The Cultural Life of James Bond

The release of No Time To Die in 2020 heralds the arrival of the twenty-fifth installment in the James Bond film series. Since the release of Dr. No in 1962, the cinematic James Bond has expedited the transformation of Ian Fleming's literary creation into an icon of western popular culture that has captivated audiences across the globe by transcending barriers of ideology, nation, empire, gender, race, ethnicity, and generation. The Cultural Life of James Bond: Specters of 007 untangles the seemingly perpetual allure of the Bond phenomenon by looking at the non-canonical texts and contexts that encompass the cultural life of James Bond. Chronicling the evolution of the British secret agent over half a century of political, social, and cultural permutations, the fifteen chapters examine the Bond-brand beyond the film series and across media platforms while understanding these ancillary texts and contexts as sites of negotiation with the Eon franchise.

A Socialist 007 : East European Spy Dramas in the Early James Bond Era

If the James Bond films were officially unavailable to East European audiences until 1989, the Eastern Bloc did not escape the global reach of the Bond phenomenon. East European spy dramas began to appear during the late 1960s, and they were mostly made for television and not all that distant in spirit from the Bond films. This chapter examines three television series: More Than Life at Stake (1967-1968) from Poland, The Invisible Gun Sight (1973-1979) from the German Democratic Republic, and Seventeen Moments of Spring (1972) from the Soviet Union. While these tales of espionage evince the projections of the west in the east during the Cold War, they reveal foremost the powerful appeal of consumerism behind the Iron Curtain.

Tests of bond between concrete and steel bars – literature background and program of own research

This article deals with the issue of the bond between concrete and reinforcement. The bond is crucial for reinforced concrete elements because it is possible to transfer forces (stresses) from concrete to the reinforcement. Basic information related to the cooperation of concrete and rebars was recalled in the article. Selected issues concerning theoretical and numerical analysis as well as experiments of the bond phenomenon were presented. The article also proposes its own concept of experimental studies on the bond on two types of specimens: so-called short specimen and large specimen that will be subjected to pull-out tests. The described concept is ultimately to form the basis for creating a numerical model, enabling the simulation of bond in various reinforced concrete elements, calibrated based on the results of experimental studies.

Agent 007 za żelazną kurtyną. Fenomen Jamesa Bonda w piśmiennictwie kulturalnym Polski Ludowej

Agent 007 behind the Iron Curtain: The phenomenon of James Bond in the cultural writings of the Polish People’s RepublicThe topic of the article is the reception of the phenomenon of James Bond in cultural writings from the times of the Polish People’s Republic. Though an average member of the Polish audience could not be directly familiar with the character neither in literature nor in film, the scale of the popularity of the brand in the West meant that the echoes of the so-called Bondomania started to reach countries behind the Iron Curtain. Polish critics and journalists tried to acquaint their readers with the issue and explain it using various interpretative categories.The article attempts to reconstruct these categories and their hierarchy of values. Based on theses formulated by Janet Staiger Interpreting Films: Studies in the Historical Reception of American Cinema, the author analyses the changes to Polish interpretations and opinions on the Bond phenomenon in subsequent decades and indicates the historical conditions that influenced those changes. The text focuses primarily on two periods: 1964–1971 and the latter half of the 1980s, because it was in those times that the interest of Polish critics in James Bond was particularly strong.

The playboy and James Bond

This is the first book to focus on James Bond’s relationship to the playboy ideal through the sixties and beyond. Examining aspects of the Bond phenomenon and the playboy lifestyle, it considers how ideas of gender and consumption were manipulated to construct and reflect a powerful male fantasy in the post-war era. This analysis of the close association and relations between the emerging cultural icons of James Bond and the playboy is particularly concerned with Sean Connery’s definitive Bond as he was promoted and used by the media. By exploring the connections that developed between Bond and Playboy magazine within a historical framework, the book offers new insights into these related phenomena and their enduring legacy in popular culture.

The human–animal bond and animal-assisted intervention

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) are increasing in mental and physical healthcare and education. These interventions include a range of structures and objectives. AAI is the umbrella term that includes the practice of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and animal-assisted education (AAE). The interventions are developed on the premise that humans are inherently inclined to bond with other species, known as the human–animal bond. While empirical research on AAI continues to develop, related fields are contributing to its theoretical justification, including theories that support the human–animal bond phenomenon. This chapter introduces both AAI and its supporting theories, and describes best practices in this developing field.

Employing James Bond

This article is concerned with the representation of one particular form of work within popular culture during a particular period, in order to understand just how much representations of work have altered over the past half century. I discuss the James Bond phenomenon and the ways in which it has been understood by cultural theorists. I then look at what the novels suggest about understandings of work and organizations in Britain in the 1950s before comparing that period to later Bonds. The latter operation necessarily involves thinking through the ways in which an understanding of historical context is crucial to thinking through the production and consumption of any text, whether about work and organizations, or any other topic. The article concludes with some thoughts on the impossibility of the Bond novels being written now, when the organization and its executives are assumed to be agents in generalized conspiracies.