69 replies to this topic

[jamie00007]

No, sorry.. I strongly doubt that either "quantum" or "solace" are words that your average/ordinary person will use in every day conversation. Suggesting people are idiots by not knowing what they mean is more than a little arrogant.

"Solace" is a common work that anyone should know. You hear it all the time, especially in things like news or sports reports "The Sharks can take solace in the fact that they made the finals" etc. I dont know what sort of person who speaks the english language could go through life not knowing what the word "solace" means...
Quantum isnt a common word, but you dont exactly have to be a literature professor to realise that its very similar to the word quantity, which is common, and probably has a similar meaning.

I think if people didnt understand the title, thats more of a statement about our dumbed down culture than it is about the title itself.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

No, sorry.. I strongly doubt that either "quantum" or "solace" are words that your average/ordinary person will use in every day conversation. Suggesting people are idiots by not knowing what they mean is more than a little arrogant.

"Solace" is a common work that anyone should know. You hear it all the time, especially in things like news or sports reports "The Sharks can take solace in the fact that they made the finals" etc. I dont know what sort of person who speaks the english language could go through life not knowing what the word "solace" means...
Quantum isnt a common word, but you dont exactly have to be a literature professor to realise that its very similar to the word quantity, which is common, and probably has a similar meaning.

I think if people didnt understand the title, thats more of a statement about our dumbed down culture than it is about the title itself.

I agree. Solace is a very common word. In fact, I used it in a school paper once, and use it in conversation.
As for our "dumbed down culture," does anyone remember the Licence to Kill controversy? The title had to be changed from Licence Revoked to Licence to Kill because not very many people knew what the word "revoked" meant.
WOW!!!!

[CaptainPower]

No, sorry.. I strongly doubt that either "quantum" or "solace" are words that your average/ordinary person will use in every day conversation. Suggesting people are idiots by not knowing what they mean is more than a little arrogant.

"Solace" is a common work that anyone should know. You hear it all the time, especially in things like news or sports reports "The Sharks can take solace in the fact that they made the finals" etc. I dont know what sort of person who speaks the english language could go through life not knowing what the word "solace" means...
Quantum isnt a common word, but you dont exactly have to be a literature professor to realise that its very similar to the word quantity, which is common, and probably has a similar meaning.

I think if people didnt understand the title, thats more of a statement about our dumbed down culture than it is about the title itself.

Ladies and gentlemen, please take your pick to answer the question of why some people can't understand the title "Quantum of Solace"..

A) Bad film making
B ) Crap title
C) Dumbed down culture.
D) All of the above.

Perhaps it is a little sad. And *I* know what "Quantum of Solace" means. But clearly from the outcry about the title, not everyone does. Even after seeing the film. It still doesn't change the fact that calling people stupid because the meaning of a film wasn't crystal clear to them is still horribly arrogant and maybe even a statement about how ridiculously dismissive certain aspects of our culture is. Please, it's only a film.

Edited by CaptainPower, 11 March 2009 - 03:46 PM.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

Maybe people were expected to go into this film knowing what the title meant. I'm sure that most Bond fans know what Quantum of Solace means. But maybe Forster expected that his audience was supposed to know quantum of solace's meaning...
Just my opinion, though.

[HH007]

Maybe people were expected to go into this film knowing what the title meant. I'm sure that most Bond fans know what Quantum of Solace means. But maybe Forster expected that his audience was supposed to know quantum of solace's meaning...
Just my opinion, though.

I don't think Forster picked the title. Anyway, I stand by my assertion that, since QoS is a direct sequel to CR, that anyone going into QoS having seen CR, and anyone with a command of the English language, should have little trouble understanding the title.

And as for CaptainPower's multiple choice question; since both A and B are purely subjective, I'll go with C. I know that doesn't sound PC, but having worked in a video store for many years, I came to realize that many people who watch movies are, in fact, "dumbed down." And that our culture is dumbed down is not exactly breaking news.

[jamie00007]

You only have to look at the IMDB boards to see that the answer is C to that one. The boards are full of people complaining about not understanding the most basic of movies. People have gotten to the stage where everything has to be force fed to them instead of thinking about it. Im sure even the lowliest student, if they actually bothered to think about it, could have guessed exact meaning of 'Quantum Of Solace', but no, its easier just to run to a message board and start whining.

You only have to look at books that come out today (written in the most basic of prose) compared to the writing of 50 years ago to see the effects of a dumbed down society, expecially when it comes to literacy.

Same with movies. People just dont want to think. I think many people would have been happier with QoS if it had some lame expositionary scene in the middle that perfectly laid out the plot of the whole movie for everyone. It sadly seems that something like that was neccessary, so many people didnt seem to understand the movie though it was all up there on screen.

