We made no typo in the title, we swear. Although known by the iconic line “The name’s Bond. James Bond”, the novel series will have to face a new decision ahead of its future release. What many people do not know is that the James Bond franchise is based on Ian Fleming’s series of spy novels.
Being an elder gentleman, Ian Fleming was known to write racist words back in the day. The recently rewritten novels of Roald Dahl caused Ian Fleming’s novel to stand out and thus, a decision to rewrite the series while cutting out the racist terms has taken place.
The James Bond Novels Will Be Altered Before Publishing
Being born in the year 1908, Ian Fleming had seen much war during his year. Known for his James Bond novels, Fleming received much love and his novels were praised during his time. Although unusual, the British writer’s novels consisted of several stereotypes and comments on ethnicities that are now deemed too sensitive for modern times.
Following the release of the reissue of the Casino Royale book which will complete 70 years, Ian Fleming Publications told that there will be some revisions in the book to be more appropriate to the modern world. According to The Telegraph, a new disclaimer will be attached to the book which will read as follows.
“This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set,”
The article further talked about some examples of revision that included Bond’s comments on Africans being altered to “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought” instead of the original being “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much”.
Ian Fleming Supervised The Changes Before His Death
Before his death in 1964, the author of the James Bond novels authorized the changes in his novel Live and Let Die. In a statement, Ian Fleming Publications told,
“We at Ian Fleming Publications reviewed the text of the original Bond books and decided our best course of action was to follow Ian’s lead. We have made changes to ‘Live and Let Die’ that he himself authorized. Following Ian’s approach, we looked at the instances of several racial terms across the books and removed a number of individual words or else swapped them for terms that are more accepted today but in keeping with the period in which the books were written.”
As the books get ready for a reissue, the film franchise seems to have been inactive for quite a long time. With speculations and rumors that Henry Cavill should be cast as the next James Bond, people are pressuring the producers of the franchise to select Cavill for the role. With Daniel Craig starring as the last James Bond in the year 2021 before his retirement, people look over at Henry Cavill and Idris Elba in hopes of taking up the mantle. There have been currently no updates regarding the James Bond franchise at the time of writing.
Source: Variety
