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The Bond Universe- Ideological escapism


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 It is argued cinema imitates the real world and often facilitates society’s “eagerness to escape from ordinary life” (Addis & Holbrook, 2010, P.821). The Hollywood film industry produces motion pictures that impersonate reality in order to fulfil idealisms that in turn offer escapism for the audience. By portraying perfected versions of reality; cinema creates illusions, which are just close enough to the real world that the audience can believe and become affectively immersed into. The high concept Bond franchise is a stellar example of a piece of cinema that succeeds in presenting both idealism and escapism. The film series portrays an idealised and heightened world, where the powerful Bond charms doomed lovers and defends opulent London with effortless style and competence. French theorist Jean Baudrillard argues how, “we anticipate reality by imagining it, or flee from it by idealising it” (Baudrillard, Smith & Clarke, 2015, P.25). To society, reality is a flawed concept and cinema attempts to repair these flaws by constructing an ideological world based in reality. To reflect societal ideals the Bond series presents idealised character archetypes such as the representation of masculinity in the series protagonist. James Bond represents masculinity in society’s ideal form, he is the flawless hegemonic hero that succeeds justice against all odds. One can assume these characteristics are craved by an audience, as they are idealised and while it is the belief we are incomplete, Bond offers a world to escape our flawed sense of self.

Paul Hagerty analyses Jean Baudrillard’s theory of ‘simulation’ (Baudrillard, 1994, Simulacra and Simulation), where “to simulate is to feign to have what one doesn’t have” (Baudrillard, 1994, P.3). Here Baudrillard acknowledges society’s need for self-fulfilment, as determined in Abraham Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’ (A. Maslow, 1943, A Theory of Human Motivation), which presents the stages of desired existence. It is the reality of our very imperfect world that makes the path to complete satisfaction an unobtainable concept,

“The World must replace the existing one: this is a destination that can be ‘found nowhere else’, and, more importantly, is ‘like nothing else’” (Hegarty, 2008, P. 318).

 Idealisms therefore must be simulated by mediums that offer temporary escapism; Bond presents a medium that does exactly that. By offering brief escapism, for a while audiences can experience fulfilment within a non-reality that fits the idealisms of the perfect lifestyle and leads to the path of “self-actualisation” (D’Souza & Gurin, 2016, P. 210).

The Bond films construct a reality using idealistic representations and fantastical narratives to address the desires of the consumer. The audience do not simply watch Bond to see the film but to feel and experience the transportation between the harshness of the real and the excitement of the imaginary. If we cannot experience perfection for ourselves, it must be simulated through an imagined reality. The appeal of the film’s escapism is fundamental to the series success and is what will continue to attract audiences for decades to come.

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