Bond films given trigger warning as they ‘may cause offence’ today

British Film Institute warns viewers over language and themes in the cinematic classics

JAMES BOND films may “cause offence” to modern viewers, the British Film Institute has warned.

Instalments of the spy franchise have been given a blanket trigger warning by BFI, the body tasked with promoting and preserving the best of British cinema.

Viewers attending a season of classic films have been warned that Bond’s adventures “will cause offence today”.

The disclaimer further warns that the films featured in the retrospective, You

Only Live Twice and Goldfinger, contain examples of language and themes that were “prevalent” in the 1960s.

The warning for a raft of 1960s films also claims that, as well as being offensive now, these productions were offensive then.

The note cautioning would-be visitors to the BFI’S cinema on London’s Southbank states: “Please note that many of these films contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then).

“The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners.”

The warning applies to a selection of films in a seasonal retrospective of the work of composer John Barry, who provided the score for Goldfinger and You

Only Live Twice.

An additional online warning for the

1968 release of You Only Live Twice states that the film “contains outdated racial stereotypes”.

The character of Oddjob, who suffers from a cleft palate, has been highlighted by some campaigners as an example of villains being given physical disfigurements or disabilities.

In the book, the Korean character’s race is also frequently commented upon, and it is made clear that Bond views people from Korea as “lower than apes”.

Also present on BFI listings covered by the blanket trigger warning are the Sir Michael Caine films Deadfall, 1968, and 1965’s The Ipcress File.

The 1960 Peter Sellers crime film

Never Let Go is also included, and has a specific warning alerting viewers to “racist attitudes and language”, along with Midnight Cowboy. An additional warning for the 1969 film starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman states that it includes “homophobic language and sexual violence”.

Also in the retrospective of Barry’s musical work are Boom, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the early Dame Judi Dench film Four in the

Morning.

Other works included are The Whispers, and Petulia, which comes with an individual warning for “scenes of domestic violence”.

The BFI, a charity which uses National Lottery funding to properly archive and promote examples of British cinema, has been contacted for comment on its use of trigger warnings for the films.

The application of the warning to instalments in the Bond franchise comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed that the original novels by Ian Fleming had been reworked to remove offensive passages, following an assessment by sensitivity readers.

All of the author’s thrillers featuring 007 were reissued in April to mark 70 years since the first publication of

Casino Royale, the first book in the series.

Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, the company that owns the literary rights to the author’s work, commissioned a review by sensitivity readers of the classic texts under its control and also included a disclaimer in the reprinted volumes.

It said: “This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace.

“A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set.”

The Telegraph later revealed that the mysteries of Agatha Christie and the comic works of PG Wodehouse had been similarly edited to remove racial terminology from the texts.

A spokesman for the BFI said: “We have flagged a number of films in the season with warnings and put a warning in at the start of the season as these are mainly British Sixties and Seventies titles that need some context.”

‘The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons’

1 2 3 License to offend Controversial aspects of Bond films 1. Goldfinger In the 1964 film ‘Goldfinger’, Sean Connery’s Bond confronts Pussy Galore, played by Honor Blackman, in a barn and pins her down. Galore – described as lesbian in the original novel – struggles in the hay before relenting to his advances, and the scene cuts. The scene was referenced in 2021 by ‘No Time To Die’ director Cary Fukunaga, who raised concerns about the predatory nature of Bond. Barbara Broccoli, the producer of the Bond franchise, also stated that it was best that “that stuff is no longer acceptable” on screen. In the early scene of ‘Goldfinger’, Bond is relaxing by the pool with his female companion Dink, played by Carry On actress Margaret Nolan. When Felix Leiter approaches Bond, the spy informs Dink that it is “time for man talk”, and dismisses her with a slap on the behind. 2. You Only Live Twice In 1967’s ‘You Only Live Twice’, Bond must go undetected as he investigates the headquarters of Spectre in Japan, and so 007 undergoes cosmetic procedures in order to look more Japanese. The process of discussing Bond involves the spy having his haircut and combed forward, receiving a fake tan, fake eyelids, and accentuated eyebrows. The sequence is often included in roundups of the most politically incorrect moments the Bond franchise. 3. Goldfinger The character of Oddjob, who is rendered largely mute by a cleft palate, has proven controversial for some disability campaigners, as he is another example of a villain in Bond having a physical impairment. In 2018, a campaign called I Am Not Your Villain raised awareness of these tropes, and the British Film Institute agreed to stop funding films in which villains have facial disfigurements. In the original novel by Ian Fleming, Oddjob’s Korean nationality is frequently stereotyped.