ARTICLES:
THE FAMOUS
AGENT
Have you ever noticed that throughout the years Bond has become a ‘famous’ Secret Agent, somewhat of a celebrity Though this isn’t something that evolved. He has been famous ever since he foiled the plans of Doctor No, and SPECTRE, who we are allowed to assume have had contact with many agents from many countries seem never to forget Bond. In From Russia With Love Grant tells Blofeld that the British Secret Service will “almost certainly” send after the decoder is Bond, then when Bond introduces himself to Largo in Thunderball, Largo knows very well who he is, recognizing him as a ‘rival’. But SPECTRE know a lot more than that about Bond, In You Only Live Twice Blofeld informs Osako that the olny man SPECTRE knows who uses a Walther PPK is Bond. Can an Organisation like SPECTRE, who we can assume are very large due to the money they have to build bases in volcanoes possibly see one man as such a threat?
But its not just SPECTRE that know about Bond. Goldfinger, Sanchez and others have no problem finding out the Bond is “Agent 007 Licenced to Kill’. Scaramanga even kept a mannequin of him for target practice, and considering he also keeps on of Al Capone, Bond must be regarded highly. Then in Diamonds are Forever Tiffany Case is astonished to find that “You’ve just killed James Bond”, believing that “You don’t kill James Bond and wait around for the cops”. Tiffany is a Diamond smuggler, how would she have any idea who Bond was ?
The same can be said for Hugo Drax, who informs Bond that “your reputation precedes you”. Drax is not part of the criminal underworld or any spy network; he’s just a wealthy man with his own evil scheme.
A View to a Kill shows us even more of this. When Bond visits the City Hall in San Francisco of all places, he feels obligated to use an alias to a mere Civil Servant. CIA Agent Chuck Lee considers it “a privilege to work with 007”. Sure, this fame displays to us that Bond is so amazing, that he has generated respect from those who he has never met, but does this perhaps mean that he is a ‘poor' secret agent? Should MI6 risk sending him of a mission when his profession to many, is not a mystery? Bond has generated this fame do to outstanding work and this poses another question... He saved the world from economic disaster in Goldfinger and GoldenEye, from disease in OHMSS, from blackmail in Thunderball and Diamonds are Forever, and from annihilation in The Spy who Loved Me and Moonraker, but he is still a Commander. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that Bond would have been promoted and Knighted by now. The KGB has even awarded him. When will Bond become a Captain or an Admiral or whatever? Then again, there has been enough changes made in recent times, lets leave a bit of familiarity.