2. The Bourne Identity (2002)

Adam,

After a little hiatus (road trip, wedding planning, Star Trek), I’m back—as inevitable as a big budget remake of a familiar property.  Speaking of which, let’s jump right in.

You point out, in your comparison of the two super-spies, that both James Bond and Jason Bourne subvert certain cultural assumptions about Brits and Americans.  I think you’re right on about that.  But it’s also worth keeping in mind the ways both characters embody values and concerns specific to their respective cultural contexts.

Bond’s confidence does make him seem like a deviation from the norm of diffident British men, but he also makes perfect sense as a champion of Anglo-Saxon tradition and structure.  For example, look at all that goes unquestioned by the Bond franchise: the entitlements of masculinity, the moral and national imperative to preempt acts of terrorism abroad, the good intentions of a political organization like MI6.  Even Skyfall, which went about as far as any Bond film in challenging the basic premise of the series, still characterizes the MI6 organization and leadership as essentially supportive, reliable, and just (Javier Bardem's villain may have felt wronged by MI6, but he was also totally crazy-pants and arguably deserving of his fate).  This faith in—or at least acceptance of—structures is perhaps to be expected from a nation still in possession of a monarchy.

It’s also possible to look at James Bond the character as a symbol for Britain itself.  Bond always pretty much knows who he is, even though he has been dozens of times by a half dozen different actors.  There is an underlying consistency that is ultimately comforting, even when it involves a bevy of institutionalized horrors like alcoholism and casual misogyny.  (Because a good Brit knows what serving the Empire calls for: a stiff upper lip, a stiff drink, and a stiff—well….)

I don’t mean to get sidetracked talking about James Bond, but 1) you started it, 2) I do want to establish critical perimeters within which to begin talking about our current film.  What does it say that in 2002, America produced, of all things, an existential spy thriller?  Unlike calm, cool, collected James Bond, Jason Bourne doesn’t have a clue who he is, and most of what he discovers alarms him.  As you discussed in your review, Bourne’s gradual uncovering of his past can be read as a metaphor for personal psychological discovery.  But it can also be interpreted allegorically through the lens of recent American political history.  

It’s a coincidence that The Bourne Identity came out right after the September 11 attacks and just before the ensuing Iraq War.  The prescience of the film's warning not to meddle in the affairs of other countries owes everything to its awareness of history, to the fact that foreign entanglements have been a recurrent theme in American politics. When director Doug Liman set out to adapt the original novel, he wasn’t thinking of Saddam Hussein; he was inspired by the Iran-Contra affair, which his own father was involved with investigating.

The Bourne Identity’s disgust at the duplicity and callousness of organizations comes out of an American temperament that has bred, time and again, an individualistic dissatisfaction with institutions.  Bourne, in this sense, is the ultimate individualist—striking out on his own, frontiersman-style, guided only by his intuition, skills, and conscience.  Even more specifically, the movie’s vision of America is influenced by the scandals and mounting disillusionments that have marked late 20th century American politics, from Vietnam to Watergate to Monica Lewinsky.  The true villain of The Bourne Identity isn’t the dictator Bourne was originally assigned to kill; it’s the shady CIA program that ordered the hit.  Bourne’s America is one continuously in the process of figuring itself out, only to be horrified by what it learns about itself.

Funny, there’s enough to discuss about the ideas in the movie that I haven’t even really begun to talk about how I responded to actual scenes, which OMG REMEMBER WHEN MATT DAMON JUMPED DOWN THAT STAIRWELL AND TOTALLY SHOT THAT DUDE ON THE WAY DOWN OMG.

Next up: Bourne 2: Spy Conspiracy Boogaloo.

Love,

Victoria