Thing I love about the movie is the fly-on-the-wall feeling it has, you are along for the ride, and its up to you to join the dots by simply following the dialogue and what people were saying. But that seemed to have been too hard for many. The amount of people I hear/read talking about how Bond was on a revenge rampage in this movie and was a rogue agent annoys the crap out of me. Seems everyone missed the part about Bond being set up to be discredited by the CIA, and the fact that M only thinks Bond was on a rampage because of their false evidence, and the fact it takes about 2 minutes for Bond to make her see the truth and that he is on the right track with her line "I dont give a about the CIA or their trumped up evidence. He's my agent and I trust him." Maybe if the movie had a longer, pointless scene where M and Bond discuss everything thats happened up until that point to explain it to the audience more people might have got the film,

[Safari Suit]

Is this the line for the philanthropists convention?

[HH007]

Is this the line for the philanthropists convention?

Yes, philanthropists committed solely to the noble cause of getting thick people to understand "Quantum of Solace".

[HH007]

You only have to look at books that come out today (written in the most basic of prose) compared to the writing of 50 years ago to see the effects of a dumbed down society, expecially when it comes to literacy.

Not to sound elitist about this, but newspapers nowadays are written at a fifth grade reading level for a reason.

[Publius]

Yes, in my experience it has caused some people a disturbing amount of aggravation that the movie didn't have dialogue explaining the term. However, I'm glad it didn't, because it could have easily been a repeat of the annoying Mathis card game commentary from CR.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

Okay. I watched the music video for "Another Way to Die," on Alicia Keys' "official" YouTube channel. Take a look at the right hand side under the "Subscribe" button, and read the description.




Unbelievable...

[SecretAgentFan]

By the way, what exactly is a Thunderball and a Moonraker? Or, for that matter, an Octopussy?

But, seriously, English is not my Mother Tongue and still I´m wondering why anyone would not know the words "quantum" and "solace". They were part of the vocabulary lessons in my school.

Looks like a majority has become so accustomed to being spoonfed everything that we really have reached a point where everything has to be explained. Otherwise people instantly react with disdain and mockery - although the joke is on them.

Also, there was a time when a title was chosen so people had to think about its larger meaning...

Interpretation. Try that, for once, you title haters. It´s actually fun and part of the enjoyment of a work of art.

[sharpshooter]

By the way, what exactly is a Thunderball and a Moonraker? Or, for that matter, an Octopussy?

Simple. 'Operation Thunderball' is the codename of Bond's mission to find two NATO nuclear bombs stolen by SPECTRE, Hugo Drax's Drax Industries constructs Moonraker space shuttles and Octopussy is the name of the jewel smuggling title character.

[Cruiserweight]

Before this movie came out I had no idea what either word meant nor did i ever hear anyone use either word in a conversation.
Still haven't.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

Before this movie came out I had no idea what either word meant nor did i ever hear anyone use either word in a conversation.
Still haven't.

What about using "quantum" in a physics class? They talk about things like quantum mechanics, etc. Solace, however, is a much more common word than quantum.

[Cruiserweight]

Before this movie came out I had no idea what either word meant nor did i ever hear anyone use either word in a conversation.
Still haven't.

What about using "quantum" in a physics class? They talk about things like quantum mechanics, etc. Solace, however, is a much more common word than quantum.

I never took a physics class & i honestly have never heard anyone use the word solace during any conversation.

[Publius]

But, seriously, English is not my Mother Tongue and still I´m wondering why anyone would not know the words "quantum" and "solace". They were part of the vocabulary lessons in my school.

Same here. Solace was an ordinary part of my vocabulary well before middle school. Quantum I can understand not learning for a while (personally, I probably picked it up in one of my general science classes in middle school), but it's not a mind-boggling word either considering it's so similar to "quantity".

At the very worst, I would think a common reaction might be "What of solace? Let me look that up in a dictionary Google that... ohhh! Okay, I get it now. Clever." Yet I've seen far more bizarrely extreme responses.

[Mr. Blofeld]

I'm still stunned that a lot of Brits didn't know what Quantum of Solace meant; I thought they were supposed to be the literate types...

[eddychaput]

I'm still stunned that a lot of Brits didn't know what Quantum of Solace meant; I thought they were supposed to be the literate types...

Zing!

[byline]

Before this movie came out I had no idea what either word meant nor did i ever hear anyone use either word in a conversation.
Still haven't.

What about using "quantum" in a physics class? They talk about things like quantum mechanics, etc. Solace, however, is a much more common word than quantum.

I never took a physics class & i honestly have never heard anyone use the word solace during any conversation.

