Academics have been criticized after adding trigger warnings to James Bond books and films for containing what they describe as racism, misogyny, and xenophobia. The warnings now appear on more than 50 English Literature texts at a university where students are told the series contains “problematic issues.”
The note to students reads: “Please note: James Bond films and novels are popular to this day but contain many problematic issues such as racism, misogyny and xenophobia. We will be discussing the problems with this text in all of our seminars.”
The university also urges students, “to engage with teaching texts in an informed way” through added content notes.
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Critics were quick to call the move patronizing and labeled the professors as “killjoys” who were “acting like parents.” One academic freedom advocate said: *Putting warnings on James Bond is one of the silliest I have heard of. The novels are well-written, exciting thrillers, but academic killjoys will only focus on the polítical issues in which they are interested. I hope tutors in the seminars also celebrate the best in Bond.”
He added that students are not children and can recognize outdated attitudes on their own. In defense of the trigger warnings, Dr lan Kinane explained that they are meant to cater to potential sensitivities and should be seen as a matter of consideration.
He said: “Trigger warnings serve not to cushion students; rather, they cater to potential sensitivities that might arise as a result of exposure to potentially troubling subject matter, either for the very first time in their lives, or, if we are talking about someone with lived experience of a particular trauma, not for the first time. Surely it is simply a matter of consideration, not to mention healthy wellbeing practice, on the part of Portsmouth’s lecturing staff to signal for their students the inclusion within Dr No of certain outmoded language and themes.*
Dr Kinane went on to say that some Bond novels set in Jamaica, such as Live and Let Die, Dr No, and The Man with the Golden Gun, show some of the strongest examples of racial issues in the series.
He added: “Recent re-issues of Live and Let Die, perhaps the most complicated if not problematic of his novels when it comes to matters of race and racial identity, have seen the expungement of certain sections of the novel on the grounds of poor taste and outdated language.*”