Page - 134 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/02

gion” as part of the cultural heritage) and does not confine itself to the private sphere (but is visible in public life). There is also a “right” kind of Christianity portrayed in Bond films. It is pres- ent in the background of the Western lifestyle, in the landscape and in rites of passage. In many films church buildings can be seen and church bells heard, both in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, such as in Venice, Italy (Moonraker) and in France (Thunderball), indicating that Christianity is part of the ordinary cultural landscape. More importantly, Christian rites of passage are common in Bond films. Fu- nerals and church weddings are repeatedly depicted. Christian funerals are held in London (Skyfall), Scotland (The World is Not Enough), Rome (Spectre) and France (Thunderball). A church wedding can be seen in Live and Let Die, in which a boat chase that takes place in the United States involves one of the boats returning to the river across dry land where a wedding ceremony is taking place, adding a comic aspect to the chase. In For Your Eyes Only, Bond attends a wedding party in Greece where the viewer sees a Greek Orthodox chapel and Bond meets Q in a confessional box. Soon after the opening scene in The Living Daylights, Felix Leiter’s church wedding ceremony takes place in the United States. On the basis of these recurrent depictions I would argue that the proper place of “religion” in “the West” as portrayed in Bond films is exemplified by Casino Royale (Martin Campbell, GB/US/CZ/DE 2006), where Vesper Lynd says that because of her family’s strict Catholic background, she cannot share a suite with Bond. Bond replies: “I do hate it when religion comes between us.” “Reli- gion” is subordinate to Bond’s preferences and values, but it is not viewed neg- atively. In general, when Christianity is confined to its proper place, subordinate to public life – separate from politics, the law and science – it is accepted as part of what it is to be modern. This is what Talal Asad regards as part of a strategy of confinement by secular liberals and the defence of “religion” by liberal Chris- tians, both emblematic of modernity.55 Crossing the boundary between pub- lic and private, as exemplified by the evangelical Christianity of Professor Joe Butcher, turns the right kind of Christianity into the wrong kind of Christianity. So far I have avoided the question of the “religiosity” of James Bond’s char- acter. There are references in some films. For example, when Bond gets married in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the ceremony takes place in a church. At the beginning of For Your Eyes Only, Bond visits his wife’s grave in a Christian cemetery, where a priest or monk makes the sign of the cross and delivers in- formation about the forthcoming mission. In Bond’s fake funeral in You Only Live Twice, he receives a military funeral and speeches include Christian refer- 55 Asad 1993, 28. 134 | Teemu Taira www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 119–139