Final Rewrite- James Bond

James Bond is a man of action; His life consists of fast cars, beautiful women, and dangerous missions in which he must use his intelligence and physical abilities to overcome.  In fact, his character is often interpreted as the perfect man; Someone bold, charismatic, and dutiful who would have made a decent model for any man of the 50’s.

While Bond’s life may seem exciting and glamorous in the pages of Ian Fleming’s first novel in the series, Casino Royale, readers and viewers of the books and movies tend to focus only on the excitement and privilege of the spy life. If one looks past the highly lavish and romanticized descriptions of the Bond world and into the physiology of the man himself, some troubling truths are revealed: Underneath all of the excitement, we must never forget that James Bond is a trained killer, hunting for his prey with an almost animalistic sense of dedication and determination. In fact, his entire existence seems to be based around the idea of being nothing more than a privileged hunting dog, receiving whatever he wants and living a life of excitement, but when the time comes, he must kill without hesitation. He allows himself some creature comforts, such as spending time with his Bond girls, food, and his meticulous enjoyment of alcohol, and minor basic indulgences such as the love of his Bentley, which he cites as his “Personal hobby”, his enjoyment of gambling, and an occasional massage to calm his nerves, but the rest of his persona seems to be nothing more than an entirely self-aware robotic killer, out only to achieve his objectives at any means necessary.

Imagine living alone in a hotel room for months at a time with rarely a single soul to comfort you. Now imagine that your only living in said hotel room in order to hunt down and kill some sort of danger to the world. With the added pressure of saving the world or country and the constant need to watch one’s back for those who are trying to keep you from thwarting the evil mastermind’s plan. Underneath all of the gambling and women, this is the life of James Bond. His life is his job and everything else seems to be a nuisance, holding him back from his mechanical duty to fulfill his missions and get out alive. Even when it comes to the partner he is told he will be having, upon hearing it is a woman, he utters “Bitch” loudly without knowing anything about her. This cold disregard for anything that he finds unnecessary is evident through key phrases in his behavior, such as “cold showers”, “black coffee”, and “dreamless sleep,” all seem to suggest a mechanical perfection he has achieved, cutting out the need for anything unnecessary or time consuming. As idealized and James Bond’s life may seem, one must never forget while reading it that this man is a trained killer, but ultimately, this side of him also has its allure. His penchant for danger should remind us all to let lose our animalistic side from time to time, and perhaps achieve a little of that idealized life for ourselves.

Oryx and Crake

You can be whatever you want to be. This simple phrase is told to children and young adults time and time again, encouraging them to be original and shoot for the stars in every aspect of their lives, but how much truth does it actually hold? “You can be anything you want to be” is a wide exaggeration. Can we really be “anything” we want to be? The answer is no. As a human being, one cannot simply decide to become a dog. Sure, technology can improve so that we may change some very prominent things about ourselves, such as gender and overall appearance, but can anything really be changed?

The book Oryx and Crake addresses the idea of changing ones self in a future where genetic manipulation and extreme plastic surgery are the most common of everyday practices. This future, while horribly frightening, resonates with the reader in a very personal way. In these days of extreme beauty worshiping, its no secret that everyone has something about their physical appearance they wouldn’t mind changing. Oryx and Crake suggests that in this future, changing things such as height, weight, and even gender are the most common and overused practices in their world. While we may not have the technology to make such extreme ideas an everyday practice, we often find ourselves emulating said ideas, especially as children. “Avatar” websites are highly enjoyed amongst teens and younger children alike. Kids are able to pick their body type, hairstyle, clothing, and even more extreme features such as race or animal appendages. These sites give body-obsessed teens the opportunity to be all of these things and change everything about themselves using only a computer and a little imagination; They are free to be as unique or as simple as they so choose. Perhaps one day these choices may be as simple as clicking a mouse around on a computer screen. Perhaps through our societies’ body obsession, we may finally take changing ourselves to the extreme and finally become the person we truly want to be.

Pattern Recognition

Modern day mystery stories are in high demand right now. Stories like The Da Vinci Code are in high demand these days, but a truly ideal mystery for this day and age lies in Pattern Recognition. The mystery thriller stories of old are taken from the streets and the crime labs and thrown onto the Internet. Problems are solved with constant access to the Internet and sending long emails to sources halfway around the world. The main character, Cayce, is the typical specialist hired in said novels to sniff out the patterns behind a long set of videos being posted on a secret chat room. Transplanting the feel of a thriller novel onto a modern day science fiction prose is becoming more and more popular. Writers are taking the changing times and slowly integrating them into classic plots.

Imagine if Harry Potter and the other students at Hogwarts began downloading all of their magical textbooks onto a kindle. That is the feel that Pattern Recognition captures. Cayce uses the Internet and her handy laptop to connect to the underground film scene that houses the film clips, her informant Parkaboy, and the companies she works for. In that right, Cayce is an everyman heroine, using the same kind of technologies we use to get her wherever she needs to go. A fully modern girl, she finds no time to settle down and develop a relationship. She suffers from insomnia from all of her job-based travels, focuses entirely on her job, and is never afraid to jump head first into a dangerous situation. Despite these typical alpha-female character traits, we begin to she ourselves in her through her various Internet connections. So much of our lives nowadays revolve around the Internet and for someone to not have a relationship based solely on the Internet is rare.  Cayce and Parkaboy’s relationship is entirely Internet-based, the two of them communicating only through emails, and a rare phone call or two that Cayce herself admits are awkward. The understanding of these relationships and the integration of said relationships into a traditional thriller setting is a fantastic connection to today’s lifestyles that makes Pattern Recognition such a unique spark.