In our second episode of the new season we tackle a behemoth of film culture: James Bond. Bond is not a subject we've covered before, or even talked about that much on the podcast. Except perhaps in the context of thinking about franchise cinema.
This is something of an omission, as the James Bond world is a historically seminal part of film culture, which can be explored in many different ways. The industrial significance of the films was amplified when No Time To Die, Daniel Craig's final outing as Bond, was pushed back several times because of the COVID pandemic. Furthermore, Bond, more than any other genre, series or iconic character, influenced my childhood relationship to cinema. My Grandfather was a big Connery fan, and back in the days of three TV channels, a Christmas screening of a Bond film was must see TV. As I’ve gotten older, I become more ambivalent about the character and the world, both from filmic and thematic standpoints. Watching the Craig era, this seems like a character out of time; a notion which the producers and writers leaned into. Where does Bond go next? Conjecture and speculation about the next casting are rife and this decision will, obviously, dictate the scope and direction of the next "reinvention". However, Bond still holds nostalgic pleasures for me – and offers up interesting prompts for conversation and debate.
I’ve been thinking ways of engaging with Bond on the podcast and today's guest undoubtedly provided a fascinating entry point, one that provoked questions about the essence of the character and world created around him. I spoke to David Lowbridge-Ellis, the creator and editor of LicencetoQueer.com – the fan project that engages with Bond, essentially from a queer perspective. We talk about David's formative fandom, the character and world as the object of queer fascination, the expansion of an welcoming online community, reading texts oppositionally, possibilities of Bond's queer coding, gay assassins, Jim Fanning, and the potential next phase of Bond lore. (DL)
Shownotes
Licence to Queer - Instagram
Licence to Queer - Twitter
James Bond at 60 - BFI website.
_____
You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing
Supercut audio edited from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f_LyhxNWTk
Recent 2024 Releases (w/Dario!)
Sometimes I Think About Dying (w/director Rachel Lambert)
Professor Alison Peirse (Doing Women's Global Horror Film History)
Pouring Water on Troubled Oil (w/director Nariman Massoumi)
Your Fat Friend (w/ director Jeanie Finlay)
Our Cinematic 2023
On New Release Apathy
BONUS: Toby Amies in the Court of the Crimson King
BONUS: Prof. Neil Fox on Film Practice and Pedagogy
Film Podcasting w/ Rico Gagliano from The Mubi Podcast
Rock Hudson: All that Heaven Allowed (w/ Dir. Stephen Kijak)
Apocalypse Clown (w/Producer James Dean)
London Film Festival 2023
A Year in a Field (w/director Christopher Morris and producer Denzil Monk)
On Cinematic Pleasure
Laura Mulvey (Falmouth Film Weekend: 1978 Revisited)
Plan 75
Boys and Men in Close and Godland
Demons of the Mind: Cinema and Psychiatry in the Long 1960s
The Films of Alice Diop
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Cinema: A to B
I Finally Watched...
Star Wars Escape Pod
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Pod Meets World