Daniel Craig's Bond 'relishes killing', professor claims
Daniel Craig's James Bond 'markedly different' to Ian Fleming's creation
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Tuesday, 28, Oct 2008 06:01
A film studies professor has claimed that audiences for Quantum of Solace will see a James Bond markedly different to that created by Ian Fleming.
While Daniel Craig's portrayal of the character is close to that of Fleming's books in his lack of one-liners, the cold-blooded approach to violence seen in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace is unlike that of the novels, according to Professor James Chapman, of the University of Leicester's department of history of art and film.
"Craig is obviously a lot more physical, even brutish, than previous Bond actors," he explains in an article published for the university's online magazine.
"He plays Bond as a 'blunt instrument': he's not yet the polished article, he's still rough around the edges.
"Craig's Bond doesn't do the one-liners that others have done. In that respect - but that respect only - he's closer to the Bond of the books, who doesn't crack jokes and is a rather humourless character," he continued.
"But in other respects Craig's Bond is very unlike Fleming's Bond. Fleming's Bond did not enjoy killing; Craig's Bond seems almost to relish it."
Professor James Chapman also claims that in Casino Royale Bond's body was presented as much as an erotic object as the women's bodies with gratuitous shots of Craig in his swimming trunks.
"Fleming's Bond is not particularly presented as a sexual object: the emphasis in the books is very much on male desire rather than female desire, with the sole exception of The Spy Who Loved Me, in which Fleming experimented with writing from the perspective of a woman who encounters James Bond," he explained.
Professor Chapman's book Licence To Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films is out now.
Quantum of Solace is released on Friday October 31st.