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Author Topic: Could "James Bond" music be offensive at Sochi?  (Read 1813 times)

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Offline Query

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Could "James Bond" music be offensive at Sochi?
« on: February 14, 2014, 04:25:40 PM »
If you were a Russian, and someone performed in Sochi to music from one of the cold war era James Bond movies in which Soviets agents were not the "good guys", would you be offended?

Are Russians likely to be familiar with cold war era James Bond films and music at all, or did they only circulate in the West?

Offline 4711

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Re: Could "James Bond" music be offensive at Sochi?
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2014, 09:43:55 PM »
Bond hardly ever went after the Russians...it was always the dude with the fuzzy cat, Dr Evil I recall (;))

Besides, 'From Russia, with Love'  8)
:blush: ~ I should be writing~ :blush:

Offline Query

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Re: Could "James Bond" music be offensive at Sochi?
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2014, 04:52:53 PM »
More examples of Bond vs soviet agents:

The Spy Who Loved Me - Bond was chased by Soviets (remember that cool ski chase scene?), and killed the husband of the soviet spy referred to in the title.

A View to a Kill: Bond flees from Soviet troops.

According to web sources, in the books that the Bond movies were roughly based on, SMERSH, a Soviet agency, was Bond's primary enemy, rather than SPECTRA organization used in its place in the films. Of course, most of us never read the books, so it is even less likely a Russian would have, while the music only occurred in the films, so maybe that is too tenuous a connection.

Regardless, I assume that most Russians were aware that the Soviet Union and Britain, including their spy agencies,  were in conflict throughout the cold war. Surely a cold war generation Russian might have some negative thoughts about a cold war British spy, even in the movies?

It is obvious that several Olympic skaters have decided there is no major negative connotation to Bond music. For that matter, the opening ceremonies in the 2012 Summer Olympics included a Bond movie actor.

Offline PinkLaces

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Re: Could "James Bond" music be offensive at Sochi?
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2014, 05:05:45 PM »
Newer Bond movies ( mid-90's on) are less about the Soviets/Russians and more about fighting terrorism, power hungry individuals, rogue Russian agent, Chinese, Koreans.