Abstract
Of the various western, popular culture images of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, James Bond films remain some of the most enduring. Based on novels by British writer Ian Fleming (1908-1964), the cinematic representations of MI6 super-spy 007 contain a revival of the master narrative - one promoting a colonial storyline replete with a white, male saviour and steeped in the hegemony and toxic masculinity common in literature from the latter half of the nineteenth century, at the height of the British Empire’s colonial expansion period. While the initial Bond films, released in the 1960s, strictly adhered to this narrative, by the early 1970s - when western audiences had changed - maintaining the format originally set in Fleming's novels and in the earlier films was no longer feasible. Specifically, black audiences were no longer willing to financially support a movie industry that either neglected or fetishised them. The result of this realisation was the film Live and Let Die (1973) starring Roger Moore the new James Bond, a more English, higher-class replacement for the rougher-edged Scottish Sean Connery (Schwetman 2017, 106-7). Co-opting blaxploitation by including elements of the genre in the plot, as well as imbuing Live and Let Die with elements of African American and Afro-Caribbean culture, positions the film firmly in the category of a cinematic example of cultural appropriation. As such, Live and Let Die remains a problematic film for its incorporation of black, western cultures while promoting a British master narrative.
Highlights
In 1973 when United Artists released the eighth James Bond flmm Live and Let Die (LLD)m the flm industry had changed considerablly since the deblut of the frst flm in the franchisem Dr No (1962)
Melvin Van Peeblles’ flm Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song (1971) inaugurated the cinematic Blaxploitation genrem which can ble classifed as a sublgenre of African American flm distinctive for its emphasis on African American cultures and experiences
Cinematic depictions of bllack men and womenm such as those in For Love of Ivym were limited to predictablle plots promoting common stereotypesm which Coleman and Yochim note expose “the skewed treatment of bllacks in the media” while pinpointing “imagery’s social functions and forms” (2008m 1). The plot of this flm revolves around Ivy Moore (Ablbley Lincoln)m an African American maid who decides to resign from her position and return to school to avoid living in ignorance
Summary
In 1973 when United Artists released the eighth James Bond flmm Live and Let Die (LLD)m the flm industry had changed considerablly since the deblut of the frst flm in the franchisem Dr No (1962). Because the novel includes bllack charactersm the flmmakers decided that the blest way to situate these characters for the flm’s audience was bly co-opting elements of traditional bllaxploitation narratives.
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