Re: [Marxism] Bourne vs. Bond

[John Edmundson <Johnedmundson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think it's interesting to compare the movies with the original books.
The comparison could not be more stark. The 'Bourne Identity' starts
like the movie. Actually there is an earlier movie of this book that is
very close to the novel but a crap movie in many ways, regardless of the
politics. Bourne has been picked out of the jungles of SE Asia, where he
has been part of a successful but illegal battalion operating behind the
lines. But actually, he has been trained to hunt down the Jackal. All
his memories of past assassinations were implanted to make him more
credible in his plan to flush Carlos out by claiming all his kills for
himself!!! The CIA only want to kill him because they are convinced that
he has turned. When they finally get the lines of communication
reestablished and realise he's just suffering from amnesia, he forgives
them and they give him a secret identity so he can start a new life. The
only similarity with the movie is the setting, eg the US embassy in
Switzerland, the flat in Paris etc.

In the second book, set in Hong Kong and China, the CIA and the Brits
connive to kidnap his wife (Franke Potente's character in the movies)
because a fake Jason Bourne is working with a deranged Chinese
nationalist to start WWIII. When Bourne realises how high the stakes
are, he forgives the CIA again for kidnapping his wife and nearly having
them both killed.

Finally, in the Bourne Ultimatum, the Jackal reappears and Bourne works
with his CIA cronies (and the KGB, who trained Carlos but disowned him
because he was too violent even for them) to hunt down and kill the
assassin.

The movies bear such little resemblance to the books that I'm surprised
Robert Ludlum went along with it, but anything for a dollar I suppose.
Really, the only similarity is the idea of the troubled ex CIA operative
with amnesia, but in the movies, the CIA, rogue administrators or not,
is clearly painted in a bad light. The movies strike me as clearly being
in the vein of 'Enemy of the State', post cold war yarns where the US
state is no longer to be trusted, there is corruption and rottenness in
the institutions we had been raised to believe in, and a new American
hero is thrust into the role as his own world is turned upside down by
his discoveries. Of course it's Hollywood. We can't expect to much, but
I definitely think it's better than its source material. 

More significant than any of that though I think, is the way Bond has
been reinvented in Bourne's image. Invisible cars were out with the new
Bond movie, Gritty realism was in. This change was prompted by the fact
that people involved in the 'Bond Franchise' were concerned that he was
losing his place to Jason Bourne. Of course, he's still an imperialist
prick who kills someone and then sips a martini, as Matt Damon observed.

Mind you, I've only ever seen one James Bond movie, and that was only
because it starred Grace Jones. Oh, and did I say, I'm a Matt Damon fan
too!!!
Cheers,
John


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