There are a plethora of things that can start an argument in your favorite bar/restaurant/boit. Just ask “Who was the best James Bond?” For me, the top guys who portrayed 007 were Roger Moore and Sean Connery. Lazenby was okay. Dalton, meh. Daniel Craig? Not bad. I was able to get onboard with Pierce Brosnan. But for Bond, it is either Moore or Connery. If you disagree, I don’t care. You have your Bonds, I have mine. I always wanted to be the Moore or Connery version of Bond. And I still see that silver Aston Martin in my dreams at night. If I ever had a dream car, it would be that Aston Martin. Even without the machine guns, rotating license plate, and other cool features.
There was a theory floating around the fringes of fandom once upon a time that James Bond/007 was actually an official designation, which was why the faces changed while the name stayed the same. And that makes makes some sense. Truth be told, I have two criteria for James Bond. HE has to be a man. And HE has to be British. I don’t want a female James Bond or a trans James Bond. I want a tough, suave, masculine, bad-ass guy as Bond. Bond has no questions about his gender or orientation. Thou shalt not wussify James Bond. 007 is NOT a gender unicorn.
Idris Elba was a contender to take over the role from Daniel Craig. I don’t see many movies these days but I’ve watched Elba in a few outings. Personally, I think Elba could bring the gravitas, dignity, and savoir faire to the role that it demands. I would have been cool with Elba filling 007’s tux. But Elba is not interested in taking on the role because, racism.
From Bounding Into Comics, Elba commented:
“Essentially, it was a huge sort of compliment that every corner of the world except for some corners, which we will not talk about, were really happy about the idea that I could be considered,” he added. “Those that weren’t happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting, because it became about race. It became about nonsense and I got the brunt of it.”
Bounding Into Comics noted that Ian Fleming was very concise about describing Bond’s appearance:
As he tied his thin, double-ended, black satin tie, he paused for a moment and examined himself levelly in the mirror. His grey-blue eyes looked calmly back with a hint of ironical inquiry and the short lock of black hair which would never stay in place slowly subsided to form a thick comma above his right eyebrow.
With the thin vertical scar down his right cheek the general effect was faintly piratical. Not much of Hoagy Carmichael there, thought Bond, as he filled a flat, light gunmetal box with fifty of the Morland cigarettes with the triple gold band. Mathis had told him of the girl’s comment.
The piece also features a photo from 1955’s Casino Royale, which depicts Bond as a white man.
One must wonder if any serious people were angered over the idea of Elba taking over the role. Or was there a need to summon the demon of Racism? Such a mindset has been most recently evidenced in the latest release of Cleopatra in which a Greek woman was portrayed as being black because, reasons. Moreover, it can be found in the latest fervor over the new episodes on Amazon related to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The “creators” involved in these efforts are not interested in telling new stories or drawing on the rich history of African, Pan-Asian, or North, Central or South American folklore. They just want to break things. Because their lives are governed by rhetoric and their social media feeds, they pursue a path of destruction simply because they know that it will anger long-time fans of a particular franchise and generate a buzz for a certain amount of time. They are too lazy to create. So instead they destroy and dare someone to object. Their goal is to offend. Their aim is to generate outrage, even non-existent outrage, to enjoy a brief moment in the sun. That Tolkien based his world on various European myths and archetypes is of no concern to them. That Fleming envisioned Bond as a white Englishman is not important. What matters is that they can wreck something. They are not creators, they are destroyers. And they do so what they do solely for the sake of destroying. That is what makes them bad writers, producers, and actors.
I’ve heard some say that Elba is a little long in the tooth to pick up Bond’s Walther PPK. Ultimately that would be between Elba and the casting directors. And LoTR and James Bond are two entirely different franchises. Elba could probably fill the role of 007 provided his commitment was to the character, not an agenda.
And if anyone objects, just remember: the name is Brown. Lincoln Brown. Official designation: 000.