The University of Victoria is offering a course on Bond . . . James Bond.
The undergraduate course will give students a licence to learn and focus on both the book and films series, the marketing of agent 007, the promotion of consumer products in the series, and its themes.
Taught by media professor and course quartermaster John Threlfall over a period of five weeks, the current assignment is to watch the latest Bond film out in theatres, Spectre.
The course will include a closed book exam.
Threlfall said he wants to focus on a different side of Bond audiences don’t completely recognize. The goal of the course is to get students to think critically about the fictional British double agent.
“There are important issues for young people to consider. Look at the problems. Look at how it’s fed to us,” he said.
Threlfall said the creation of Bond films has launched a whole new movie genre. Before the release of the first major Bond film in 1962, Dr. No, there were only thrillers, war movies, and jungle adventures, but no action adventure film genre, he said.
One theme the course will tackle is Bond’s misogyny.
“Some of the lines he says are cringe-worthy,” Threlfall said. “Does Bond respect women? He sees them as disposable items.”
He said the original author of the Bond novels, Ian Fleming, was a known misogynist and that the character of Bond “was a thinly veiled but also glorified image of Fleming himself.”
The treatment of women in the Bond films has certainly improved, Threlfall said, but only as a way to keep up with changing attitudes. He also noted the current producer of Bond films is Barbara Broccoli, the daughter of the original Bond producer, Albert R. Broccoli.
Threlfall said Bond represents the lifestyle the average person doesn’t know about, and the epitome of what they could do.
“Bond stands out as the one person that can make a difference,” he said.
He said Bond films are constantly being repositioned to stay relevant to current issues.
Earlier Bond films were set under the backdrop of the Cold War. Threlfall said Daniel Craig’s era as Bond is set in a post-9/11 world where there are more issues of surrounding terrorism.
With brands such as Aston Martin and Heineken, consumer product promotion has been part of the Bond series since the beginning. Threlfall said half the budget for Skyfall was paid using product promotion.
Threlfall said Skyfall featured Adele because she was signed to the same production company, Sony, but also because she was at the top of the charts.
“There is nothing accidental about James Bond,” he said.
Spectre is the 24th Bond film in 53 years. Threlfall said he doesn’t believe the series will die any time soon.
“Imagine the Star Wars series for 60-plus years . . . That’s what Bond is,” he said. “It says at the end of each movie that ‘James Bond will return,’ and that’s absolutely true.”
