Political Correctness thread

[IrishLax]

That article reeked of virtue signaling, but I'd be super on board with Idris being Bond. He's a great actor, plays a badass extremely well, and is British AF.

Besides the 007 continuity has always worked best if you act like "007/James Bond" is a title instead of a real name. (I know Skyfall fucked that up, but let's be honest, if it's true that this is all supposed to be one man, the whole timeline is already so far up its own ass that continuity doesn't matter anyway.)

EDIT: I'd certainly prefer Elba to Henry Cavill. Saw him in MI:6 last weekend and decided I'd give him one more chance. He looks the part but is as emotive as a block of wood.

I think Idris would be amazing in that role, and I'd totally watch. And I totally agree with the bolded... follows like "Q" and "M" being multiple people and it being a title.

 

[IrishLion]

I assumed that Bond/007 WAS an earned title and alias, and that Skyfall showing the family name and whatnot was just one of those weird "James Bond Movies" plot points, like a super strange coincidence that is almost unbelievable.

I don't mind Elba as Bond. He's a BAMF with an English accent.

I also don't think it's always about changing "a white guy to a black guy for PC's sake" or whatever. I think this one is probably a business decision. Not only does it appease those screaming for inclusivity, but you're probably going to increase revenue from more black folks coming out to see the movie, while all the white people that love James Bond movies will still come out, too.

I would imagine the percentage of people turned off by a black Bond would be a smaller number than the influx of new viewers.

 

[ACamp1900]

Bond isn’t English!! ... and he’s not a title for multiple people,... He’s one dude.

 

[zelezo vlk]

The problem I have with Elba is the same one I had when these rumors were coming out 3 years ago: he'll be 50 by the time his first movie would be out. It's the same issue with Damian Lewis, they'll be too old for the role. It's one thing to creep up there in years towards the end, but another thing entirely to start your Bond career at 50. Craig is 50 right now, and he's been rumored to be "too old" since before Spectre was released. Find a younger guy and go with him.

 

[ACamp1900]

The problem here is too few people know anything or care about Bond, the filmmakers included. There are only a handful of 'super heroes' whose ethnicity or national ties are central to the character and he's one of them. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, War Machine, and many many others could have their ethnic or national ties changed without it really doing anything to the core character... Captain American, Shaft, Bond, Black Panther... those guys, the background is a huge part of who they are and shouldn't be changed. I know this is lost in many of the films (and I don't like that either) but Bond is a rage filled Scot who is never truly comfortable working for "Her Majesty"... it's part of who he is. Having him be a black English dude kills the character in much the same way casting Jackie Chan to play Shaft or having some Australian become Captain America would kill those characters. Just my two cents....

 

[connor_in]

Just bring in The Rock and be done with it

 

[connor_in]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“The right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended." Rowan Atkinson has been warning the UK since 2004. <a href="https://t.co/43kePKeGjo">https://t.co/43kePKeGjo</a> <a href="https://t.co/Jeru5hNlIv">pic.twitter.com/Jeru5hNlIv</a></p>— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1027880196546818048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[wizards8507]

The problem here is too few people know anything or care about Bond, the filmmakers included. There are only a handful of 'super heroes' whose ethnicity or national ties are central to the character and he's one of them. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, War Machine, and many many others could have their ethnic or national ties changed without it really doing anything to the core character... Captain American, Shaft, Bond, Black Panther... those guys, the background is a huge part of who they are and shouldn't be changed. I know this is lost in many of the films (and I don't like that either) but Bond is a rage filled Scot who is never truly comfortable working for "Her Majesty"... it's part of who he is. Having him be a black English dude kills the character in much the same way casting Jackie Chan to play Shaft or having some Australian become Captain America would kill those characters. Just my two cents....

Literally nobody cares (or even knows) that James Bond is Scottish except you. I agree that there are some characters whose ethnicity matters, but I don't think Bond is one of them.

Black Bond? Yes.
Black Heimdall? No, but minor.
Lady Bond? No, never.

