London, the Post-7/7 Bond Films, and Mourning Work

Abstract

:The intensification of London as a viable filmmaking location within the recent Daniel Craig-era James Bond films has marked a turning point for how the series has negotiated 007's homeland. Conventionally marginalized by Bond's post-colonial travelogue aesthetic, the emergence of London between Casino Royale and Spectre has, this article contends, mined the imagery of terror(ism) to conduct mourning work for the 7/7 London terror attacks. In examining the Craig era's fluctuating portrayal of the capital's geography, this article argues that Craig's iteration of the secret agent has become the ideal character through which to articulate London's tumultuous post-7/7 condition, one connected to a presentation of the capital that has been progressively haunted by the spectre of terrorism.