LoEG: Century 2009 - When Orlando Met M, and Skyfall Discussion

[espanolbot]

Mild spoilers for Skyfall, which you should see, because it's awesome.

At the beginning of 2009, Orlando was charged with finding Mina Murrey, who'd disappeared during the 1960s, so that they could band together and save the world from the Moonchild/AntiChrist/Harry Potter.

Unable to find her due to being out of the loop for some four odd decades, she decides to cash in her chips and go back to her old bosses in Mi5 to see if they have any leads for her.

Just a note before the scans, oddly Mi5 and Mi6 seem to be the same organisation within the LoEG universe, which isn't really true in real life. Mi5 (or Security Service, and yes they do occasionally sure the acronym) is, basically, anti-terrorism and counter espionage within the UK, while Mi6 (SIS) handles international things relating so said threats to the UK.

Mi6 doesn't have the legal authority to operate within the UK, hence the need for two organisations... BUT since the League books are based mainly within the UK, they are basically squashed into one organisation for the sake of dramatic convenience.

Anyways, back on with the scans!













The reason why I post these scans now is I saw Skyfall the other day, and I noticed an interesting series of parallels between the two, as well as subversions within the film itself that work a lot better than the Moore version.

Spoilers...

- Within the films, Judi Dench took over the role of M (head of Mi6 in the Bondverse) in a portrayal that was based somewhat on the former head of Mi5 Eliza Manningham-Buller. Within the Leagueverse, the character of Emma Peel has risen through the ranks to fulfill a similar role to Dench's M, who in Skyfall is implied, if not outright stated, to be called... Emma.

- The above scans dsplay the theory that has been circling recently, that James Bond is actually a title within the Bondverse, and that each respective actor playing the part inherited the name after the previous agent died, retired etc. This is used to explain why George Lazenby's 007 quit after one outting, due to his wife dying, for example, and why characters like Q and M age while Bond stays the same age (or gets younger) every couple of years.

This theory doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you put your mnd to it (several subsequent Bond's after Lazenby's were mentioned to have had dead wives), but it was apparently well known enough that Die Another Day director Lee Tamahori was planning to insert into his movie but was overruled. BUT, within Skyfall they bring up the concept of agents with inherited names (the villain Raoul Silva is an ex-Mi6 agent with one, for example), and they do make several references to the adventures of previous Bonds (implied to have taken place in a contemporised form between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall) but they were all meant to be Daniel Craig's Bond's.

- An interesting parallel, albeit it a probably unintentional one, between 2009 and the Daniel Craig Bond movies is the move from stories being told around male characters to ones being told around female ones... Let me explain.

In Casino Royale the typical tropes surrounding Bond's relationships with women were subverted in the sense that it became less about Bond meeting several women over the course of the movie, (though Bond's womanising is present at least to start with) and more a developing romance between him and his colleague Vesper Lynn. Quantum of Solace's plot followed directly on from CR in it being entirely focused on Bond trying to find the group that caused Vesper's death, heck he didn't ever get a love interest in that movie because he was still focused on avenging the woman he was willing to retire from Mi6 for.

Skyfall continues this trend with, again, no actual love interest, and the entire plot being focused around Judi Dench's M, her past, character development and her relationship with Bond. Bond's parents died when he was very young, and within the context of the Daniel Craig films... M IS Bond's adoptive mother in a lot of ways, which makes their relationship interesting as mother/son relationships aren't really covered that much in media. Beyond unhealthy ones like Psycho, obviously. The latter, more common form of the mother/son relationship is reflected in the behaviour of Silva.

The shift from male centric stories to female ones is also a theme that is shared with 2009, which began with the metaphorical signalling of this shift with Orlando genderflipping from her male form to her female one. The story then proceeds to be driven for the remander of the book by Mina, Emma, and Orlando, with the male characters shifting into secondary roles for the majority of the plot. The shift in LoEG is certainly a lot more abrupt than the one in the Daniel Craig era of Bond films, but the shift is there if you're looking for it. Both 2009 and Craig era Bond also have the simularity of having competant leading female characters who having to be competant characters first and female second (probably wording this wrong, but they're Strong Characters who are female, not Strong Female Characters).

