MovieChat Forums > A View to a Kill (1985) Discussion > Is It Pretty Much Racist That This Film ...

Is It Pretty Much Racist That This Film Didn't Finish With An Interracial Ménage à trois?

posted 10 months ago by FootOfDavros (8465)
12 replies | jump to latest

Just finished a rewatch and one cannot help but feel slightly uncomfortable by the ending of this.

I feel that if this was remade today, for consumption by today's more enlightened audiences, it would almost certainly have finished with Bond entertaining both of the ladies simultaneously.

However, back in the '80s it was acceptable to see a black woman - who we've literally just seen saving Bond's live - as expendable. I'm pretty sure if this was made today this aspect of the script would not have got off the drawing board. Bond would have to be seen pleasuring May Day as well as the stereotypically acceptable blonde damsel in distress.

Furthermore, being Sir Roger's final scene, it would have been a great way for him to bow out - reaffirming that James Bond is no racist and will pump women of any ethnic / racial background for information as required.

If any further convincing is required, it is this:- The film also finishes with what is undoubtedly the weakest finale line delivered by Q in the entire Rogertainment era. What's Bond doing Q they ask - "Just cleaning up a few details" is the response... Lame.

Now if Bond was satisfying both of the women, he could have said something like "Just menaging to finish off a couple of things here Sir!" and the house would have come down! Sad that this opportunity was missed...

[–] millsey72 (10666) 10 months ago

Oh no, May Day was evil and had to die

[–] FootOfDavros (8465) 10 months ago

But she turned back to the good side of the force and helped Bond in the end...

[–] millsey72 (10666) 10 months ago

That doesn't change the fact that she killed that detective at the Eiffel Tower, Bonds asst in the car wash, the Asian guy from the blimp, and set fire to City Hall in SF. She was evil

[–] FootOfDavros (8465) 10 months ago

True. But it's a question of redemption isn't it?

For example, take a look at Anakin Skywalker. Now he killed a load of innocent folks, yet after he helps Luke he's welcomed straight back into the Jedi ghost club no questions asked.

May Day on the other hand, turns back to the light side to help Bond (although admittedly only after Zorin tried to kill her) and is shown to still be completely expendable.

Now, given the only difference is skin color and sex, is it really acceptable she was shown to have such a radically different outcome?

[–] millsey72 (10666) 10 months ago

Pretty much every Bond villain henchmen or henchwoman gets killed at the end. I believe the only exception was Jaws from Moonraker

[–] FootOfDavros (8465) 10 months ago

Well it's funny you said that because can we even be sure that Max Zorin is dead?

We only see him splashing into the tropical waters of the San Francisco bay. I'm pretty sure he could have made it safely back to shore.

In fact I was hypothesising as much last night when I came up with an incredible pitch (if I do say so myself) to save the Bond franchise!

As we all know, the much hated Craig era was much hated. However, that was already a reboot, which we can all choose to ignore should we so wish.

But the original Bond - last seen in the criminally underrated Die Another Day is still very much alive!

My proposal is this:-

We return to Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. A now retired (properly cause he's old, not that Craig, shirtless and sipping Heinekens nonsense) 007 who finds himself the victim of an assassination attempted by someone who looks exactly like a CGI de-aged clone of Pierce Brosnan!

How can this be you ask? Well it's because Max Zorin - who survived his plunge - has (with the help of an old Nazi pal of Dr Mortner) cloned Bond and raised the steroid fuelled crazed duplicate with an unstoppable desire to kill Bond!

Being the modern era, Bond will require a diverse band of friends to help him stop Zorin and his crazed Bond clone from executing their revenge.

I can see Anya Joy Taylor and Michael B Jordan filling these roles to breath new life into the franchise...

[–] millsey72 (10666) 10 months ago

One cannot survive falling from the Golden Gates Bridge. The water would feel like concrete when you land, and every bone broken in your body.

[–] FootOfDavros (8465) 10 months ago

That's not true. Having no knowledge personally to call upon, I immediately googled this and found:-
https://www.quora.com/Could-an-Olympic-diver-survive-a-jump-from-the-Golden-Gate-Bridge

I know this because I went to high school with a guy who was a very strong swimmer and diver (not an Olympic diver, but strong as hell), and unfortunately, after high school he went through a period of depression and after his girlfriend dumped him he attempted to end it all by jumping off the GGB.

He survived. Not only did he survive but he was well on his way to swimming back to shore when the Coast Guard picked him up. He was not doing it as a stunt; he meant to end his life.

That was in the 1980s. Since that time others have occasionally done it as a “stunt” and survived.

So we know that guy's mate and several others have done it. Therefore there's absolutely no reason to expect that a superior physical specimen, a product of Nazi genetic experimentation no less, wouldn't also...

[–] millsey72 (10666) 10 months ago

Zorin landed in the water on his back. I'm sure the Olympic diver survived by going in head first with his body in a proper diving position.

[–] FootOfDavros (8465) 10 months ago

Zorin had pretty much straightened up before hitting the water.

And this guy's mate was no olympic diver - He'd gone there to commit suicide, so unless we deduce that he was in fact b-llshitting, there's no reason to suspect he executed a perfect dive either.

Anyway, there's no real reason to get bogged down in this - it's just a theoretically possible plot device to allow James Bond Will Return to come true...

[–] millsey72 (10666) 10 months ago

So maybe the Asian guy who got dropped from the blimp also could have survived

[–] EleazarHisSon (758) 10 months ago

It's only politically correct when the man is black and the woman is white. Not when the man is white and the woman is black.