James Bond: the director of Die Can Wait compares 007 to the Simpsons

Cary Fukunaga, the director of To die can wait, draws a social parallel between the franchise 007 and that of Simpson.

With sixty years in the paws and films with very varied subjects, the adventures of James bond have always been the reflection of contemporary political news. Communism, ecology, megalomania, imperialism, social inequalities, capitalism, the franchise has taken advantage of its anthological model to tell a variety of stories, sometimes aiming to open the debate on movements as started as new in society.

Debates that have so unleashed passions that at the time of To die can wait, the Daniel Craig’s replacement question (and all that it implies on the artistic and political direction of the work) has the effect of a media whirlwind. Cary Fukunaga, with his experience as a director on the conclusion of the Craig era (and soon his relaunch of the Kubrick’s stillborn film about Napoleon), has explained how the sociology of 007 was not without reminding him of the series The Simpsons.

Social science, but with guns and martinis

According to the director, who responded to The AV Club, the 007 saga has in common with the inhabitants of Springfield to have been ahead of its time, to predict societal and political events before they happen:

“It’s funny. When you look back, and analyze some James Bond villains and their plans, you get the feeling that they predicted things, before they became part of our news. C it’s almost like the Simpsons, who anticipated things that happened to us.

Fukunaga must refer in particular to the eras Roger moore and Timothy dalton, immersed in the historical period which cinematically impacted James Bond the most: the Cold War. The biggest showdown between capitalism and communism having been played out there, films from this period often tended to serve as a reflection on the conflict and its repercussions for the coming years.

Moonraker, the anticipation that Star Wars would become a sorrel pit to be inspired by

In more recent films of the Craig era, one can think of the meager attempt to tackle ecology (the dams of Greene Planet in Quantum of Solace) or the invasive advent of digital technology (the replacement of 00 agents by drones in Spectrum). A multitude of underlying topics, under a good layer of lead, alcohol and Aston Martin.

Nevertheless, if the comparison is valid (if only because the two franchises have proved to be timeless) The Simpsons have more seriously got their hands dirty, through even more explicit satires than some wicked Bondians. With parodies of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris or the global pandemic (among others) before its time, the series has come to arouse theories of the American public that its creators are Illuminati who predicted everything. Homer stronger than James, on this one.