re: Black mermaid

quote:

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Let's take a step back further - the James Bond issue. They floated that the next Bond was going to be Idris Elba. No one disputes that Elba is a great actor and might make a great James Bond. But the race shift would be jarring, visually and just not in keeping with the expectations of the character.

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Fleming's Bond had spent most of WWII as a commando operating behind German lines. That was more integral to the character than his skin color. Removing him from his original timeline and background story was a more fundamental change than ethnicity. And while Bond himself was a vivid character Fleming's books just weren't good enough to demand a strict literary purity. Connery made the franchise but even he was a sharp departure from Fleming's aristocratic Bond. (I believe he was a Baronet, but that was only mentioned once or twice.)