George Orwell once said that the traditional British hero was Jack the giant-killer: the little man fighting against heavy odds. This reflects the fact that for most of our history we were a small country facing a much bigger one: until well into the 19th century the population of France was several times that of Britain, and the French army massively greater. In the first half of the 20th century, the immensely powerful enemy was Germany, to be succeeded after 1945 by the Soviet Union. By contrast, the traditional American hero is Superman, who crushes all opponents with little effort, and this reflects the position of the United States as a superpower. There is, however, an interesting contrast in James Bond: in the novels, he is invariably on his own, and triumphs over a powerful foe solely by his own courage and endurance, whereas in the films he is supported by ingenious technology. There is also an unpleasant sado-masochistic element in the books, Bond being savagely beaten-up or tortured in every one; and this is (perhaps understandably) absent in the films, where Bond always appears to take his troubles extremely lightly. We can in general postulate that in the British tradition the hero triumphs over a bully, whereas in America the bully is himself the triumphant hero; and James Bond transitions from being a typical British hero to something more ambiguous.
- Like
- Reply
No comments:
Post a Comment