"No Mr Bond, we expected you to die": a medical and psychotherapeutic analysis of trauma depiction in the James Bond films.

Abstract

The death of James Bond in No Time to Die draws attention to his constant exposure to life-threatening danger, and raises the question: should he have died earlier in the franchise? To answer this, we examined Bond's exposure to physical and psychological trauma in the 25 official Bond films, noting if portrayal was realistic, and if there were temporal trends in depiction of injuries. The frequency of trauma has increased over time with Craig's Bond suffering the most trauma, both physical and psychological. Environmental factors and falls were the most common cause of trauma; psychological distress tended to involve death, either of someone close, or at his own hands. He evaded death a mean of five times per film. Our analysis highlights a misrepresentation of trauma across the Bond films from 1962 to present date. The more recent Bond films, especially those of Craig, have revealed the physical and psychological vulnerability of Bond. James Bond has been exposed to an overwhelming level of physical trauma and psychological distress, yet improbably suffered few significant injuries, despite enduring repeated brushes with death. This contradicts Bond's own acknowledgement in Casino Royale that Double 0's have a very short life expectancy.