# I like the idea of Black James Bond. Idris Elba, anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies, actor-characters\ **Created:** [September 9, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994 "2014-09-09T18:55:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/81 "2018-08-23T04:01:03Z")
Maybe the franchise is old and tired and what money it still makes is now paltry compared to overall earnings value. So what the heck, maybe it’ll make more money with this. ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/82 "2018-08-23T04:02:37Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > There is no particular reason they had to make Daniel Craig into Bond, rather than making Daniel Craig action movies. But they did. > > Elba is the right age, he’s English, and he has the imposing size and physical presence. He’d be a good choice though he denies he’s doing it. Does the author have to explicitly say his character is white? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/83 "2018-08-23T04:16:17Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Or maybe just update _Little Black Sambo_, amirite? Can’t be mixin’ up races in our movies, can we? What race do you think that character is? In other words, he’s already been “updated” in the zeitgeist. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/84 "2018-08-23T05:13:32Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I believe it was Vesper Lynn’s opinion in the first Daniel Craig bond outing that bond clearly did not come from money, that he went to expensive schools on scholarship and got condescended two for it. Dunno how much the books should be considered canonical for the films, but the books make it very clear that Bond is of Scottish descent from a “good” but in no way aristocratic or wealthy family. He got expelled from a posh boarding school (UK “public school”) for messing around with the maids, and joined the military at the age of 17 during WWII, emerging with the rank of Commander before joining the Secret Service. He’s got a modest salary and a modest private income from parental inheritance, and combines typical “expensive tastes” with the classic British snobbery of “buying the best is an economy in the long run”. (And his fancy sports car is a second-hand customized rebuild job.) So yeah, I don’t see anything in the original class/status characteristics of Bond that would make it really implausible for him to be a black British man. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/85 "2018-08-23T05:51:46Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Dunno how much the books should be considered canonical for the films, but the books make it very clear that Bond is of Scottish descent from a “good” but in no way aristocratic or wealthy family. He got expelled from a posh boarding school (UK “public school”) for messing around with the maids, and joined the military at the age of 17 during WWII, emerging with the rank of Commander before joining the Secret Service. He’s got a modest salary and a modest private income from parental inheritance, and combines typical “expensive tastes” with the classic British snobbery of “buying the best is an economy in the long run”. (And his fancy sports car is a second-hand customized rebuild job.) > > So yeah, I don’t see anything in the original class/status characteristics of Bond that would make it really implausible for him to be a black British man. If you ignore the fact that Black Scotsmen make up about 0.7% of the Scottish population. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/86 "2018-08-23T06:43:34Z")
I think we can ignore the WWII veteran angle. Jack Churchill needs a movie though. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/87 "2018-08-23T08:04:22Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > If you ignore the fact that Black Scotsmen make up about 0.7% of the Scottish population. That still means that there are over 3000 of them. ---
**Author:** ![DerNils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerNils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerNils)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/88 "2018-08-23T08:38:08Z")
I have to post Trevor Noahs bit on Idris as Bond here [Bing video](https://binged.it/2N7rnp9) But he would be wonderful. Also to my mind came Mahershala Ali, but I guess he really is too American. I got very good vibes from him as Cottonmouth in Luke Cage, and boy can he pull off a tuxedo. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/89 "2018-08-23T09:19:39Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > See, that read as “sociopath” to me, but I get the point. Take out the sociopath and it might work. > > Also, I vote for Idris Elba as well. I’d say early Bond is pretty sociopathic to be honest. An unflappable liar, capable of extreme violence and sexually hyper-promiscuous? It’s like Fleming was writing with _[The Mask of Sanity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mask_of_Sanity#Characteristics)_ as his character notes. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/90 "2018-08-23T10:43:04Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > So yeah, I don’t see anything in the original class/status characteristics of Bond that would make it really implausible for him to be a black British man. Except for the fact that he’s racist as hell, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/91 "2018-08-23T13:43:40Z")
Despite the fact that Bond is based on Ian Fleming’s novels, the character has been a Movie character for far longer, and over a far greater scale than he’s been a Book character. Nobody, and I mean nobody talks about the next James Bond novel, or what track the character will take in said novel. All the interest and value is Bond in the Movies. As a movie character, the exact traits that he exhibits vary across time, actor and director. There’s no reason whatsoever that the role of Bond can’t be filled by a black man. ---
**Author:** ![DerNils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerNils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerNils)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/92 "2018-08-23T13:50:05Z")
Well said, Cheesesteak. It’s not like there are spoiler wars like in GoT for Bond movies… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/93 "2018-08-23T15:09:12Z")
> [@Sloe\_Moe](#): > > Does the author have to explicitly say his character is white? No, as I recall, but his background as described by Fleming was as would be expected at the time for a white man, and nobody else reacted to him in such a way as they would for anything other than a white man in the Fifties and Sixties. If he were noticeably dark-skinned it would’ve come up (and probably affected his ability to infiltrate various bad-guy institutions). ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/94 "2018-08-23T15:13:30Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > No, as I recall, but his background as described by Fleming was as would be expected at the time for a white man, and nobody else reacted to him in such a way as they would for anything other than a white man in the Fifties and Sixties. **If he were noticeably dark-skinned it would’ve come up** (and probably affected his ability to infiltrate various bad-guy institutions). There was a scene with “M” near the start of one of the books (paraphrased)where “M” says he’s glad to see Bond’s suntan was fading(recent mission in the tropics) as it made him stand out in England. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/95 "2018-08-23T15:28:31Z")
Sure, they could do it but I don’t really get the “why”. This “it’s time for a Black James Bond” stuff just seems like viewing the character through an American lens. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/96 "2018-08-23T16:17:05Z")
As if America is the only place with more than one race? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/97 "2018-08-23T16:21:37Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Sure, they could do it but I don’t really get the “why”. This “it’s time for a Black James Bond” stuff just seems like viewing the character through an American lens. It’s nothing to do with Elba’s colour. He has the presence required for a James Bond. I could equally imagine a Maori or Tamil James Bond. (Hey, no one said he had to be a black _African_). ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/98 "2018-08-23T16:27:43Z")
@Sunny Daze No, as if the UK has the same racial make up of the US. The UK is overwhelmingly white compared to the US and Blacks make up a pretty small fraction, maybe 3%. If it’s time for a person of colour to be Bond, it would be far more reasonable to pick someone of South Asian ancestry as they are more than twice the black population in the UK. British pubs sell curry, for god’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/99 "2018-08-23T16:28:57Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Sure, they could do it but I don’t really get the “why”. This “it’s time for a Black James Bond” stuff just seems like viewing the character through an American lens. No it’s not. The UK is only a lilly white nation in the misty eyes of American Jane Austen enthusiasts. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994/100 "2018-08-23T16:31:56Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It’s nothing to do with Elba’s colour. He has the presence required for a James Bond. I could equally imagine a Maori or Tamil James Bond. (Hey, no one said he had to be a black _African_). I’m sure he’d be a fine Bond. I was specifically addressing “it’s time for a Black Bond” talk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-the-idea-of-black-james-bond-idris-elba-anyone/697994.md?page=6)