 

[Irish YJ]

The problem I have with Elba is the same one I had when these rumors were coming out 3 years ago: he'll be 50 by the time his first movie would be out. It's the same issue with Damian Lewis, they'll be too old for the role. It's one thing to creep up there in years towards the end, but another thing entirely to start your Bond career at 50. Craig is 50 right now, and he's been rumored to be "too old" since before Spectre was released. Find a younger guy and go with him.

I've actually preferred Bonds with a bit of age to them. I don't want a 20s or 30s action hero. I want a seasoned, darkish, polished but gritty, guy with 20+ years of experience in the spy game to draw personality from.

The problem here is too few people know anything or care about Bond, the filmmakers included. There are only a handful of 'super heroes' whose ethnicity or national ties are central to the character and he's one of them. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, War Machine, and many many others could have their ethnic or national ties changed without it really doing anything to the core character... Captain American, Shaft, Bond, Black Panther... those guys, the background is a huge part of who they are and shouldn't be changed. I know this is lost in many of the films (and I don't like that either) but Bond is a rage filled Scot who is never truly comfortable working for "Her Majesty"... it's part of who he is. Having him be a black English dude kills the character in much the same way casting Jackie Chan to play Shaft or having some Australian become Captain America would kill those characters. Just my two cents....

Like it was said earlier, I think it has to do with the times. Not really the PC time of today, but today in general. Back in the 50s and 60s when he wrote the character, there was still a lot of plausibility that there could be an enraged Scot who is not comfortable with working for the English Queen. That narrative doesn't hold all that much water in a 2010s setting. Now if you want to flip the setting back to mid 1960s, then sure.. But that's not what is happening. It's just hard to maintain a 1960's narrative that's not really relevant if the story takes place now.


Now they could make a "son of 007"... Idris could be the love child of Rosie Carver or May Day lol.... . In all seriousness, I think Idris is a great pick if you're willing to forget about the pissed off Scot narrative. He can be polished, gritty, dark, and we know he's British AF.

 

[greyhammer90]

If it's an "essential" characteristic then they should've done something with it for the last 40 years.

 

[greyhammer90]

Lady Bond?

Don't even speak of such things.

 

[Irish YJ]

Don't even speak of such things.

What about a female who identified as a Scottish Male?

 

[ACamp1900]

Literally nobody cares (or even knows) that James Bond is Scottish except you. I agree that there are some characters whose ethnicity matters, but I don't think Bond is one of them.

Plenty of BOND FANS care about this... the problem, again, is people who don't give much of a shit imposing in on it. I know this, I'm a huge Bond fan, he's like the only 'super hero' I give any fuck about... I'd consider walking away completely if they re create the character as a Black English dude.

 

[zelezo vlk]

They could bring up the Scotland thing by making it sound like he voted to leave?

 

[ACamp1900]

The best way to do this imo is have the next Bond film center around James working closely with another 00 agent (whichever English actor they want to focus on). This is a scenario that has been done in the past... and then transition that character into his own film series... best of both worlds.

 

[ulukinatme]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“The right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended." Rowan Atkinson has been warning the UK since 2004. <a href="https://t.co/43kePKeGjo">https://t.co/43kePKeGjo</a> <a href="https://t.co/Jeru5hNlIv">pic.twitter.com/Jeru5hNlIv</a></p>— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1027880196546818048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Dude is a genius, not to mention he gave us Black Adder. Whether you liked Mr. Bean or not is subjective, Black Adder was great though.

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[connor_in]

Dude is a genius, not to mention he gave us Black Adder. Whether you liked Mr. Bean or not is subjective, Black Adder was great though.

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[Irish YJ]

Plenty of BOND FANS care about this... the problem, again, is people who don't give much of a shit imposing in on it. I know this, I'm a huge Bond fan, he's like the only 'super hero' I give any fuck about... I'd consider walking away completely if they re create the character as a Black English dude.

