I like spy/action movies, what can I say? I watch them all the time…
However most of the time the theme is the same…Our guy is doing his job as a spy and he gets double crossed and sold out by some baddies higher up in the ranks. Then he spends the rest of the movie cleaning house on the organization that wronged him and we’re left to think that all of the agencies that provide these services are full of double crossing greedy good for nothings with self-serving interests who will kill anyone who gets in their way.
I can name at least 10 recent movies with that same theme.
Now here is the interesting part. I am watching James Bond/Skyfall the other day, and while being interrogated by a sellout traitor who used to work for MI6, 007 when asked why he does what he does…Kind of a “For Who? For What?” moment…He simply asks “what is wrong with ‘for love of country?'” This was not to be meant as a joke or sarcasm, it was why this guy does what he does, nothing more. That line struck a chord with me…It seemed so out of touch and arcane of a concept. For love of country…what does that mean anymore? Are we so inundated with media, movies and other messages that when a fictional character says something like this, it almost seems naive or silly. Anyone who feels this way (fictional or not) surely is a weak minded idiot, right? I’m not so sure…
Look around next time you’re at a WalMart or Giant, look at all the we have, and have access to. Think about the minimal amount of crime that we have to contend with compared to those that live in Rio (or other cities). Look at the fact that we can spend our waking moments pondering Xbox, Downton Abbey, our lousy job, etc… and not worry about where our next meal is going to come from. We have so much…Is it really such a bad place? What’s not to love about it? Has the West not spent an inordinate amount of blood and treasure trying to provide a better more hospitable planet for many? I am sure that many can argue all that is wrong with our country and that it needs to be drastically made over in the name of fairness etc…I have heard the rhetoric…A lot of it. However I cannot help but reflect on an experience that I had in South Korea years ago. We were walking through a village miles from nowhere, and I gave a nickel and packet of chocolate powder to a young boy. You would have thought that I gave him the keys to a BMW…His village was not poverty stricken squalor either, it was just a simple place where people lived. However compared to us, they had very little. I still think about that experience and I clearly understand why I love my country and what it stands for. Call me what you want, I care not, for I know that I am right on this one.
Can it be improved? Can it do more to help those in need? Can it be made more fair (whatever the definition of fair is)? Of course…However the idea that our society is somehow inherently flawed to the point that it is nothing but greedy scumbags (at all levels) preying on the little guys is a bunch of garbage. In fact there are plenty of people out there that feel the way that 007 does, and they go out there and serve everyday, and it is for them that I write this. It is because of them that a fictional character like James Bond is still relevant regardless of the other prevailing message we’re receiving.
