Page - 129 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/02

that is made explicit to the viewer. It is rather just another example of exotic events taking place in the world, usually outside “the West”. “Religion” is more explicit, however, in many other shots. What is typical for Bond films is that “religion” is more prominent when the events in the film take place outside “the West”. There are plenty of passing (predominantly non-Christian) “religious” references in the films in non-Western locations. In Beirut, a belly dancer has a golden bullet in her belly button as a charm (The Man with the Golden Gun, Guy Hamilton, GB 1974). In Bangkok, a group of Buddhist monks walk in the background in a village where Bond chases Scara- manga, and there is a statue of Buddha in a temple (The Man with the Golden Gun). Islamic minarets and calls to prayer are visible and audible on many occa- sions, in Egypt, Turkey and Morocco, particularly in establishing shots or when one shot changes into another (The Spy Who Loved Me, From Russia with Love [Terence Young, GB 1963], The World is Not Enough, Skyfall [Sam Mendes, GB/US 2012] and The Living Daylights). In Azerbaijan, an Orthodox priest takes part in a demonstration against the construction of an oil pipeline, and he re- ceives guarantees that the church building will not be demolished because of the pipeline (The World is Not Enough). In You only Live Twice, to protect his cover Bond even goes through a Shinto wedding ceremony in which the married couple drink sake. Soon after we see a procession which, we are told, is part of the funeral tradition. The same film contains long shots in which Shinto temples can be seen. Michael Denning has argued that imperialist and racist ideologies in the Bond phenomenon are constructed through a narrative code of tourism.41 He does not deal with “religion”, but it plays a role in this. Namely, it is not simply that “reli- gion” happens to be more prominent outside “the West”; “religion” is there to constitute the qualitative difference between “the West and the Rest”. For the most part, “religion” is something that “the West” is not, although there are exceptions to this when “religion” is seen as compatible with the (presumably) rational “West”, as will be shown later. For instance, the very first Bond movie, Dr. No, associates “religion” with irrational black superstition. The boatman Quarrel hesitates when Bond wants to be taken to Crab Key and comments, because of the dragon, that one should not test providence, to which Felix Leit- er responds: “native superstition”. When Bond realizes that “the dragon” is a tank with a flamethrower, he says: “You can forget the spooks, Quarrel”. James Chapman suggests that the film is explicitly racist and colonialist as it aims to re- affirm white and British superiority in the time of a declining empire.42 This agen- da is epitomized by the film’s characters, including Quarrel. If so, then Quarrel’s 41 Denning 2015, 102. 42 Chapman 2007, 62. Reading Bond Films through the Lens of “Religion” | 129www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 119–139