Why I hate James Bond

When I was a kid I loved James Bond movies. I now hate them to the point that when I hear the "Bond Theme" I feel physically ill.

The reason for this is, I think, bound up with the fact that when I was a child I actually took them seriously. I was born in 1960 so I literally grew up with the Bond franchise. When I went to a Bond movie I thought I was seeing secret agents the way they really were. Nobody clued me to the fact that they were really comedies.

I didn't know that I was supposed to be laughing at the cartoonish antics of the cartoon secret agent and the cartoon villains who were always opposing him.

Therefore when I grew old enough and learned enough to learn that Bond was actually an "Adam West's Batman" level satire I felt betrayed. I felt as though I had been the victim of a decade long practical joke which I had fell for hook, line and sinker.

This led to a resentment that I am not over to this day (yes, I hold a grudge).

I have heard that this latest Bond is a radical departure from the normal Bond and is much more true to the Ian Fleming novels. This Bond, I am told, is played as a stone cold killer without the camp, the gadgets and without the Saturday-morning-cartoon bad guys.

I may see this one.