The next James Bond movie, "Die Another Day," is set to open on Friday, Nov. 22. A Michigan State University professor who is also the president of the Popular Culture Association says that the suave spy is still the ultimate hero for our age, 40 years after 007 dispatched Dr. No.
"For men, Bond offers a type of wish fulfillment fantasy of a man who can seduce any beautiful woman he wants, a man who can play with the most sophisticated technological toys available, a man who can use violence whenever and whenever he wishes and who is very good at doing so," says Gary Hoppenstand, professor of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University.
"He is the adolescent testosterone icon of the postmodern male whose masculinity is constantly being challenged by modern society.
"For women, he is a consummate sex symbol, a Valentino with an edge, a man who knows both high fashion and his drinks. He is dangerously alluring, but in a charming way, and he is always able to make his female partner feel special.
"Our past traditional heroes, like Superman or the Lone Ranger, would save the day, but Bond saves the day in style and with panache. His villains are emblematic of our contemporary social phobias--nuclear holocaust is typically just around the corner in the Bond adventure--and thus his victories are not just the simple triumph of good over evil, but the triumph of human survival over imminent and complete destruction."
Gary Hoppenstand is professor and associate chairperson of the Department of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University. He has researched and published extensively in the field of popular culture studies. He is serving his final year as president of the national Popular Culture Association, and he has recently been selected as the new editor-in-chief of The Journal of Popular Culture. He is also completing the writing of his next book, Page-Turners: A Literary History of Popular Fiction, for Oxford University Press.
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