I am a student in history at the university here in Sweden, and I’m writing an essay (approx. 20 pages) on James Bond and the Cold War. Specifically, I am looking at how the Soviet Union is portrayed in the films made between 1962-1989. I have noticed a pattern, which will be the basis for my essay.
When Ian Fleming wrote his books, the relationship between the US and USSR was strained, and culminated in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Hence, the Russians were the bad guys in 12 of Fleming’s 21 storys about Bond (short-stories included).
In the 60’s, due to the Cuban Crisis, both the US and USSR agreed to the first efforts at nuclear disarmament. The era known as détente ("relaxation") began; which saw an easing of the strained relations between the two superpowers. Hence, when Fleming’s books were being filmed – the Russians were no longer the villains. The Russian organization SMERSH was replaced by the non-ideological and independent terrorist organization SPECTRE. This trend of replacing Ian Fleming’s Russian villains with independent megalomaniacs continued throughout the 70’s. Mr Big (Live and let die), Scaramanga (The Man with The Golden Gun) and Drax (Moonraker) were no longer in bed with the Russians (as in Fleming’s novels) but acted on their own. In The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Bond even teams up (and falls in love with) a Russian spy, and MI6 join forces with the KGB to destroy the common enemy. This mirrored the political climate in the “real world” where US and USSR-relations were at an all time high. One example of this is SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) in Helsinki in 1975.
But in 1979 the Russians invaded Afghanistan. Later Margaret Tatcher was elected prime minister in Britain, and Ronald Reagan became president in the United States. Historians call this period The Second Cold War, because the relations between the US and USSR were so severe once again. Reagan called the USSR an “evil empire”, the US expanded their military bases in West Germany, the NATO provoked the Soviets. Flight 007 (ironically) was shot down by the Soviets and an American congressman was killed, leading to a huge diplomatic crisis.
And what do you know - in all of the James Bond-movies from the 80’s – except License to Kill – the villain is in some way or the other working for the Russians. In For Your Eyes Only Kristatos is sent out by the Russian state, in Octopussy the Russian General Orlov wants to detonate an atomic bomb and INVADE Europe (!), in A View to a Kill Max Zorin is a psychotic, former KGB-agent, and in The Living Daylights, Koskov is a defected Russian general (and in the first hour or so of the film, we are led to believe that the real villain is the KGB chief Pushkin).
It’s obvious that the political climate at the time (specifically the relations between the US and the USSR) is mirrored in the Bond films, by how the Russians are portrayed. When the relations are strained, the Russians are villains in Bonds world, and when the relations are good, the Russians could even be Bond's allies.
After that short summary I have two questions for you Bond experts.
1) Why did Broccoli/Saltzman in 1962 change Bond’s nemesis from SMERSH to SPECTRE?
One can argue that they wanted to make their films less controversial, and maybe they didn’t want to provoke the Russians. But do anyone know of any source were this is discussed by anyone involved in the making of the film? Is it mentioned in any book or maybe any of the special features on, say the Dr No DVD?
2) Similar question; Why did they change the villains in Goldfinger (1964) from the Russians as in the novel, to Red China? This makes no sense to me. Both were communist states. It could be argued that at the time China was seen as a larger threat to the US than was the USSR, but I have nothing to back this up. Why couldn’t they have Goldfinger working for SPECTRE, as they had Dr No and Rosa Klebb? Once again, do you know if anyone from the production (say Gay Hamilton) has mentioned anything about this?
I would really appreciate your help, fellow Bond-fans.
