Where 007 and Star Wars meet
James Bond and Star Wars have a lot in common. Both are certified cultural juggernauts, with movies produced in different eras. They both have loyal fan bases, and they’re both still actively making films. On these grounds, it’s easy to compare them.
Sure, they exist in different genres. One is a spy drama, and the other is science fiction/fantasy. But there are deeper similarities and connections between both series’.
Both have roots in WWII
Bond’s author Ian Fleming was an agent in the Office of Secret Actions. It was here he got experience planning several secret operations. At the Die Welt des 007 exhibit of 1998, I learned Fleming had even been involved in one field mission. It is from this experience, and looking at where England was after WWII, that he started fashioning his hero.
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Star Wars also has deep roots in the cinema of World War II, and the impact that it had on Western Culture. The Star Wars films patterned many aspects of both the Galactic Empire and the First Order after Nazi Germany. Any comparison of pictures from Nazi assemblies with Imperial rallies from the Star Wars films makes this blindingly obvious.
There are other links to World War II. One is the impact that World War two aerial footage, and movies about World War two. This is obvious in the trench run attacks that climaxes A New Hope. Also, both Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi feature scenes where bombers drop payloads over targets in space!
The real reason for this exists on the level of iconography. Star Wars has always been a fusion of different aspects of Western and Eastern culture, running together in a way they previously hadn’t before. It even exists in the Millennium Falcon’s B-29 esque cockpit (Even if the Falcon’s design underwent a lot of changes).
Both are famous for their merchandising arms and their corporate tie-ins.
One section of Die Welt des 007 exhibit was dedicated exclusively to 007 merchandise. It wasn’t huge. All of the vintage Bond merchandise fit into one room with a moderately sized group of collectibles. Yet it made something clear to my 15 year old self that was profound: That James Bond not only had predated Star Wars, but it had been a similar cultural phenomena in it’s own right.
You’ve got to remember, I grew up in a post Star Wars media landscape. One of the things that this part of the museum illustrated to me is that George Lucas hadn’t been the first one to do it. He may have had taken merchandising to never before seen levels, but 007 was there before him.
Both franchises have learned from each other’s merchandising
Looking at the Thunderball soundtrack vinyl , I came to look realize that James Bond was part of the foundation upon which Star Wars had built its’ legacy. (If you want a look at vintage Bond memorabilia, I suggest you head over here)
I thought about that part of the exhibit again when I was choosing pictures for this piece that could relate to From Russia With Love. If you are a movie with a lunch box that people actually bought, you were a significant part of pop culture.
Kenner’s pioneering toy deal with Star Wars changed the movie tie-in business. Kenner’s Star Wars toyline deal was such a bell weather moment in franchise merchandising that it can be labeled a Universal truth.
The fact that 007 now follows in its’ footsteps, and is a leading property for advertising everything from Perrier to luxury goods, says something of the 007 series’ potential to learn new tricks. In fact, there have been 007 tie-in novels since 1968, following deeply in Star Wars experiments with having expanded Universes. This also dovetails nicely with the franchises’ tradition of borrowing from contemporary cinematic influences. EON productions did send 007 to space after Star Wars: New Hope, not before.
The Pinewood Studios connection
Nearly every James Bond film EON has produced has been partly shot at Pinewood studios outside of London. Pinewood has a long and varied production history, from comedies, to James Bond competitiors and…every Star Wars movie since The Force Awakens. It’s hard to think of any more intimate way that the franchises could be interlinked than sharing neighbouring production lots.
Can you think of any further similarities between the two franchises? Feel free to sound off in the comments, and thank you for reading.