- And finally, Moore in 2009 picks up on the tired gag about how Bond's constant smoking, drinking and sleeping around would leave him a physical wreck eventually when talking about James Bond the First, actually gets a reference in Skyfall. Well not the smoking or STD thing, but after several years of dangerous, lifethreatening work in the field coupled with his drinking and mental issues pretty much get him almost declined a chance to come back to Mi6 after faking his death. The fact that he's physically deteriorated since his debut in Casino Royale (think Bruce Wayne in Dark Knight Rises for a comparison) is an interesting break from the usual mold, amongst several other departures from the standard Bond formula that are within the film.

Not least Bond saying that he'd had sex with men in the past, which is certainly something that would make Ian Fleming cough on his cigars and cognac, what with his bizarre ideas of non-hetro folk.

In short, although the Bond franchise hasn't exactly been very woman friendly in the past (this is an understatement, as Moore's meanspirited protrayal of Bond in the Black Dossier is meant to represent, but frankly he's one to talk considering his repeated use of Certain Tropes), Skyfall in particular breaks from the formula to allow people other than Bond a chance to develop on screen, in addition to greatly upping their game in their protrayal of female characters. Seriously, Judi Dench is excellent in this film (think a British, more benevolent Amanda Waller), as is Naomie Harris as Eve, who shows that Bond isn't the only competant 00 agent in Mi6 and goes on to become effectively Bond's platonic friend.

Also kind of amused that Craig's Bond is called a thug when he actually has an emotional range, unlike say Connery's.

Comments

[lucean]

The inherited Bond theory doesn't really work in Skyfall for spoilery reasons I will not go in to here, related to where title comes from.

As for women, I did really like the focus on the relationship between M and Bond in that movie, and how we didn't have the ever-changing Bond love interest. Also I was kind of surprised how blunt the movie was about how willing Bond is to sacrifice almost anyone for the mission. I kind of loved it.

[espanolbot]

Yeah, the Bond as an inherited name thing doesn't work for said reasons, but I thought that Raoul Silva as an inherited name was a reference to the theory or something.

[filthysize]

Skipping the Bond discussion because I haven't seen Skyfall, but god, I love all the MI5 stuff from Century. Consolidating the various espionage organizations in James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Spooks, Torchwood, The Avengers and The Third Man into one is just deliciously cool. I don't even mind the random Burn Notice shout-out.

[icon_uk]

James Bond - The Authorised Biography puts forward another idea: That Bond was real, but after a couple of high profile cases risked going public early in his career, Ian Fleming (who in real life did some work for MI5 during WWII) put forward the idea that he create a notional "superspy" and publish books about him, using the name James Bond, and making him out to be SO high profile and SO superhuman that the real Bond would be assumed to be a fake whose name MI5 had co-opted. This sort of ensure that SMERSH and SPECTRE would never reveal it was him that had foiled them since they would be unlikely to be taken seriously and risk ridicule.

[espanolbot]

The thing I think is personally amusing is that Christopher Lee was Ian Fleming's first choice to play Bond in the films, before eventually conceding to the filmmakers hiring Connery.

What makes this funny is two things: one, Lee is actually Fleming's cousin, and two, Lee, like Fleming, was actually involved in spy work during WW2. But unlike Fleming (who was more on the planning side of things, and wrote Bond as a kind of wishfulfillment fantasy of what he wished his time as a spy was really like), Lee was probably closer to Bond's role than the actual creator was.

Christopher Lee was in SOE during the War, stationed in Finland first to help them fight the Soviets before being transfered to Egypt after the USSR joined the Allies. What exactly Lee did during the war isn't known, due to the files still being classified, but he has brought up that he knows what sound a man makes when you stab them in the back, so...

This is in addition to Lee being a Pratchett and Tolkien nut, metalhead, expert swordsman, polyglot, talented singer, direct descendant of Charlemange and whose grandmother introduced opera to Australia.

[angelophile]

I'm not sure M's name is implied to be Emma - rather, when Bond introduced her to Albert Finney's character, he introduced her as "M", which Kincaid hears as "Em", IE: short for Emma. I thought it was rather a good gag, myself.

[espanolbot]

I thought that it was a funny coincidence, considering older Emma Peel is intended to be a reference to Judi Dench's M.

There's also the connective thing that the actress who played Emma in the TV show also played James Bond's wife Tracy...

