On his book Equipping James Bond: Guns, Gadgets, and Technological Enthusiasm
Cover Interview of July 24, 2019
In a nutshell
This is a book about the equipment that James Bond uses: its
origins, function, and the essential role it plays in Bond’s missions. The book
also describes the role these gadgets play in the success of the entertainment
brand based upon 007’s exploits. Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, included details
about the equipment of espionage to make his stories appear more authentic. Then
the producers of the Bond films found that audiences were so fascinated by the
exploding briefcases and sports cars fitted with machine guns and ejector seats
that they made the gadgets an essential part of the character. Audiences have
always accepted that Bond’s power comes from his mastery of technology and the
high-tech gadgets he uses, and over time the films have become a showcase of
new, weaponized technology.
The book follows the development of espionage technology
from the early twentieth century when the British secret service was
established through to the twenty-first century and then into a future imagined
in the Bond films. The inspiration for the character of 007 and the equipment
he uses comes from Fleming’s experience as an intelligence operative during
World War 2. Thus his hero starts his career with the simple, mechanical weapons
and devices used in the war, such as single-shot weapons built into walking
sticks or secret compartments in shoes or briefcases.
The first 007 films were made in the 1960s during a period
of great technological advance and soon Bond’s equipment was at the leading
edge of electronic, computing, and aerospace technology. The profits from the
Bond films were so great that the producers were able to make bigger and more
spectacular films, using some of the largest film sets ever built. They also had
the resources and connections to acquire some of the very latest technology for
Bond’s equipment.
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
In a nutshell
This is a book about the equipment that James Bond uses: its origins, function, and the essential role it plays in Bond’s missions. The book also describes the role these gadgets play in the success of the entertainment brand based upon 007’s exploits. Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, included details about the equipment of espionage to make his stories appear more authentic. Then the producers of the Bond films found that audiences were so fascinated by the exploding briefcases and sports cars fitted with machine guns and ejector seats that they made the gadgets an essential part of the character. Audiences have always accepted that Bond’s power comes from his mastery of technology and the high-tech gadgets he uses, and over time the films have become a showcase of new, weaponized technology.
The book follows the development of espionage technology from the early twentieth century when the British secret service was established through to the twenty-first century and then into a future imagined in the Bond films. The inspiration for the character of 007 and the equipment he uses comes from Fleming’s experience as an intelligence operative during World War 2. Thus his hero starts his career with the simple, mechanical weapons and devices used in the war, such as single-shot weapons built into walking sticks or secret compartments in shoes or briefcases.
The first 007 films were made in the 1960s during a period of great technological advance and soon Bond’s equipment was at the leading edge of electronic, computing, and aerospace technology. The profits from the Bond films were so great that the producers were able to make bigger and more spectacular films, using some of the largest film sets ever built. They also had the resources and connections to acquire some of the very latest technology for Bond’s equipment.