In another sign of the changing times, The British Film Institute (BFI) has added trigger warnings to classic James Bond films to be shown at a tribute to legendary composer John Williams, a sad treatment of a character who was once a symbol of national pride in jolly old England.
The two vintage Bond movies starring a young Sean Connery that are slated to be shown as a part of “John Barry: Soundtracking Bond and Beyond” merited the blanket warning along with other selected pictures including “Midnight Cowboy” the 1969 Academy Award winner starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, a film that is the only X-rated Best Picture winner.
A disclaimer on the BFI website reads: “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.”
Deemed as possibly inappropriate for emotionally fragile modern audiences was “Goldfinger” which is widely considered to be the most classic 007 movie of them all.
According to The Guardian: “The 1964 film includes a scene in which Connery’s Bond apparently forces himself on Honor Blackman’s Pussy Galore in a hay barn. In a 1959 letter concerning the novel from which the film was adapted, Ian Fleming explains that this ‘laying on of hands’ from ‘the right man’ was all which was required to ‘cure’ the lesbian character of ‘her psycho-pathological malady.'”
Also problematic for today’s easily triggered ninnies is the character Oddjob, the villainous Auric Goldfinger’s burly Korean henchman who was played by Japanese-American wrestler Harold Sakata and whose specialty was dispatching victims with his steel-rimmed hat which he hurled with lethal precision.
The character “who has a cleft palate, has long been cited by many as perpetuating a stereotype equating disability with villainy,” the Guardian reported.
Earning an extra trigger warning of “Contains outdated racial stereotypes” is the 1967 entry in the Bond franchise “You Only Live Twice” which finds the suave secret agent dispatched to the mysterious land of the rising sun where he teams with Japanese Secret Service to thwart a series of space hijackings perpetrated by SPECTRE and recurring bad guy Ernst Stavro Blofeld, featuring a spectacular fight inside of the arch-villian’s base which is located inside of a volcano.
The film “features a scene in which Connery tries to pass as Japanese,” according to The Guardian which in the twisted 21st Century is right up there with blackface.
“Midnight Cowboy” which features strong homosexual themes got the double trigger warning of “Contains use of homophobic language and sexual violence.”
Fox News Digital obtained additional details on the disclaimers from a BMI spokesperson.
“Trigger warnings pop-up at point of sale when confirming tickets which is inside the venue, i.e. at the box office area, and appear in our printed guide and website copy related to the season… We do issue trigger warnings for other films and screen work that we show where appropriate,” the BMI rep told the outlet.
It was previously reported that author Ian Fleming who created the Bond character had portions of the reissued releases rewritten to scrub certain language after they underwent a “sensitivity review” according to The Daily Telegraph.
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