Wow. Really? I know I've heard it, and at the very least I'm sure I've heard it in films.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

Before this movie came out I had no idea what either word meant nor did i ever hear anyone use either word in a conversation.
Still haven't.

Okay, I was just watching an episode of The Simpsons and Ned Flanders said the word, "solace." It seems small and insignificant, but it shows that solace IS a common word...

[DaveBond21]

Am I the only one here who kinda likes the title Quantum of Crap?

Would be interesting....

[Vauxhall]

Am I the only one here who kinda likes the title Quantum of Crap?

Would be interesting....

I fear people would still complain about not understanding the word "quantum".

[marktmurphy]

I'm sorry if this topic has been discussed already, but I'm getting sick of people saying, "What does Quantum of Solace mean?" Seriously people, it's not that hard. Get a dictionary and look it up...

Except of course, in a movie where the evil organisation is called 'Quantum' it actually doesn't mean anything.
'The baddies that James Bond is fighting of comfort'? Eh?

[BrozFan]

I'm sorry if this topic has been discussed already, but I'm getting sick of people saying, "What does Quantum of Solace mean?" Seriously people, it's not that hard. Get a dictionary and look it up...

Except of course, in a movie where the evil organisation is called 'Quantum' it actually doesn't mean anything.
'The baddies that James Bond is fighting of comfort'? Eh?

Er, no.

'Comfort' would be referencing the world 'Solace' not 'Quantum.' As already mentioned numerous times in this thread 'Quantum' stands for 'quantity' and in that sense relates more than appropriately to the organisation Quantum. Quantum being a mysterious organisation so wide sprawling (or not) that the quantity of its mass/members is unknown.

Seriously get out the dictionary, or the thinking cap.

[mrsbonds_ppk]

My brother asked me what it meant for James Bond and I just had him read the Ian Fleming story and he liked it .

[marktmurphy]

I'm sorry if this topic has been discussed already, but I'm getting sick of people saying, "What does Quantum of Solace mean?" Seriously people, it's not that hard. Get a dictionary and look it up...

Except of course, in a movie where the evil organisation is called 'Quantum' it actually doesn't mean anything.
'The baddies that James Bond is fighting of comfort'? Eh?

Er, no.

'Comfort' would be referencing the world 'Solace' not 'Quantum.' As already mentioned numerous times in this thread 'Quantum' stands for 'quantity' and in that sense relates more than appropriately to the organisation Quantum. Quantum being a mysterious organisation so wide sprawling (or not) that the quantity of its mass/members is unknown.

Seriously get out the dictionary, or the thinking cap.

Perhaps try that yourself. I didn't say that 'comfort' means 'quantum'. For the hard of thinking:
"The baddies that James Bond is fighting" = Quantum. Quantum is the name of the evil organisation.

"Comfort" = (or is at least a synonym of) Solace

Hence: 'Quantum of Solace' = 'The baddies that James Bond is fighting of Comfort'

And incidentally, a quantum is a word used when talking about a specific amount of something: not just 'quantity'. In that way it means very little when applied to the large and mysterious organisation of Quantum, and even less so when applied to the title of the film when keeping the organisation's name in mind. Which is what I was talking about.

Try using your brain before attempting to be patronizing next time.

[Tybre]

My brother asked me what it meant for James Bond and I just had him read the Ian Fleming story and he liked it .

Now there's a plan I can get behind.

Let's all go throw copies of Fleming at random people in the streets! Kidding, of course. Although admittedly that would be fun. And it would be interesting to see just how many people would read it after being pelted by it.

[Dekard77]

Love the title. It has a subtle meaning to both Bond and Greene in completely different contexts. Thank god for this title rather than choosing 'Licence To Kill, Die Another Day.....

Tomorrow Never Dies, Quantum Of Solace, Moonraker, Octopussy and GoldenEye all have a nice Bond ring to them. People whether they are fans or not think of Bond films in a class of their own. Not like Bourne or XXX. Lets try and keep the tradition.

Also I feel this is one the Bond films I have seen with From Russia with Love type of story telling. Granted FRWL is very superior,the Bond producers wanted to give deeper characters. In a way all the characters in this movie serve a purpose and its interesting to watch them. The baddies are more towards sly than physical and the Bond girl who is very forward makes her agenda clear lives up to it till the end of the movie. Usually she ends up befriending 007 in a very forceful manner just so they can close the film with a kiss or a nude swim.
Either way it's far better than choosing Revenge of Vesper or Waiting For Death

[darthbond]

Just for the record, I think the title is perfect for the film. The film really is Bond looking for his measure of comfort in Vesper's betrayal. The fact that could find a Fleming title that works is extremely gratifying to me.

darthbond