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ToolsHines, Claire (2022) “Pay attention, 007”: The Evolution of Q in the Bond film Franchise. In: The Scientist in Popular Culture. Lexington Books, pp. 21-36. ISBN 978-1-7936-3303-3
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Abstract
The Q character has long played an important role in the long-running and popular James Bond films as the resident gadget master at the British spy agency MI6, and the head of the fictional Q branch. As part of the hugely successful Bond formula, Q has so far featured in twenty-two of the twenty-five official franchise films from the 1960s through to the current Daniel Craig era. Beginning with From Russia with Love (Terence Young 1963), Desmond Llewellyn played the same character for over thirty-five years, during which time Q stays a stereotypical boffin, whilst growing visibly older alongside five different Bonds. However, in the latest Bond films Skyfall (Sam Mendes 2012), Spectre (Sam Mendes 2015), and the upcoming No Time to Die (Cary Joji Fukunaga 2021), Q is reenvisioned for the era by casting Ben Whishaw as a much younger geek or nerd, compared to Craig’s aging agent 007. Yet no matter how old or young Q is, throughout his appearances in the films, he is an enduring ally to Bond. Up until very recently Q had attracted less focused attention from Bond scholars than the other MI6 supporting characters like the Secret Service boss M and assistant Moneypenny, possibly because the emphasis has rather been placed on the technology and gadgetry (see Willis 2009; Omry 2009). The aim of this chapter is instead to “pay attention” to the evolution of representations of Q, which also has a strong element of continuity in relationship to other components of the Bond film formula, especially James Bond as a hero. The chapter will argue that as a type of scientist-inventor Q has played a continued but shifting role in the Bond films. This argument will draw on and extend my previous discussions to understand the Q character in particular (Hines 2018 and 2019). The later focus of the chapter is to explore how Q has recently undergone some significant transformations that shed light on both the approach taken in the Craig era Bond films, and the portrayal of the fictional scientist in popular culture.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies (former - to 2024) |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Film, Television and Media Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Gender and Its Intersections |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Oct 2022 08:30 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Nov 2025 10:30 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/89115 |
| DOI: | 10.5040/9781978732872.ch-2 |
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