James Bond in the 21st Century: Why We Still Need 007
Edited by Glenn Yeffeth, Smart Pop’s JAMES BOND IN THE 21ST CENTURY: WHY WE STILL NEED 007 is, obviously, a collection of essays about everyone’s favorite literary and cinematic super spy. It should be pointed out all of them were written before CASINO ROYALE came out; keep that in mind, since some of the discussions in the book might have turned out different.
Out of all its essays, I found only one lacking, and it’s so early in the book, you likely won’t mind since that leaves so much enjoyable stuff left. The book is broken down into four groups: “The Real Bond,” “Debates,” “Beating Bond” and “Bond in the 21st Century.”
It starts out with one of the few chapters that compare the movies and the books: Raymond Benson’s “Can the Cinematic Bond Ever Be the Literary Bond?” Exactly what you would expect from a title like that, Benson goes into the movie history of all the 007 movies and all parties involved, detailing how Bond was changed severely from page to screen.
One that either will give a chuckle to fans of the movies or put thoughts into the heads of every second-guesser is Mark Tiedeman’s “The Spy Who Would Not Die: An Alternate History of Bond.” Here, Tiedeman goes through the films with completely different casts and way-different directors. Names like Liam Neeson, Denzel Washington and Burt Reynolds are some of the actors in pivotal roles. But the directors’ names are a real laugh, like Tim Burton and Spike Lee.
Now, the “Debate” part of the book is pretty much movie-centric with arguments, of course, about which is the best film. Ray Dempsey has figured a way to score the Bond movies on criteria to find which is the best. It’s a bit biased, but Dempsey even admits to that. It will not shock anyone what No. 1 is.
Then you have J.A. Konrath discussing all the gadgets the made us into Bond fans as little boys. Then come Erin Dailey and Harry Elliot discussing the sexiest Bond girl in the amusingly titled “My Name Is Coochie McPantless, What’s Yours?” The breakdown is pretty simple, with Dailey picking some of the strong types who weren’t just window dressing, while Harry picks the ones he grew up seeing on TV. They’re both wrong: We all know it’s Tatiana Romanova in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
The last two essays of this section are about the best Bond, where a case for Timothy Dalton is made, and of course, the best villain, with Steve Rubio arguing for one of the forgotten villains from NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN.
Part three leads with “How to Make James Bond Your Bitch,” while Lawrence Watt-Evans does a great send-up of Bond being scrutinized by former agents and his boss in “Chinks in the Armor.” Natasha Giardina’s report treads some of the same territory with a spoof of Bond’s performance review, then you have David Morefiled’s piece about being a super villain, which goes through some of the big mistakes all these baddies make, right down to the stupid uniforms.
As funny as the piece is, one of his jokes has been used a few too many times: that once you capture Bond, just shoot him. But it can be forgiven, since the essay on the whole is laugh-out-loud. Closing out this section is Raelynn Hillhouse’s open letter to a certain terrorist written by the Bond bad guys.
Closing up the book is a group of articles that bring Bond to the here and now, with the true standout being Andrea Carlo Cappi’s essay about always wanting to be James Bond – a feeling he shares with some of his fellow authors. Adam Roberts’ piece on Bond being the greatest Englishman is a treat, showing that his competition is not the greatest. Plus, he throws in one of the funniest DR. WHO references ever. Then you have a piece by Sarah Zettel who compares both the movie Bond (female fantasy) and the book version (male fantasy). That’s pretty much the discussion, but she proves her thesis really well.
Interspersed throughout the book are little asides about eating, drinking and dressing like Bond, with a few comical Ann Landers-like letters addressed to one Dr. Yes. If you’re a fan at all of James Bond, I can’t stress how much fun this book is, even if you’ve only seen the movies, even though the die-hards among us will get even greater enjoyment out of this surprising collection.
Now if only they could put out another one with opinions on CASINO ROYALE. I’ve got a feeling some statements might be changed. Smart Pop gives Bond fans a real treat here, right down to its movie-like cover. –Bruce Grossman
You did a great job with a review of this book. I hadn’t heard of this book yet, so you informed me about a very fascinating read. I’ll definitely have to get this. I know there are lots of critics of various stripes who believe that Bond is dated and irrelevant to our times. They see him as a icon of a past that we should be trying to move beyond. He’s too politically incorrect in many cases for their tastes. I’ve enjoyed all the actors who have played 007. My favorites are Connery, Dalton, and Craig. I like both the literary and theatrical Bonds. I’ll admit that I would love to be like Bond. James Bond, Hugh Hefner, and Dean Martin are three men I admire and would love to be like.