11 replies to this topic

[perdogg]

Casino Royale
1. Le Chiffre – Some say that the character is based on Aleister Crowley, member Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
2. The Nine of Hearts – In Tarot cards, the nine of hearts is sometimes titled Happiness, but it is also known as Victory.
3. Agent 007 – 7 being a lucky number.
Live and Let Die
1. General reference to Voodoo.
2. Mr BIG being described as a corpse who has washed up.
3. Solitaire – Some say that the character is based on Annie Palmer, the White Witch of Rose Hall, Jamaica.
Moonraker
1. Hugo Drax – Drax means Dragon.
2. Gala(tea) Brand –Greek Mythology. Galatea is the name of Polyphemus 's object of desire in Theocritus's Idylls VI and XI and is linked with Polyphemus again in the myth of Acis and Galatea in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Polyphemus was one of the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes (source Wikipedia). We know that Drax had a war injury that resulted in disfiguration of half his face. From her description, any man would want to have her.
3. The description of Drax, Kreb, and Dr Walter are described as “people from another planet” (chapter 11).
Diamonds are Forever
1. City known as Spectreville (ghost).
From Russia with Love
1. Events take place on Friday - August 13th 1954. Friday the 13th is unlucky.
2. Spektor Machine (reference to Ghost).
3. Red Grant struck in England during full moons, like a werewolf.
Dr No
1. Dr No – The character is based on Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu was created by Sax Rohmer. Sax Rohmer was a self-proclaimed member of the Hermetic Order of Gold Dawn.
2. Reference to a “Dragon” on the island.
3. Dr No is described as being almost alien. "It was impossible to tell Doctor No's age...there were no lines on the face. It was odd to see the forehead as smooth as the top of a polished skull. “Even the cavernous indrawn cheeks below below the prominent cheekbone looked as smooth as fine ivory. There was something Daliesque about the eyebrows, which were fine and black and sharply upswept as if they had been painted on as make-up for the conjurer. Below them, slanting jet black eyes stared out of the skull. They were without eyelashes......The fine thin nose ended very close above the a wide compressed wound of a mouth which...showed only cruelty and authority, (Dr No – Chapter 14) "
Goldfinger
1. Reference to Heaven. Bond thinks he has been killed and is in Heaven waiting to meet Jill and Vesper Lynd.
Thunderball
1. Disco Volante – “Flying Saucer”
The Spy Who Loved Me
1. Events take place on Friday - October 13th 1962. Friday the 13th is unlucky.
2. Horror is described as being “skeletal” and Sluggy is described as a “young monster”.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
1. According to “The Making of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” the novel contains various references to religion. Tracey being St Theresa and her father Marc-Ange Draco (Mark Angel Dragon).
You Only Live Twice
1. Agent 7777 – 7 is a lucky number.
2. Magic 44 – Magic and ‘44’. 4 is an unlucky number in Japanese. Four is pronounced "shi" which is the same pronunciation as death.
The Man with the Golden Gun
1. unknown

[TCK]

Oh, that's pretty good and very interesting. Well-judged ! Bravo !

[perdogg]

Oh, that's pretty good and very interesting. Well-judged ! Bravo !

I have noticed the dichotomy between "OHMSS" and "YOLT". The former dealing with biblical references, love, and the Piz Gloria (Glorious Peak) - near God; the later dealing with images of hell and death - sulphur and fire.

Edited by perdogg, 05 June 2011 - 01:21 PM.

[Messervy]

Hey, interesting!
Hadn't paid much attention to it before (oddly enough, given that I do like the occult/spiritual theme), except for the 2 obvious ones that are FRWL's Red Grant and LALD's Voodoo.
Well spotted.

[perdogg]

Hey, interesting!
Hadn't paid much attention to it before (oddly enough, given that I do like the occult/spiritual theme), except for the 2 obvious ones that are FRWL's Red Grant and LALD's Voodoo.
Well spotted.

Thank you. I am also wondering if the Myth of Charon is alluded to in YOLT.

[perdogg]

Spetmology defines the collection of what is thought to be useless information - you have quoted agreta deal of things related to the films i would never had known had i not read this post ,thankyou very much for broadening my knowledge

The only weird thing I cannot find anything in The Man with the Golden Gun, however there was a character named Rotkopf. Rotkopf means "red head". It seemed most of the villians in the Bondian sphere had red hair.

