Do you want to see James Bond portrayed with a different ethnicity?

[The Toymaker]

I personally find the current title to be at least slightly racist.

You don't know what 'racist' means. Calling someone 'black' when they are 'black' is not racist.

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

You don't know what 'racist' means. Calling someone 'black' when they are 'black' is not racist.

You were focusing on one race when asking whether anyone wants James Bond to be another ethnicity. And it's not like you don't have history of talking ill about that same race. In that context, I think it is ...as I said, at least slightly racist.

[The Toymaker]

My history is irrelevant. My post/thread is not racist in the slightest. I was expressing no hatred towards black people or any other ethnicity in this thread. The thread is about James Bond and other members' opinions about the possibility of a black Bond. Please stop me when you see the racist nature of this thread.

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

You all say that now, but you would all go crazy if they cast a black man as Bond. Mainly because it'd be shit.

Just because he's black?

Naw, that's not racist.

[The Toymaker]

It's not racist. Bond is a white character. It's about how the character was created, not race.

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

So you're saying the movie might not be "shit"(bad quality) if a black man played the part?

Edited December 2, 2012 by ShAAken not Stirred™

[Bond Bug]

I was a big fan of the TV show, The Equalizer, with Edward Woodward (white British actor) in the title role. When I heard Denzel Washington might play the part in a movie version, I thought that would be fantastic casting. Washington has played roles where he is fighting for justice, but outside the law, and that would be perfect for The Equalizer.However, Bond is different. I would be just as keen to see any actor play Bond whatever ethnicity, as long as they were good, but everyone who knows of Bond, knows he is white. You wouldn't recast the Corleone family in The Godfather as Asians. You wouldn't recast Tyler Perry's Medea with a white guy. And you wouldn't recast the character of Lee, played by Jackie Chan. in Rush hour, with a Black guy. Nothing to do with race, but to do with casting that considers many aspects of the characters' physique, including age, height, build and ethnicity. .

Edited December 2, 2012 by Bond Bug

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

I was a big fan of the TV show, The Equalizer, with Edward Woodward (white British actor) in the title role. When I heard Denzel Washington might play the part in a movie version, I thought that would be fantastic casting. Washington has played roles where he is fighting for justice, but outside the law, and that would be perfect for The Equalizer.However, Bond is different. I would be just as keen to see any actor play Bond whatever ethnicity, as long as they were good, but everyone who knows of Bond, knows he is white. You wouldn't recast the Corleone family in The Godfather as Asians. You wouldn't recast Tyler Perry's Medea with a white guy. And you wouldn't recast the character of Lee, played by Jackie Chan. in Rush hour, with a Black guy. Nothing to do with race, but to do with casting that considers many aspects of the characters' physique, including age, height, build and ethnicity. .

OK. I understand what you're getting at. But here's where I have an issue with that. The Corleones are Italian mobsters. And that is evident by their Italian culture. Madea is African American, and you see signs of that culture throughout the stories. Lee is Chinese. He was raised that way and his culture of Kung Fu is also very evident. Bond is British. That is all we know about him. In all of the films, his culture is that of an Englishman. That's it. But, there are black Englishman. They are an extreme minority, yes, but they do exist. Casting him as a black man would do nothing to hurt his culture. No changes would be made other than to the color of his skin. And, as I said before, it may actually enhance that he's different than your average spy.That said, I'd still want the character to retain his English language. I wouldn't want James Bond to say "Shaken not Stirred, my brotha!".

[The Toymaker]

So you're saying the movie might not be "shit"(bad quality) if a black man played the part?

It's not about that really. The quality of Die Another Day was "shit" (bad quality) and that starred a white James Bond. It's about the part not being written for a black man, and the moviegoing audience will not watch a black James Bond. Plus, the news recently has been about a black Bond, so it seems logical to quiz people on a black Bond.

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

It's not about that really. The quality of Die Another Day was "shit" (bad quality) and that starred a white James Bond. It's about the part not being written for a black man, and the moviegoing audience will not watch a black James Bond. Plus, the news recently has been about a black Bond, so it seems logical to quiz people on a black Bond.

Like how you skirted around answering my question.

I still don't see how that would make it "shit". You may not like it, but I'm supremely confident that they could make a black James Bond film that wouldn't be "shit". However, I agree that grosses would go down. But, I do not agree that the "movie going audience will not watch" it. It would do OK, it would bring in new converts while taking a moderate hit from its base. But if it's good, I see no reason the second film wouldn't rebound back to normal Bond-like(not necessarily Skyfall) numbers.

And I also still don't understand what makes James Bond inherently white. Other than visually, I see no aspect of his actual character that screams Caucasian. I mean, I'm pretty sure I can read a Bond book without his ethnicity even being a factor.

