Page - 130 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/02

“religiosity” is part of the production of such discourse, in which whiteness, rationality and “the West” are articulated as different from the black supersti- tion of “the Rest”. Black superstition is even more prominent in Live and Let Die (Guy Hamilton, GB 1973), a film I will deal with later in this article. Despite these examples, what is typical for Bond films is that “religion” is not highlighted: the films mostly avoid repeating and utilizing explicit negative stereotypes of Hin- duism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and indigenous religions, but they do not avoid having “imperial attitudes to the exotic”.43 An imperial attitude to the exotic is perhaps most prominent in Octopussy (John Glen, GB 1983). It provides a tourist’s view of India, with colourful ba- zaars and luxurious hotels but no indication of the poverty or social disharmo- ny, of ethnic or “religious” conflicts. The same gaze is applied for “religion”. In Udaipur, where Octopussy’s palace is located, one can see Hindu temples in the background, Hindu processions, people walking on hot coals, holy men (saddhus) sitting on spiked mats, holy cows walking in the street and people swallowing swords. This is the Indian “religious” heritage Bond films offer, something that Bond is amused by but not attracted to. Octopussy is also the only Bond film with a significant Sikh character: Gobinda, a henchman of one of the main villains, Kamal Khan. Gobinda is a quiet, strong and tall man with fierce eyes, a dark beard and a turban. His Sikh identity is not mentioned in the film, but the turban and his character contribute to the overall othering and exoti- cism of “religion” and India, thus placing them as markedly different from “the West”. The film utilizes at least one more stereotype about India: Octopussy tells Bond that she has revived the old octopus cult – a sort of by-product of her main business, which is the smuggling of diamonds – and the adherents, her loyal female warriors, are women throughout South East Asia who are looking for a guru or spiritual discipline. This is a modern version of the orientalist ste- reotype of deeply “religious” India, “the mystic east”, where alienated people can find spiritual peace.44 While part of the landscape in many locations, Islam does not play a big role in Bond films, although two examples are worth mentioning. In Never Say Nev- er Again, the SPECTRE operation is called “The Tears of Allah”. After the villain, Largo, gives a necklace with the same name as the operation to his girlfriend, he explains that the name refers to the myth in which the Prophet Muhammad cried so much that an oasis was formed. It also refers to the location where the final fight between Bond’s team and Largo’s men takes place. In The Liv- ing Daylights, Bond teams up in Afghanistan with mujaheddin and their leader, Kamran Shah, who turns out to have been educated at Oxford. When we first 43 Black 2005, 205. 44 King 1999. 130 | Teemu Taira www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 119–139