Quantum of Silence

The new Bond movies evacuate James Bond of the only qualities that distinguished him from other action heroes. I can’t say I miss the old Bond, since I never really liked any of the movies in the first place, but I can say that I like the new James Bond aesthetic even less. Up until Casino Royale, dialogue had always been a considerably important part of every Bond film. The two most recent movies have all but done away with the nuisance of talking. The leftover silence is filled up with extra-long chase scenes and gunfights. There are at least two ways to interpret this shift:

1) The new Bond movies are truly of our time insofar as they recognize that the fate of the postmodern subject it to become a blank functionary of structures which exceed his comprehension. The new Bond films allegorize the diminishing illusions of individuality and autonomy which accompany the increasing technicization of the lifeworld in Western postindustrial society.
2) The new Bond aesthetic is a direct result of Hollywood’s mission to reduce film to pure spectacle so that American movies can become a truly global commodity, exchangeable as hogs or horseshit. If you can get rid of subtitles and other alienating cultural markers then you’re sure to sell a lot more films in the global marketplace.

The first interpretation is obviously a load of crap, but people have said things like it to me. I include it only to preempt any arguments that the new Bond films are anything more than the reflection of economic calculation. I can’t stand when people try to tell me that the new Bond movies are “really rethinking the whole Bond mythology” or some other bullshit. It’s almost as infuriating as when adults tell me I should read Harry Potter books. If you are an adult and you read Harry Potter books then you need to keep that information to yourself. When you tell other people you read Harry Potter books they feel sorry for you.

What’s really interesting though is that film is cycling back to silence: the day of the talkie may be over. It’s likely that this whole “silence” thing is just a temporary trend (soon everyone will be speaking English anyway), but I will take all bets that we’re going to see some films that completely do away with dialogue in the coming year. Wall-E (which I haven’t seen) apparently comes pretty close.