[perdogg]

The only weird thing I cannot find anything in The Man with the Golden Gun, however there was a character named Rotkopf. Rotkopf means "red head". It seemed most of the villians in the Bondian sphere had red hair.

Me neither lol - Im Sure you'll find something in time

1. The street number of the house in Jamaica was 3 1/2 Love lane, obviously half of 007.
2. Chapter 12 - "In a glass, very Darkly" Is a take off of a title written by Irish gothic writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

Addendum - You Only Live Twice.

1. The battle at the Shiro ends at around Midnight.

[Revelator]

There are those stone Gods that Bond prays to in YOLT. Bond wonders if he saw one's head move!
For consideration of Bond and religion, I recommend checking out the book The Devil with James Bond! by Ann S. Boyd. A very interesting read.

[perdogg]

There are those stone Gods that Bond prays to in YOLT. Bond wonders if he saw one's head move!
For consideration of Bond and religion, I recommend checking out the book The Devil with James Bond! by Ann S. Boyd. A very interesting read.

Thank you. Here is more on the number 44. The number 44 appears in YOLT "Magic 44" and in "The living Daylights" (aka "Berlin Escape") marker/target number '44' at the range. According to numerology 44 means:

Impeccability, desire with insight, wisdom with reason, intensity, conviction, adeptship, heroism, self-control, discipline, controlled energy focussed.

[Dustin]

Terrific thread, truly most interesting and delightful!

Goldfinger
1. Reference to Heaven. Bond thinks he has been killed and is in Heaven waiting to meet Jill and Vesper Lynd.

This I find particularly thought-provoking for a number of reasons. First of all 'Goldfinger' is the book that addressed Bond's personal doubts about his calling, his purpose and value for his society perhaps the most pronouncedly (after CR) in the opening chapter 'Reflections in a Double Bourbon'. Please ponder this for a moment, Bond getting philosophical after his last assignment and the need to kill one Mexican in the aftermath. It's never even confirmed this killing was connected to the assignment, Bond merely assumes it, for good reason. But the outcome would have been just the same had it been an ordinary street thug trying to rob Bond of his wallet and watch.

Bond's concern here is the astounding quickness and irreversibility with which life left the Mexican after a few short decisive moves of Bond's. It's been incredibly easy and fast to take the life from that pile of cheap clothes and human flesh and Bond's thoughts at this phenomenon are not so far from what a Nazi doctor in a death camp might have thought about the matter. Bond is perhaps aware of this similarity and feels some unease, despite it being part of his job and in fact an integral part of life as a whole. Bond's unease isn't about a possible sin as such, but about a hidden dimension of life that escapes his capability to describe and understand it. It's an inverted sense of wonder, a marvelling about life that only became apparent by the Mexican's death.

Yet a number of chapters later Bond has reason to believe he's dead himself. When his sensory equipment starts picking up stimuli, despite his being supposedly dead, Bond immediately, naturally, suspects he's going to heaven and meeting up there with Vesper and Tilly (and others we haven't learnt about as yet). This marks an interesting certainty. For Bond there is no real question, he's going to heaven. He may have been not the best example of humanity, but on the whole he's been one of the good guys, however tainted by the circumstances. It's evident that Bond sees the various killings he's been forced to do not as sins as such, more as a circumstancial burden. Bond is not concerned at all about explaining it to whomever happens to to be St Peter's officer in charge at the Gates of Heaven customs and immigration counter.

Another thing in this context is Bond's wish he could kill himself before the interrogation starts in the Pressure Room. By Roman Catholic standards this would be considered a mortal sin, a sin not to be forgiven and entailing eternal damnation. Bond is not concerned about such in the least, probably due to him not being a particularly religious character in the first place. All the more interesting is that he's falling back onto the nursery stories when he thinks he's on his way to heaven. Being a pragmatic Bond immediately concentrates on scraping together the facts from the nursery 'briefing', the Pearly Gates and Saint Peter and so on. For Bond death is just another assingment and he's intent on mastering it.

Edited by Dustin, 17 August 2011 - 11:59 AM.

[Major Tallon]

Nice analysis, Dustin. Very insightful.

[perdogg]

For Your Eyes Only - Bond describes Judy Havelock as "a beautiful unkempt Dryad". Dryads were tree nymphs from greek mythology.

Edited by perdogg, 17 April 2012 - 02:24 AM.