'No Time To Die'? (Post-Pandemic Liberation, Nationalism and (Post-)Empire Imaginaries in the Daniel Craig James Bond Movies

SS 2022 - HS 'Advanced Seminar' / Blockseminar

‘No Time To Die’? (Post-Pandemic) Liberation, Nationalism

and (Post-)Empire Imaginaries in the Daniel Craig James Bond Movies

Professor:

Prof. Dr. Karin Ikas

Description:

The release of the latest James Bond movie No Time to Die in fall 2021 was promoted as “opening up the world to post-pandemic liberation” (cf. The Irish Times, Sept 29, 2021). This is plausible if we understand ‘liberation’ most broadly as freedom from limit on behavior and connect this to the end of lockdown measures and a reopening of movie theatres and other cultural locations that the premiere of No Time to Die might illustrate. In other respects, however, this claim is subject to review. So far Bond movies have not paid much homage to liberation in the more precise (sociological) sense as providing a ground for the seeking of equal status or just treatment for or on behalf of a group discriminated against (e.g. women, colored people, LGBT people). The 007 movies have rather been criticized for reinforcing discriminative imagery, nationalism, post-imperial dreaming and post-colonial nostalgia. To what extent does No Time to Die introduce a change here that calls also for a reassessment of the other four movies in Daniel Craig’s Bond Pentalogy, Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015)?

We apply an interdisciplinary and transcultural studies perspective to clarify that and study Bond’s relevance as (Britain’s) favorite (fictive) spy in a challenging (post-) pandemic time in which post-Brexit Britain struggles with its altered position in postcolonial world. How does Bond’s Britishness and post-empire imaginaries come into play? Are the cultures of the places he visits portrayed in a lesser or greater light than his own English culture? To what extent is power, privilege, and social (in)justice linked to certain spaces, ethnic, sexual and gender identities? This course aims to find some thought-provoking answers to these questions. Participants are encouraged to add their voices to the ongoing debates.

Note:

The seminar will be taught online via Zoom and Moodle. All students must be registered for this class via Moodle: https://moodle.studiumdigitale.uni-frankfurt.de/moodle/

All further communication will then be through Moodle.

Primary and secondary works:

Participants need to familiarize themselves with the 5 Daniel Craig James Bond movies during semester break. A reader with relevant critical texts will be made available. Further information will be provided in the

Introductory Session on Tue, 12 Apr 2022 (ZOOM 9-12 o’clock).

The other block sessions take place as follows:

Block Session I:        Tuesday,  26 Apr 2022        (9-13 o’clock, ZOOM 9-12 o’clock)

Block Session II:       Saturday, 7 May 2022         (10-16 o’clock, ZOOM 10-13 o’clock)

Block Session III:     Tuesday, 10 May 2022        (9-13 o’clock, ZOOM 9-12 o’clock)

Block Session III:     Saturday, 21May 2022         (10-16 o’clock, ZOOM 10-13 o’clock)