Saturday, March 06, 2004
In a staggering break with tradition there's actually been decent telly this evening, first Alain de Botton's Status Anxiety on Channel 4, which handily he's just released a book to accompany. This time his thesis was that we're all unhappy because we're worried about our status in the eyes of society, when you don't have that pressure you don't have the misery. It was an interesting idea, I especially liked the Extremely Conservative lobbyist who didn't believe the state should have take any more in taxes than the bare minimum needed to execute criminals, that's all right you see, but when you take any more then that's the state stealing your money. And De Botton certainly put forward a good argument, although invoking Rousseau and the 'noble savage' argument, I thought that had been debunked ages ago. The only real problem I have with De Botton, which is perhaps my fault rather than his, is that whenever he's on TV I'm reminded of the Fast Show sketch about the three men trying to outdo one another to prove which of them is the most middle class. I always come away feeling that De Botton is writing books and putting arguments to assuage white middle-class liberal guilt, how Senneca can make you feel better about having a Korean cleaner, that sort of thing. The examples he tends toward for things tend to be ones that more typically you'd put in the middle-class bracket, problems that come from having a good disposable income, a holiday home in the south of France and plenty of free time on one's hands. People who might be worse off than this are mentioned once in a brief segment, on the very real tendency in society for the false belief that people at the bottom of the ladder to be looked down on as though their situation is their fault. But capitalism is the tool which people like De Botton use to try and make themselves feel better, the impulse to shop one's way to happiness is mentioned and lightly scolded, but De Botton is aware of the audience he wants to address, and doesn't want to attack one of their defining characteristics.
And for some light relief the popular Austin Powers spoof James Bond, The World is Not Enough. Starring Robert Carlyle, Robbie Coltrane and Goldie (together at last! As Need to Know might say) as Russian gangsters and Desmond Llewelyn's last appearance as Q. It's a fun outing, with just enough plot to take us from one exploding set-piece to the next. I must admit though I always had a soft-spot for Timothy Dalton. But I did idly sketch a plan a couple of years ago which would have the current 007 as the baddy in the first film with whoever would be the new actor playing James Bond. It's revealed that James Bond is a viral agent, we don't try and pretend Doctor No happened only ten years ago, we accept that all the films happened the time they were filmed. But agents have the skill set for 'James Bond' downloaded into their minds when they are assigned to be 007. As one agent is being 'debriefed' (ie: having the Bond personality removed from his mind) while the next agent is prepared, something goes wrong, and Bond is forced to fight Bond. You could then rope in Connery, Moore and Dalton in some way as previous carriers of the Bond memeplex. Felix Leitner is explained as Bond's opposite number in the CIA. It seems odd that considering the rest of the whole Bond mythos is sci-fi rather than Smiley's People, the creators play it so straight about the nature of Bond himself.
And for some light relief the popular Austin Powers spoof James Bond, The World is Not Enough. Starring Robert Carlyle, Robbie Coltrane and Goldie (together at last! As Need to Know might say) as Russian gangsters and Desmond Llewelyn's last appearance as Q. It's a fun outing, with just enough plot to take us from one exploding set-piece to the next. I must admit though I always had a soft-spot for Timothy Dalton. But I did idly sketch a plan a couple of years ago which would have the current 007 as the baddy in the first film with whoever would be the new actor playing James Bond. It's revealed that James Bond is a viral agent, we don't try and pretend Doctor No happened only ten years ago, we accept that all the films happened the time they were filmed. But agents have the skill set for 'James Bond' downloaded into their minds when they are assigned to be 007. As one agent is being 'debriefed' (ie: having the Bond personality removed from his mind) while the next agent is prepared, something goes wrong, and Bond is forced to fight Bond. You could then rope in Connery, Moore and Dalton in some way as previous carriers of the Bond memeplex. Felix Leitner is explained as Bond's opposite number in the CIA. It seems odd that considering the rest of the whole Bond mythos is sci-fi rather than Smiley's People, the creators play it so straight about the nature of Bond himself.
