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How do you interpret his description of his heroes as white and his villians as black? Even for the man and the year, it seems odd if we interpret this as racia
by leephillips 6y ago
How do you interpret his description of his heroes as white and his villians as black? Even for the man and the year, it seems odd if we interpret this as racially "white" and "black"; for one thing, few of his villians were black. Does he mean something else, like "black and white" suggesting good and evil without shades of grey (moral complications)?
- subsubzero 6y agoHaving read most of Ian Fleming's(Bond) books these are definitely not racial terms, they come from old Judeo-Christian terminology that has been used to describe a person's intent/persona/soul and which side a person is on. Think black-hearted as a cruel/wicked person for a familiar reference. Most literary authors mid 20th century and back use these terms usually to describe a persons character. So he is most definitely referring to the latter example. That being said Ian Fleming being from the British upper class and in his time period I don't think he was particularly enlightened in how various races were treated and portraying them only as side characters who usually died off or disappeared into the background.
- leephillips 6y agoYes, that’s what I was thinking. And it makes his description of his heroines as a shade of pink into a play on words, shifing the meaning from good and evil to refer to the colors literally.