The Anglo-American Connection: Examining the Intersection of Nationality with Class, Gender, and Race in the James Bond Films

Abstract

James Bond/007 is a popular cultural icon of British identity. Working as a secret agent for the British organization MI6, Bond travels the world on missions and acts in the best interest of his country to safeguard its geopolitical interests.1 While he can and does harbor doubts about these missions, he is nonetheless depicted as a loyal agent serving Queen and Country, as Domino Derval remarks in Thunderhall (Terence Young 1965). Although Bond operates as a solo agent and is not assigned a regular 00 partner, he often works opportunistically with those he encounters in the field, and more routinely with other non-British agents, collaborating frequently with American allies. These relationships, both opportunistic and planned, are crucial to mission success and have been seen by many scholars and fans as indicative of the changing contours of the post-1945 geopolitical world, and the Anglo-American relationship.In the Eon/United Artists Bond films, these American characters usually work for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and represent American geopolitical interests, such as furthering regional hegemony in strategic spaces such as the Arctic, the Caribbean, East Asia, and even outer space. According to the historian Jeremy Black and author of the Politics of James Bond, support for the United States [was] central to British policy during the cold war [and] is important to Bond's in the films (Black 94). The depiction of Bond working with American allies not only helps to connect the common geopolitical interests of Britain with America vis-a-vis the challenges posed by China, Russia, and nonstate entities such as SPECTRE, but it also serves as a way to attract American filmgoers to the films (Bennett and Woollacott 29). Even the choice to cast Sean Connery over David Niven for the role of Bond in Dr. No (Terence Young 1962) was judged a commercial necessity. Producer Albert R. Broccoli felt that Niven was too English for the part and envisioned for Bond a more midAtlantic image with a tougher persona that would appeal to both British and American audiences.2 Not only did the films rely on the United States as a primary market, but the films themselves were strongly shaped by American creative personnel like Broccoli and screenwriter Richard Maibaum. Without United Artists underwriting the earliest Bond films, the franchise would never have developed in the manner that it did.3This article considers the representation and geopolitical significance of Bond's American allies to better understand how Anglo-American geopolitical interests are refracted across the different eras of the franchise. The intersection of nationality with class, gender, and race shapes the reading of American characters and informs the nature of their relationships with Bond. A number of recurring characters and character types appear across the franchise including Felix Leiter, a variety of American Bond Girls, and a handful of minor figures like J.W. Pepper and Jack Wade. But those intersections, however important, are not sufficient in their own right. Bond's repeated demonstration of what he can do, touch, and feel also matters to the relationship. His ability to connect is what makes the relationship special with his American allies-he can push the button at the right moment, seduce a key informant, and sense danger that others cannot. So while Bond may be the junior partner operating in a Cold War geopolitical climate dominated by the United States, it is his personal intuition, touch, and movement that allows him to connect with people, objects and sites/spaces, and thus emerge as a dominant/superior figure.The Connery Era ( 1962-67, 1971): Establishing the AngloAmerican ConnectionThe Anglo-American connection was established in the Connery era through the pairing of Bond with a male CIA operative. Felix Leiter is the best-known American ally of Bond and a close friend who appears in ten films across the franchise. …