Abstract
This chapter addresses a lacuna in the study of the James Bond films by evaluating how the landscape settings, from city to countryside to tourist hotspots, have been used to depict and symbolise power. It presents the development of landscapes from early modernity to the present day, showing how they reflect processes and relations of capitalism, imperialism, gender, class and labour. The Bond films also importantly chart an ideological shift in capitalism and nationalism, using Zygmunt Bauman’s framing of ‘solid modernity’ and ‘liquid modernity’ as useful tools for understanding how the global common sense has shifted since the Cold War era with postmodernism and neoliberalism.
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Notes
- 1.
This observation by Williams is often taken at face value, but as the book’s arguments progress it becomes clear that Williams is working with a shifting and evolving notion of landscape that increasingly allows the admission of ‘working country’ into its definition.
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Films
Casino Royale. (2006).
Dr. No. (1962).
For Your Eyes Only. (1981).
Goldfinger. (1964).
The Living Daylights. (1987).
The Man with the Golden Gun. (1974).
Quantum of Solace. (2008).
Skyfall. (2012).
Spectre. (2015).
A View to a Kill. (1985).
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Waterman, T. (2018). Thailand, Highland and Secret Island: Landscape and Power in Bond Films. In: Strong, J. (eds) James Bond Uncovered. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76123-7_10
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