Soft Power and National Cinema: James Bond, ‘GREAT’ Britain and Brexit

Abstract

The UK’s departure from the EU is a major geo-political development by any definition. This chapter reflects on James Bond’s role in this development. The apparent ease with which the Daniel Craig incarnation of Bond both asserts a British identity and moves around the world has been repeatedly invoked in recent political debates in and about the UK. The 2014 Monocle report and 2015 Portland report on soft power identified the UK as one of the world’s leading soft powers, both citing the Bond films as contributors to that status. Around the same time, the Bond films were also roped into VisitBritain’s promotional campaign to make Britain seem an attractive place to visit, with the slogan ‘Bond is GREAT Britain’. This chapter explores how the nation-branding at stake here coincided with the visions of the Brexiteers. Ironically, the soft power and commercial nationalism captured in this vision of the UK depends on multi-national inward investment in UK’s cultural economy. The chapter argues that this is the plight of national cinema in a neoliberal, globalised world.