[Phil in the Blank]

As Algren said in the sex thread"I honestly believe race matters when it comes to not just sex, but everything"Given that nugget of information then yes, this thread certainly has racist undertones to it.It is beyond his reasoning skills to understand that most people wouldn't care if Daniel Craig was black, and that the quality of a movie like Skyfall would still be very high regardless of his skin colour.My personal feelings are that there is nothing about Bond that makes him inherently white. He was white when he was created because black people simply wouldn't had been likely to succeed within an organisation like MI6. Of course this is 2012 and colour has no barrier for entry these days and hence Bond could be any colour you could think of as long as he acted British.Doesn't mean the next Bond should be Black, it just depends on who is the best man for the job.

[The Toymaker]

Even if there was something about his character that made him white, we wouldn't be able to say it because you would all jump on the race bandwagon and say that pigeon-holing people by characteristics is racist. The thing that makes Bond white is because he's a top-level secret service agent from the 1950s. There were no black British intelligence agents then. Plus Fleming wrote him as white and picked Connery as the perfect Bond.Blacks can be the enemy or the servant at MI6 headquarters, but that's it.Anyway I see no reason to talk about this because Bond will never be black. Brocolli's are not stupid, they know that a black Bond would bomb atthe box office. Besides, there's no need to change a winning formula, especially not to just appease the blacks.

[Phil in the Blank]

No, he is a top-secret agent from 2012. If the movies stayed in the 1950's then you have a point, but as the movies are set in the present day, you dont.DUCY?

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

Even if there was something about his character that made him white, we wouldn't be able to say it because you would all jump on the race bandwagon and say that pigeon-holing people by characteristics is racist. The thing that makes Bond white is because he's a top-level secret service agent from the 1950s. There were no black British intelligence agents then. Plus Fleming wrote him as white and picked Connery as the perfect Bond.Blacks can be the enemy or the servant at MI6 headquarters, but that's it.Anyway I see no reason to talk about this because Bond will never be black. Brocolli's are not stupid, they know that a black Bond would bomb atthe box office. Besides, there's no need to change a winning formula, especially not to just appease the blacks.

Thank you for confirming that your beliefs are stuck in the 1950s. And Fleming hated the idea of Connery as Bond until he saw Dr. No. So he didn't "pick" him.

[John Marston]

if a black man auditioned for Bond and was the best actor that auditioned for the role by far and was turned down. Then I can understand people getting mad and complaintsbut these people who are just going "Oh they should make Bond black because he's been white all this time" just for the sake of changing his race are ridiculous. They are just pandering to PC

[Bond Bug]

OK. I understand what you're getting at. But here's where I have an issue with that. The Corleones are Italian mobsters. And that is evident by their Italian culture. Madea is African American, and you see signs of that culture throughout the stories. Lee is Chinese. He was raised that way and his culture of Kung Fu is also very evident. Bond is British. That is all we know about him. In all of the films, his culture is that of an Englishman. That's it. But, there are black Englishman. They are an extreme minority, yes, but they do exist. Casting him as a black man would do nothing to hurt his culture. No changes would be made other than to the color of his skin. And, as I said before, it may actually enhance that he's different than your average spy.That said, I'd still want the character to retain his English language. I wouldn't want James Bond to say "Shaken not Stirred, my brotha!".

As I say, I don't personally have any problem with a black actor playing Bond, or an actor of any ethnicity. Look at my screen name - I am a big Bond fan. I will be there whoever plays Bond, and if a black actor was the best choice, that suits me personally.However, all I am saying is audiences have a picture in their mind of what James Bond looks like.There is a strong sense that this is the same man who destroyed Dr. No's evil plan and took on Silva, in Skyfall. The audience have got to know him over a lifetime. Changing him so he looks too different might make the new actor hard to accept. It would be like changing a character in a soap opera. If they replaced a black actor with a white actor, the audience might find that hard to accept this is the same character in a soap opera.Whilst I don't personally care, I would not recommend that the producers change the Bond Actor to a black actor, in the same way a James Bond who is five foot tall, or who has long blond hair, or is completely bald, is risking the longevity of the series. Edited December 2, 2012 by Bond Bug

[Bond Bug]

if a black man auditioned for Bond and was the best actor that auditioned for the role by far and was turned down. Then I can understand people getting mad and complaintsbut these people who are just going "Oh they should make Bond black because he's been white all this time" just for the sake of changing his race are ridiculous. They are just pandering to PC

I don;t think that is anyone's intention. The question, as I understand it, is: Would we accept a black James Bond?

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

if a black man auditioned for Bond and was the best actor that auditioned for the role by far and was turned down. Then I can understand people getting mad and complaintsbut these people who are just going "Oh they should make Bond black because he's been white all this time" just for the sake of changing his race are ridiculous. They are just pandering to PC

Who's saying that?

[John Marston]

Who's saying that?

many people

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

It would be like changing a character in a soap opera. If they replaced a black actor with a white actor, the audience might find that hard to accept this is the same character in a soap opera.

Funnily enough, this has happened before:

This Asian actress:

Was replaced by this white actress on One Life to Live in the 90s:

And she still plays the character to this day on General Hospital.

Don't ask me how I know these things.