BY TIM GREAVES
James
Bond and Popular Culture
Edited
by Michele Brittany (Published by McFarland & Company, $38), 278 Pages,
Softcover, ISBN: 9780786477937
Some
15 years ago, when I was unsuccessfully hawking a manuscript for a proposed
James Bond book around publishers, I was informed categorically in one
rejection letter that "There are already far too many Bond books jostling
for attention in the marketplace". This may or may not have been the case,
but it struck me even then as nonsense and has never, as far as I'm aware, been
a deterrent to any publisher to seize an opportunity to jump on the
Bondwagon. (I'd rather have been told my work simply wasn't any good). In the
intervening years there have been so
many books bearing the James Bond tag that even die-hard aficionados must have
had a job keeping up.
"James
Bond and Popular Culture" (an assembly of "Essays on the Influence of
the Fictional Superspy") will find its keenest audience among those who
simply must read everything related
to their iconic hero. For it is less about Bond himself, rather – as the
subtitle suggests – it’s focus falls upon 007’s cultural influence and those who
followed in his wake. Also, naturally enough, his antecedents. Following a
foreword (which left me eager to locate James
Batman, a 1960s production from the Philippines which merged Bond and
Batman), the collection of essays of varying length are divided into five
categories: Film, TV, Literature, Lifestyle and Reinterpretation. A wide range
of topics are discussed, from Bollywood and the Japanese Nakano films to The Man from
U.N.C.L.E and Doctor Who, with a
fistful of others in between, all appended with an extensive array of footnotes
and bibliographic detail.
As
you might anticipate from a work such as this, some of the theses it comprises
– though unquestionably well researched and informative – can be a little hard
going. And, also perhaps a tad predictably, one or two are of a nature that
(unintentionally) sap the fun out of a subject which, let's be honest, really
shouldn't be taken too seriously.
With
the 24th 007 screen adventure SPECTRE looming on the horizon, the
months ahead will be hard on the wallets of serious Bond buffs. Not least of
all in the book department. At a princely $38, this non-illustrated, comparatively
slender offering is unlikely to top the shopping lists of many. But for those
who do choose to invest, it’s be best filed on your bookshelf
alongside similarly highfalutin tomes such as "Bond and Beyond: The
Political Career of a Popular Hero".
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON