing you do in order to distract from them: This is pretty much the driving essence of British masculinity.
This is, of course, also the Con-Dem coalition's prescription for the country. Back to work, Britain! Even if, like Bond, you're not really fit for active service. Even if you were once deemed eligible for disability benefits which the Tories have taken away, even if you're being forced to work unpaid in order to qualify for welfare.
I am reminded of the much-parodied slogan and poster "Keep Calm and Carry On," another piece of nationalist kitsch that has its origins in the World War II era, which has been rightly critiqued for carrying a reactionary message into a new hip aesthetic. Repress what emotions you have left and continue on in your work, in a constant state of war, in obedience to the crown.
What could be more British? What could be more Bond?
Joe Macaré works at Truth-Out.org and is also an editor at the Occupied Chicago Tribune.
All nation states are fallacies, but few have looked so transparently arbitrary as the idea of a Great Britain or United Kingdom in recent years.
Bond's patriotism is a defining feature but it is also a construct: He identifies specifically with England (not something broader like Britain or the United Kingdom) but turns out to be from Scotland. Yes, it's a nod to Connery, a little nostalgic in-joke. But it's also worth noting the history of these two countries, and that one was once the colonial property of the other. Bond recreates himself as the consummate Englishman and, once we're shown a reminder of his more provincial past, he does the only thing possible and destroys the evidence.
What is done to the ancestral home from which Skyfall takes its name is an apt representation of what the current Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government is doing to the United Kingdom: That is to say, torching it, burning it away from the inside out as surely as Silva's insides are burned out by the misfiring cyanide capsule he takes. It should be noted that Bond does the worst of this damage himself (although the place has already been sold, just like MI6 has sold Bond's London home, which come to think of it is an even better representation of Con-Dem policy).
In fact, the whole plot of Skyfall is about blowback, friendly fire and self-inflicted wounds. There's little sense that the country -- in the sense of its population -- is under threat. What's at stake is the security apparatus itself, but the security apparatus is also to blame. Not only are the threatened targets all part of the world of espionage (M, her employees and other spies are in danger, with civilian collateral damage, but Silva has no world-threatening machine), but former agent Silva steals a list of undercover "NATO agents" that it's implied MI6 wasn't supposed to have made. M has been spying on her allies, it would seem: "Mommy was very naughty," as Silva puts it.
M's justification of the need for a secret service is thus a self-reinforcing loop: MI6 must exist to protect MI6 from threats that MI6 has created. The security state is eating itself, preying on itself like the cannibalistic rats of whom Silva tells. (The Bond franchise is also cannibalizing itself, because Silva has very similar origins and motivations to Goldeneye's Alec Trevelyan.)
Skyfall's antipathy to technology can be interpreted in various timely ways, but it is also a reflection of the reliance of the idea of Great Britain on myths from the past. We see a gradual retreat into older architecture, older cars and older tools as the film goes on: First a move from the shiny MI6 building to an old Churchill bunker, then to Skyfall Lodge itself for a siege reminiscent of Straw Dogs. This is nostalgia as conservative force: Save the old order by literally going to hide in the past. This is also Bond under austerity: No more flashy gadgets, just a gun and a radio.
"The Queen is dead, boys, and it's so lonely on a limb." --Morrissey
So what are we to make of Skyfall's remarkably upbeat ending? Queen M is dead, but the ship of empire plows ahead more determinedly than ever.
After setting up protecting M as Bond's motivation and killing her as Silva's, we see an end result that apparently ends in victory for the latter. Except for Bond at least, it's not really about that: He declares himself the victor simply by virtue of being last rat standing.
Earlier, M and Bond lay out their real motivations: "I'll go when the job's done." "Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first." It doesn't matter what's left of you so long as you carry out the mission. Professionalism is another of Bond's defining features, one he shares with his mentor and one which, like alcoholism, keeps him from falling apart.
M's death also cuts Bond's final emotional tie with anything or anyone real. Silva says he has nothing extraneous in his life, neither now does Bond. The modern agent of a neoliberal power has no attachment to people or place, only to an abstract concept of nationality. And he's unflappable, because he's so burnt out and dead inside that he no longer feels anything.
And that's why the film ends with Bond throwing himself into his work, "with pleasure." Work here means not something you can't do because of your weaknesses and ills but a thing you do in order to distract from them: This is pretty much the driving essence of British masculinity.
This is, of course, also the Con-Dem coalition's prescription for the country. Back to work, Britain! Even if, like Bond, you're not really fit for active service. Even if you were once deemed eligible for disability benefits which the Tories have taken away, even if you're being forced to work unpaid in order to qualify for welfare.
I am reminded of the much-parodied slogan and poster "Keep Calm and Carry On," another piece of nationalist kitsch that has its origins in the World War II era, which has been rightly critiqued for carrying a reactionary message into a new hip aesthetic. Repress what emotions you have left and continue on in your work, in a constant state of war, in obedience to the crown.
What could be more British? What could be more Bond?
Joe Macaré works at Truth-Out.org and is also an editor at the Occupied Chicago Tribune.
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