1. It's simply entertaining
If you're not worried about digging deeper... that's fine! Anyone can get what they need out of watching a James Bond film because it is simply entertaining. For a couple of hours you can enjoy a story that includes some funny one-liners, exotic locations, stunts, fights, chases... and is a spectacle in general.
2. It's not probable...
Starting to dig more deeply now, there are two aspects to the James Bond films that help explain their success and appeal that almost contradict each other. One of them is the escapism you get out of them. You get to see life at its most visually impressive and exciting. You see some of the best looking people in the world, at their best-dressed, saying and doing things that many would love to say and do in real life. You see countries you may never get the chance to visit in real life and larger-than-life sets; see the most lavish cars in action, and the most advanced and creative technology of the era; the action that takes place is some of the most epic you will ever see, in terms of fights, chases, stunts and explosions. Some may deride James Bond as farfetched, but people love escapism to take their mind off of everyday life and issues, and cheer themselves up. Plus, at the end of the day, if you really want realism instead, you can just look out of your window!
3. ... yet it's possible
Here is the potential contradiction: despite the desire for escapism, virtually everything you see in a James Bond film is possible in real life. You may enjoy the escapism of a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings film- but unfortunately you will never be able to make objects levitate with a magic wand. What you see in a James Bond film COULD actually happen in real life (on the whole!). So if you like the look of James Bond's phone, you can probably buy it; if you like the car he drives, you could probably at least drive it around a track for a day; the countries he visits are generally real places that you could save up to visit. A James Bond film gives you a window into the best the real world can offer.
4. It's a time capsule
As someone into their history, I appreciate each film's quality of being a time capsule of the year in which they are made. They are set in the times they are filmed in. So, when you watch a James Bond film, it will be performed by a cast of the era it is filmed in (and often deliberately hired in response to other popular films they have recently featured in) and usually even includes a song sung by a popular singer or band of the era. James Bond films like to reflect the height of the technology of their day, which can be seen in the cars driven, phones used, gadgets available- and even in the ways the credits are displayed. Moreover, you can see over the films how technology such as mobile phones and computers have evolved over time, to give two examples. The locations filmed in and plotlines tend to reflect global trends: from 007 operating in Jamaica in the twilight years of the British Empire, to being sent to locations across historic locations of modern Europe, from the German capital at the time it was divided by the Berlin Wall during the Cold War, then causing mayhem in the post-Cold War streets of St Petersburg, Russia. Then the Daniel Craig era tackling the post 9/11 War on Terror, while alluding to questions over modern British identity in Skyfall (with James Bond brought up in Scotland, yet describing his country as "England") and global random acts of terror apparently coordinated from a single source by the modern Spectre, seemingly inspired by Islamic State. Anyone wanting an insight into a certain year from 1962 to the present could do worse than watching a James Bond film released at the time.
5. You can see Ian Fleming's novels brought to life
One of the pleasures of seeing films based on books is observing what is carried across to the big screen, and how descriptions on a page are presented visually by the cast. Whilst the inspiration carried from book to film is most obvious when a film stays close to the source novel, such as On Her Majesty's Secret Service; but then it's also enjoyable to see the smaller aspects of the novels scattered across the films, with the finale of the novel Live and Let Die shifted to the film, For Your Eyes Only, while the idea of James Bond apparently dying and his obituary appearing in the news was taken from the novel You Only Live Twice, yet appears in the recent film, Skyfall.
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