British Authors Think Great Britian is Shaping World Events Through Intelligence Agencies

British authors believe that their country of Great Britain is shaping
world events potentially and morally through its intelligence agencies.
Morally , there are several methods in which they have shown this. In Ian
Fleming's books, James Bond embodied the idea of a consumer society which
have morally affected society. The sadistic infliction of pain is another
formula used in many of Ian Fleming's James Bond books that morall y
affects society. They have also potentially affected world events with
their intelligenc e agencies. In several cases, the British have solved the
potentially serious problems of other alli ed nations that could affect the
whole world. Both Ian Fleming and John Le Carre believe that becau se of
Britain's superior resources, it is a leader that can potentially change
the world. A ll of this affects everyday life in almost every country in
the world and helping to revolutionize the world.

Ian Fleming has instilled in James Bond the idea of a consume r
society. James Bond always knows exactly what he likes and he always has
the resources to order whatever it may be. In Casino Royale, he encourages
one of the girls with to ignor e the column of prices during a dinner. She
complies saying "Well, I'd like to start with caviar and then have a plain
grilled rognon de veau with pommes souffles. And then I'd like to have fra
ises des bois with a lot of cream"1. He then orders some expensive food for
himself. To explai n for this he says "You must forgive me. I take a
ridiculous pleasure in what I eat and drink. It comes partly from being a
bachelor, but mostly from a habit of taking a lot of trouble over
details."2 The pleasure Bond takes in possessing and consuming material
objects has several significance. In part it is simply the prerogative of
the hero to live well. The brand names Bond end orses are those the reader
might find, if not among his own toiletries or in his own garage, then on
the shelves of a nearby store or the lot of a nearby dealer. Bond uses his
knowledge of th e ways of the world to enforce justice.

1,2 Fleming, Ian Casino Royale (Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd., London,
1954), pg. 92

Much of this has had an impact in today's society and it was
particularly evident in the 1980s during the boom years. People continually
bought clothes wit h name brands such as the Gap, Club Monaco, Hugo Boss,
Ralph Lauren, and so on. Other consum er products like shoes from Reebok
and Nike, electronics from Sony, automobiles from Merc edes-Benz and BMW,
were all bought without a care in the world because the consumer k nows
what they want and so they just charged it to their credit cards because
they were a readily attainable resource. The generation that watched and
read about James Bond bought into his lifestyle and it affected the whole
world.

A formula used in many of Ian Fleming's James Bond books is t he
sadistic infliction of pain. In Casino Royale, a Soviet agent has Bond
stripped and tied to a seatless armchair. He wants to know where Bond has
placed the winnings from his gambling . When Bond refuses to divulge the
location of his winnings, the agent striked upwards wi th a carpet-beater.
"Bond's whole body arched in an involuntary spasm. His face contracted in a
soundless scream, and his lips flew right away from his teeth. At the same
time his head fle w back with a jerk showing the taut sinews of his neck.
For an instant, muscles stood out in knots all over his body and his toes
and fingers clenched until they were quite white. Then his bo dy sagged,
and perspiration started to bead all over his skin. He muttered a deep
groan."3 The Soviet agent taunts him with the intention to castrate Bond
through the torture or failing that , with a carving knife he has at hand,
make the scene into an obscene parody of an Oedipal situatio n. Oedipus
used a knife to pull out his own eyes.

3 Fleming, Ian Casino Royale (Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd., Lo ndon,
1954), pg. 144

This sort of episode shows Fleming's notorious sadism. Bond i s always
the victim or the witness. "Elegance and ingenuity usually characterize
these scenes . Pain becomes an artistic effect."4 In many modern books and
films of the late 1970s and 198 0s, it became more and more acceptable that
pain be glorified. Movies like Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, and Poltergeist
are examples of this. These movies generally are easily to get access to
and are a form of enjoyment for many. Most people do not give these movies
and books much thou ght as to the message they are sending to people. Some
people have been inspired by these boo ks and movies to commit actions
similar to James Bond:both heroic and criminal.

