Reporting for Duty

Considering heroism through the lens of James Bond offers a guiding light for young men.

The 80th anniversary of D-Day was an occasion to reflect on the ideas of heroism and accomplishment. The Allied soldiers present stood with conviction to advance up the beachhead against German machine gun fire reigning down from pillboxes above.

While soldiers were drafted, millions volunteered. In the absence of war, many of these soldiers had careers ahead of them, families to start, and some no doubt had led a comfortable existence.

The American soldiers recognized that an Allied victory was necessary for one to live peacefully without incessant government intrusion in one’s life. The Axis cause was predicated on the state and its ideology permeating every cranny of society. Party thoughts infiltrated all institutions from the church and education system to sports.

The Axis regimes represented a direct threat to the American way of life, a life where people did not want to feel under the constant heel of the state. The majority of people chose to worship God, not a political leader in an idolatrous fashion.

The victorious Allied soldiers inspire awe today because many young men yearn for a chance at such heroism — an opportunity for their efforts to make a palpable difference in preserving the institutions of freedom, faith, and family.

Today, we ought to be grateful that we do not find ourselves facing the bloodshed of a global conflict, one that in the nuclear age would be unfathomable.

However, young men still dream of engaging in a purposeful, heroic struggle. For many, the outlet of fiction provides an escape to envision oneself as the protagonist.

For those romantics, Ian Fleming’s James Bond saga, now 27 movies strong, produces an intrigue that strikes the core of this yearning. The films capture James Bond, a British spy with the license to kill, fending off threats and villainous schemes the world over.

Largely set in the Cold War era, the franchise features Bond engaging in improbable missions against reviled foreign powers, namely the Soviet Union and the terrorist network known as Spectre, both representing ideologies and motives contrary to the interests of Western society.

James Bond is not a saint. He struggles with temptation constantly, often in the form of his convoluted relationships with women, as seen in the films The World is Not Enough and From Russia with Love.

Bond must fend off the angst and stress of fighting for a righteous cause, but vices lead him astray all too easily. He is poisoned while drinking in Casino Royale and devolves into an alcohol-induced stupor during Skyfall after he is shot by friendly fire and falls off a moving train.

Young men struggle with similar vices, but Bond serves as an image of ultimate triumph. He encounters relatable challenges in recent films when his relevance is questioned in an age of technological and social “progress.”

For example, in Spectre, “C” faces off with Bond’s superior in a struggle to disband the “00” section, the division of secret agents to which Bond belongs. C pushes the intelligence service to join the surveillance state and ditch supposedly antiquated agents like Bond.

While the replacement of the “00” section seems inevitable, Bond discovers that C is complicit in the schemes of the terror organization Spectre and wants to hand over Britain’s surveillance data for nefarious ends.

Through Bond’s actions, he thwarts Spectre’s intentions and justifies the “00” agent as a vital, heroic vehicle of Britain’s national security.

Bond’s example shows that traditional ways are best not forgotten and that it is possible to enjoy life’s finer things while fighting the good fight.

Take for example Bond’s classic Aston Martin DB5. Originally debuting in Goldfinger, the DB5 represented the cutting edge of the “00” program in the 1960s with its ejector seat, radar, smoke screen, and machine guns.

Bond uses the DB5 to escape Auric Goldfinger, a gold-obsessed villain who attempts to raid Fort Knox. The DB5 stars in many subsequent films including Thunderball, Goldeneye, Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die. In each subsequent film, the DB5 takes on more significance, beguiling Bond’s enemies who are perplexed by this machinery of a bygone era.

Bond is human and finds himself pursuing the ideals that he seeks to defend, despite the realities of his profession.

Marriage seems impractical, but Bond finds love in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. After meeting Tracy, the daughter of the crime boss Marc-Ange Draco, Bond is smitten with a most improbable relationship.

At the end of the movie, Bond marries Tracy, with the possible intention of retiring. But as they drive to their honeymoon, Tracy is assassinated by the head of Spectre, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and his lieutenant, Irma Bunt, in a drive-by shooting.

The tragedy of Bond’s untimely marriage underscores the human side of Bond, a man who is not immune to grief or loss. Instead of becoming mired in the throes of the unexpected, though, Bond pursues his calling with a sense of duty.

While it is easy to become discouraged by the times, young men should look to Bond and the Greatest Generation, appreciating that, while the challenges faced today are perhaps not as gripping as the events of 80 years ago, they should nonetheless persist in pursuing and conserving what is honorable and just. It is this spirit that compels the action of true heroes.