Is James Bond a Sociopath?
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louiseculmer — 10 years ago(August 12, 2015 03:45 AM)
well, if he kept being remorseful about killing people it would make it jolly difficult to do his job. and the flings woth women aren't meaningless, he seems to enjoy them. As for hitting them - the books were written, and the early films were made, before this modern obsession about men never hitting women no matter what - which come to think of it is odd anyway, considering we're all supposed to be equal nowadays. You'd think there'd be less squeamishness about hitting them nowadays, rather than more. And he never appears to me to drink excessively.
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Eric266 — 10 years ago(September 11, 2015 02:29 PM)
James Bond is an orphan whose parents died when he was very young. This left him with a sense of displacement. He didn't fit in anywhere and he had a detachment from people. It makes him the perfect secret agent as he has no attachments. When you are trained as an agent, they teach you to be dispassionate and detached. That's easier if you've been that way all your life. Killing is a very traumatic event if you aren't mentally trained for it, but the OSS was the best. They kind of touch on this in Casino Royale (2005) in the very beginning. The first kill is the hardest, the rest come easier. They reference this type of mentality in Gross Point Blank as well when Martin says he fit a certain psychological type that the Army was looking for.
Interestingly, Fleming was the same way. He was a drinker, used women like toilet paper and never looked back.
I used to be in a military unit whose mission got them into some tricky spots in Iraq and Afghanistan. You'd be really surprised how war affected people differently. Some just kind of shrugged off the killing, some couldn't stop seeing the horror and many of them turned to drink and drugs. I would be really curious to see a study done on the mental makeup of these folks to see if there was a common thread (orphans, abused as children, etc) for those who didn't seem affected by it. I bet Bond would fall into that category.
My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying. -
KingCobra686 — 10 years ago(March 19, 2016 03:42 PM)
There must be studies of that sort out there. Suicide and PTSD are common and unfortunate issues that affect a lot of returning soldiers. It would be irresponsible if the military was not trying to study that to mitigate it.
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cartesianthought — 10 years ago(September 21, 2015 12:55 PM)
Two key characteristics of a sociopath is a high excitement threshold (needing to go to extreme lengths to get a bit of happiness) and a lack of awareness toward one's consequences of their actions.
I wouldn't say James Bond is either. He's simply just an imperfect man in a violent stressful job. -
incpassion — 10 years ago(October 29, 2015 01:33 AM)
Althrough you're right about the first one (and Bond fits in, he's going to extreme willingly and not so fascinated about anything really), the second is wrong.
Sociopaths are well aware about the consequences of any of their actions. And it's actually the only thing that stops them, as they don't have much of authority guide and no moral guide at all in most cases. They just wouldn't like to be punished. -
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Animated — 3 years ago(August 20, 2022 12:14 AM)
In the novel, Bond tells Quarrel to find two strangers who resemble Bond and Quarrel and to pay them to drive around town in Bond's car as decoys - without telling the two strangers the real reason for their job. Naturally, these two unsuspecting decoys are swiftly killed by Dr. No's agents. So, Bond effectively set up two innocent strangers to be murdered. Sounds pretty sociopathic to me.
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ToastedCheese — 3 years ago(August 20, 2022 12:33 AM)
Sounds pretty sociopathic to me.
Bond would also be leaning more towards psychopathic nature. He is a narcissistic that is for sure and plans his moves, even if it means getting innocents killed and shows no remorse.
Norman! What did you put in my tea? -
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Vlad. — 3 years ago(August 20, 2022 01:51 PM)
I mean their thought patterns are likely devoid of emotion. Whether the thoughts are “logical” in the sense that you’re getting at is up for debate. I think they’re logical from his vantage point where his base is comprised of woke idiots and so he panders to them. There’s a logic to his illogical (at face) policies
Stop.