I don't know if I'd call him a "superhero", but Bond was one of my favorites, if not THE favorite growing up. Moonraker was one of the first "adult" movies I ever saw in a theater as a weeeee lad. I was instantly a huge fan and found Bond to be my favorite character even though a year earlier I saw Reeve's Superman. I suddenly wanted to watch every Bond flick out there. While RM was great, my favorite was SC from the start as I began to watch the films. Never really cared for any of the other actors until Craig came along. Bronson was OK, and I preferred him to Dalton. Craig IMO, brought the character back from Hollywood abyss.

Overall, I'm OK with them moving on from the angry Scot narrative of the 50s/60s as it's just not plausible in the 2010s. My only wish is that they keep him dark and a bit gritty.

So Acamp, who would you pick?

Out of the names kicked around, Idris IMO will be way better than Cavill which I think was the favorite for a while. I do like Hiddleston and Fassbender though, but not as much as Idris. Aiden Turner, Hardy, and Jack Huston were really hard to picture in that roll. Norton and Harrington, maybe in time, but too young.

 

[ACamp1900]

Overall, I'm OK with them moving on from the angry Scot narrative of the 50s/60s as it's just not plausible in the 2010s.

Dafaq planet are you living on???

Anyway, for me,... Staying with Craig for as long as possible would be the best deal... he's the closest to the real Bond we've seen on film.

 

[Irish YJ]

Dafaq planet are you living on???

You think that in 2010, there are a lot of angry Scots that still hate/mistrust England due to the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries? Scots are woke AF these days. The Scottish independence thing going on right now is kinda funny. Even the SNP wants to keep the monarchy and still hang as a commonwealth. And isn't Scotland the most progressive area of the UK outside of London.

I'd love them to be able to keep the angry Scot narrative, but they'd have to find the right back story.

 

[Irish YJ]

Dafaq planet are you living on???

Anyway, for me,... Staying with Craig for as long as possible would be the best deal... he's the closest to the real Bond we've seen on film.

Absolutely. Was not a happy camper when the talk started about him moving on.

 

[ACamp1900]

You think that in 2010, there are a lot of angry Scots that still hate/mistrust England?

 

[Irish YJ]

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[greyhammer90]

MGM execs when ACamp threatens to leave if they don't respect a ethnicity that hasn't informed the character in forty years:

 

[zelezo vlk]

Can anybody understand what the fuck that girl is even saying? Are we sure the Scots have developed the capability of language?

 

[ACamp1900]

MGM execs when ACamp threatens to leave if they don't respect a ethnicity that hasn't informed the character in forty years:

You mean Hollywood isn't there just for me??... I'm aware no one cares but if we are going to discuss this I'm going to be honest about my opinions, especially on this as I'm like the only confirmed Bond fanatic on the site (at least as far as I can tell)...

 

[ACamp1900]

Can anybody understand what the fuck that girl is even saying? Are we sure the Scots have developed the capability of language?

https://www.facebook.com/TheHookOfficial/videos/understanding-the-scottish-accent/2273266676072111/

 

[Irish YJ]

Can anybody understand what the fuck that girl is even saying? Are we sure the Scots have developed the capability of language?

lol. She even mentions the English can't understand them...

The new Scottish hate for the English has replaced the old Scottish hate for the English. There's nothing nefarious, and no oppression like the 300 years before......, it's simply a matter of politics and attitude. The Scots have their own parliament now and choose to vote for independence whenever they want.

there's some funny stuff in the link below. Regardless, F the English.

Dear Scotland: here are 76 things we'd like to apologise for, love England
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/19/scottish-independence-76-things-apologise

 

[ACamp1900]

There's nothing nefarious, and no oppression like the 300 years before......,

....................................................

Git de feck ot!!!! Ya daen jes say day ya wankstain!!!




Seriously though, STFU. lol

 

[Irish YJ]

....................................................

Git de feck ot!!!! Ya daen jes say day ya wankstain!!!




Seriously though, STFU. lol

Here's one of the 76 and relevant to the conversation... lol..

27 Sorry for incessantly satirising Sean Connery for being a Scottish nationalist who lives in the Caribbean. It's not funny and it's not clever. It is hypocritical of him, but sorry anyway.