4Lewis, Peter John Le Carre (Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., I nc., New
York, 1985), pg. 169

Other nations often have potentially serious problems that co uld
affect the world and it is left for the British to solve them. In Ian
Fleming's Goldfinger , Auric Goldfinger plans to break into Fort Knox where
most of the U.S. gold reserves are loca ted. "Goldfinger's carefully-
planned plot called Operation Grand Slam called for uniforms to di sguise
an attack force, a deadly poison to annihilate the local population, an
atom bomb to blast open the vault and even arranges to rendezvous with a
Soviet submarine."5

5Van Dover, J.K. Murder in the Millions (Frederick Ungar Publ ishing
Co., Inc., New York, 1984), pg 193

James Bond gets involved because this would increase the pric e of
gold ten times which would cause havoc on money markets all over the world
and he must prevent lives from being lost. He prevents this from happening
with the assistance of Pussy Galore. Even though the American agents are
aware of Goldfinger's plan, they leave it up t o Bond to save the day which
he does. Later on, the President of the U.S. wanted to thank him b ut
Goldfinger gets in the way along with Oddjob. The American couldn't save
their own gold on th eir own and had no idea as to what was going until
James Bond informed them. Instead a Bri tish agent had to do most of
difficult work while they cleaned up after him.

Both Ian Fleming and John Le Carre believe that because of Br itain's
superior resources, it is a leader that can potentially change the world.
The most imp ortant of Britain's superior resources that makes it a leader
in the world is the people in its secret service like James Bond and George
Smiley. James Bond has been called a latter-day Saint G eorge for the whole
world because he really kills dragons. "Bond is a hero who rides out to
vanquish a grotesque villain embodying social and moral evil-contemporary
totalitarianism as we ll as traditional vices like pride and desires for
things that belong to other people."6

6Van Dover, J.K. Murder in the Millions (Frederick Ungar Publ ishing
Co., Inc., New York, 1984), pg. 264

James Bond is a warrior on a modern battlefield. Missiles and nuclear
weapons figure prominently in the foreground of his missions. James Bond
has acce ss to a wide variety of weapons that are fantastically more
advanced than anything that Am ericans or Soviets have. He can always count
on Q Branch for useful devices like homing device s, an Aston Martin with
smokescreen, oil slick, machine guns and ejector seat, bullet proo f vest
that can withstand automatic weapon fire, laser guns, watches that let him
listen on conversations, and so on. Using all these gadgets, he single-
handedly again and again rescues a da msel, slays a monster and averts a
holocaust.

In You Only Live Twice, the head of the Japanese secret servi ce
refers to as St George because it describes his task. He tells him,"You are
to enter this Castle of Death and slay the dragon within"7 and later he
adds:"But Bondo-san, does it not amus e you to think of that foolish dragon
dozing all unsuspecting in his castle while St. George come s silently
riding towards his lair across the waves?"8. The dragon that Bond must slay
is the he ad of the international criminal group known as SPECTRE, Ernst
Stavro Blofeld, who lives in a seasi de castle. Blofeld dresses himself in
a black silk kimono embroidered with golden dragons and he recruits his
assistants from the Black Dragon Society, a powerful Japanese secret
society. These 2 allusions show how Blofeld is linked to the dragon that
must be slayed by the modern St. George of the free world in order to
protect it from harm.

7,8 Fleming, Ian You Only Live Twice (Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd.,
London, 1964), pg. 60

In John Le Carre's books, George Smiley frequently flexes his
intellectual muscles to undertake academic excursions into the mystery of
human behaviour, disciplined by the practical application of his own
deductions. A perfect balance of reason and feeling is something Smiley is
able to achieve always in capacity as a spy when he combines lo gical
analysis with the guidance provided by his feelings for other people and
his instinc ts. A case in point is his response to the killing of his
former colleague, General Vladimir in Smiley's People. "Caring for Vladimir
commits Smiley to the pursuit of his murderers; insti nct tells him that
there is something wrong with the loose cigarettes he finds in Vladimir's r
oom; and a logical and meticulous recreation of Vladimir's last moments
enables him to di scover the whereabouts of the cigarette pack he has
sensed contains the information that he is seeking."9 Using methods such as
these, he accomplishes his triumph over his Moriarty:Karla the head of
Thirteenth Directorate of the KGB. His Black Grail finally achieved over
his chief nemesis by forcing Karla to defect to the Circus.

9Monaghan, David Smiley's Circus (Orbis Book Publishing Corpo ration
Ltd., London, 1986), pg. 43

Ian Fleming and John Le Carre assert that British Intelligenc e agents
like James Bond and George Smiley are moulding global events potentially
and moral ly. The agents have potentially affected global events by solving
the serious problems of other allied nations that could rest of the whole
world and using their incomparable resourc es to change the world for the
better. They have also morally affected the real world with Ja mes Bond
leading the people to embracing the concept of a consumer society and the
sadistic in fliction of pain in entertainment. This has caused many people
to alter their standard s in terms of violence and in the products that
they buy. People also now know that if they don' t hear about a damaging
spy problem, it is because British Intelligence is leading the way to
prevent such a problem from occurring.