[lieut_kettch]

Does this mean that Moneypenny is an inherited codename as well, used by the personal assistant to the head of M16?

[mrstatham]

I think they leaned toward that, potentially, in Die Another Day, when John Cleese's 'Q' had been 'R' in the last film. But I think with Moneypenny, it can't be, really, particularly in the older films; Just as the various Bonds had a shared history that carried over as each incarnation progressed, so too did Moneypenny, making them all the sane character despite different actresses; I think the best example is maybe in Goldeneye, where the usual flirtation occurs but Moneypenny chastises him with a line about sexual harassment - she then goes on to remark that Bond some day has to make good on his innuendoes, which to me, suggested that the loose continuity of Connery/Lazenby/Moore and Maxwell and then Dalton and Bliss were all still in place. I personally think it's meant to have been some kind of equivalent to Marvel's sliding timescale concept, where everyone occasionally gets made younger.

Of course, Craig's reboot seems to have thrown this up in the air, but if EON continue with the casting the way they have for Skyfall, so to speak, then I think Craig's films will have to be considered a fresh start entirely.

[espanolbot]

A thing that I loved about Skyfall is that after an era of deconstructed Bond films (making them more "realistic" due to the success of the Bourne franchise, which is just as silly as Bond but in different ways), this film actually brought back the elements that were dropped in favour of a more realistic approach (Q, Moneypenny, gadgets etc) in a way that didn't really conflict with the setting.

They brought back the best bits from the old films while managing to reshuffle things enough to make the characters more like people, particularly the women, instead of props in Bond's life.

That's kind of fantastic.

[mrstatham]

It was certainly my favourite Bond film since Goldeneye; Brosnan's Bond got progressively silly, but with GE, I think they did their best to try and do what Craig has done, but earlier on. It's slightly more cartoonish, but the effort to make Bond a deeper character, to surround him with female characters who actually challenged him in ways that were relevant to the notion of the film, it was done with Goldeneye; M challenges Bond on an professional level, for instance, whilst Natalya challenges him on an emotional level and Onatopp provides almost as great a physical challenge for Bond as 006 does. But Brosnan's stories quickly went off the rails until we reached Die Another Day, after which I absolutely understood the necessity for a reboot.

But my love for GE aside, I absolutely agree. I didn't particularly enjoy Casino Royale - although I think it's still a good film now, and QOS is a standard Bond entry, but it's the work in bringing in the recognisable elements in Skyfall that makes it the best of Craig's three so far. Just.. Providing that balance between seriousness and embracing some of the more pulpy aspects of the series, like Goldeneye did, and making it fit Craig's Bond. I think the only thing I took objection to was the use of Severine, who gets dispatched with just.. Such a coldness that I don't think it even felt like it was meant to be a homage to one of the older films and how they handled the female characters. I was disappointed, given Berenice Marlohe had talked about being inspired by Famke Janssen as Xenia, and I was just hoping for something.. Again, a little more pulpy, I suppose, but with the kind of subtle depths Janssen gave Onatopp. Although to be fair, I was disappointed with the way they got rid of her, too - all for a lulzy quip from Brosnan.

[halloweenjack]

WRT the "inherited name" thing, there's an old comic book called The American written by Mark Verheiden, who may be better known to comics readers from his work on Dark Horse's adaptations of the Alien/Predator franchise, as well as work on the series Smallville and Falling Skies. The idea was that the title character, your basic Captain America expy, was actually a series of bodybuilders and actors who were all given plastic surgery to superficially resemble the same person, and given a lot of black-ops assistance and covert special effects to make it seem as if they were a real-life superhero doing hostage rescues and such, and replacing any of them who was killed in action with the next one in line to give the illusion that the character was invulnerable or had super-healing.

[espanolbot]

It's also a thing in the recent A-Team movie involving a high ranking guy in the CIA who name is inherited by a new agent every couple of years of so, leading to a running joke about soldiers who served in Vietnam, South America, Iraq etc. all having met different people in the same position, but were all named Lynch.

[icon_uk]

Which is exactly what the US Government did after Captain America and Bucky vanished in WWII. It was revealed that there had been something like three different Captain America's during the late 40's and 50's, up until Cap was thawed out. The Spirit of 76 and some other desperately patriotic hero and then the guy who went nuts.

[angelophile]

The Dread Pirate Roberts of superheroes.