13 replies to this topic

[Agent Spriggan Ominae]

I remember being intrigued by Stax's comment in his script review about the villain Le Chiffre. I wonder what kind of physical oddites or disfigurement Le Chiffre would have. One possibilty and it's actually more of a mental oddity and would be unique would be to have Le Chiffre suffer from a slight case of autism. There are diffrent degrees of how sever the autism could be and there are alot of cases where autistic people show almost superhuman or supernatural mental and physical talents. Perhaps this could explain Le Chiffre being a chess prodigy, math genius, and expert poker player. Any thoughts or ideas?

[Pussfeller]

I think that would be an interesting direction for the character. In keeping with the spirit of the film (as it seems to be developing) it would be best not to have a gimmicky supervillain. A villain with high-functioning autism would be something we haven't seen before in a Bond film, but it's exactly the sort of character Fleming would have written about (if he had known about autism). It would explain Le Chiffre's skill with cards and his inability to deal with someone like Bond, who breaks all the rules and takes him out of his element. It would allow for a completely different kind of Bond-villain dynamic, and allow Le Chiffre to be a character who is obsessed with control and at the same time manipulated by a higher authority (Mr. White, etc). In the novel, he was essentially a high-powered pawn who went against his masters' wishes and was destroyed. To make Le Chiffre a card-playing savant would fit in with this.

[Agent Spriggan Ominae]

I think that would be an interesting direction for the character. In keeping with the spirit of the film (as it seems to be developing) it would be best not to have a gimmicky supervillain. A villain with high-functioning autism would be something we haven't seen before in a Bond film, but it's exactly the sort of character Fleming would have written about (if he had known about autism). It would explain Le Chiffre's skill with cards and his inability to deal with someone like Bond, who breaks all the rules and takes him out of his element. It would allow for a completely different kind of Bond-villain dynamic, and allow Le Chiffre to be a character who is obsessed with control and at the same time manipulated by a higher authority (Mr. White, etc). In the novel, he was essentially a high-powered pawn who went against his masters' wishes and was destroyed. To make Le Chiffre a card-playing savant would fit in with this.

Yes, exactly! You've said it better than I.

[casinoroyale11234]

What the hell does mundane mean?

Edited by casinoroyale11234, 30 March 2006 - 12:51 AM.

[Tanger]

What the hell does mundane mean?

To put it simply - Boring. Mundane is a more articulate way of saying that something is boring.

A tip for the future - you're on the internet dude. You have unlimited resources at your fingertips. How hard is it to go on Google and search for an online dictionary?

Peace out.

[JimmyBond]

A tip for the future - you're on the internet dude. You have unlimited resources at your fingertips. How hard is it to go on Google and search for an online dictionary?

I'll do you all one better. www.dictionary.com Make this your friend!

[Pussfeller]

"Mundane" is not "boring".

The word basically means "ordinary" or "commonplace", and describes something you might find in the real world. Something can quite easily be both mundane and interesting. Indeed, a dash of the mundane can make a story or a character far more compelling.

"Boring" is all about one's reaction to something, which (needless to say) is totally subjective. If you happen to find the real world (and everything about it) boring, then by all means equate the mundane with the uninteresting. But there are many ridiculous, remarkable things which many would consider extremely boring. Incessant explosions are fairly abnormal in my life, but they still put me to sleep. Ice palaces are far from common in my neighborhood, but I still find them tremendously boring. The final half of DAD proves incontrovertibly that something can be relentlessly fantastical and mind-numbingly dull. Indeed, it is BECAUSE it is so unfailingly fantastical that it causes people to lose interest. It has no admixture of the mundane, nothing to ground it to the real world. It's a fireworks display. And as Sideshow Bob once asked, "What kind of country-fried rube is still impressed by that?"

Naturally, if a film consists of NOTHING but everyday mundane banality, it's going to be boring. Everyone knows that, except for a few auteurs. But the same is true when you have NOTHING but fantasy. As I see it, the key to an interesting story (of any genre, not just action) is a varied mixture of reality and wonder. With a series like Bond, sometimes you have to adjust the proportions to change the dynamics and keep audiences interested. I think this time around, we need a decidedly un-fantastical villain. Yes, a mundane villain, the sort of guy you might see on the news. Of course he should have a pinch of fantasy, but mostly, he should be mundane. That's NOT to say he should be "boring".

[Tanger]

"Mundane" is not "boring".

It is most people's preffered definition though.

I look at my dictionary here and it lists the synonyms DULL, BORING, UNEXCITING, HUMDRUM. That's a lot of words meaning boring for something that doesn't mean boring in any way, as you suggest.

[Santa]

Oh dear, and secret_007 was bothered that I suggested he use commas. He's going to love this little debate....
I, however, do like it. Keep going.

[Jim]

It's a banality of evil "thing", isn't it? That villainous people look ordinary makes them scarier than having scars and lazy shorthand stuff like that. That the person you just passed by in the street could be a crazed psychopath is a more disturbing thought than the machinations of someone called (say) Mr Kil.

[DOUBLE-O-JOE]

Let's not forget in the novel Le Chiffre has a mysterious past due to being discovered in a Displaced Persons' Camp in Germany, in 1945, feigning (?) amnesia. He was issued with a Stateless Person's Passport, and that's why the character calls himself "Le Chiffre" (the Cypher). Perhaps this may be updated in the movie? Perhaps he's now a stateless person from the Balkans, hence "Casino Royale" located, of all places, in Montenegro?

[Agent Spriggan Ominae]

Perhaps he's now a stateless person from the Balkans, hence "Casino Royale" located, of all places, in Montenegro?

That is quite possible. In the script review it is said that Le Chiffre is belived to be albanian.

[Pussfeller]

"Mundane" is not "boring".

It is most people's preffered definition though.

I look at my dictionary here and it lists the synonyms DULL, BORING, UNEXCITING, HUMDRUM. That's a lot of words meaning boring for something that doesn't mean boring in any way, as you suggest.

Well, I never said it was the absence of boredom, but no, it doesn't "mean boring". It has a connotation of dullness, yes, but its actual denotation is closer to "worldly", "ordinary", "quotidian", or "terrene", none of which specify boredom. You can't always use a synonym as a definition, either. After all, synonyms of the word "old" include "grizzled", "exhausted", and "broken-down", but no one would call a bottle of vintage champagne "grizzled". My dictionary doesn't use the word boredom once in its definition of "mundane", and I haven't been able to find one that does.

I'll grant that the word is most often used these days with that connotation in mind, but that doesn't mean that ordinary, commonplace things (by whatever name one gives them) are thereby boring. Whatever you choose to call it, the mundane is a necessary ingredient in an authentic, engaging character or story.

If most people these days are bored by reality, that's another matter. But I take heart in the fact that monotonously "high-octane" films like Stealth have been tanking lately.

[TortillaFactory]

Boys, boys, you can both be right! Mundane is similar to boring, but not quite the same...one can reasonably say "mundane and boring," yet one of them might (or might not) imply the other. Giving it some more thought, mundane is always boring, but boring isn't always mundane.

Would luuuurrrv to see them do something psychologically interesting with Le Chiffre. That sort of thing is my bread 'n butter.