To Be or Not To Be Bond: Watch ‘Bait,’ But Let Bond Be Bond, Whatever the Color
- I am on the side of not having a more colorful Bond. There are enough misogynistic sociopaths with anger management problems depicted by people of color.
Full disclosure — I am one of those people who’s always declaring, “This TV show is great, you must watch it!” I never recommend anything I don’t genuinely like; I just happen to like a lot of things. This could mean one of two things: either I’m not very discerning, or I only watch shows or movies in genres I already know I’ll enjoy — both are true. Having said that, the Amazon series “Bait” is great, and you must watch it.
In all seriousness, it is a show full of layers — like a flower, or an onion
Riz Ahmed has been a favorite actor of mine since he starred in one of the most underrated dark comedies, “Four Lions,” over a decade ago. While it garnered acclaim in Britain, it was overlooked in America.
The question of having a non-white man play Bond has attracted international attention over the past few decades. Before the initially controversial choice of Daniel Craig (proof that even among white men there are hierarchies), the idea of a brown, black, or blue Bond would not even have been uttered — but now, it’s an open argument.
What Riz Ahmed does is dissect this debate and splay open centuries of colonialism, racism, and religious bias. He layers in themes of family dynamics, mental health struggles, and social media obsession.
Across six episodes, we meet characters who initially seem like stereotypes but reveal a depth of flavor often misunderstood — a metaphor for how the world views people of color. The show’s underlying story thread relays this pivot point: a “brown” Bond will not solve all our problems. If a black president didn’t solve them, why do we think having a brown Bond will?
I would argue that in most stories, ethnicity is not pivotal to the plot — hence the world salivating for more stories with people who have more pigment.
I am on the side of not having a more colorful Bond. There are enough misogynistic sociopaths with anger management problems depicted by people of color, so there is no need to add to that mix. But I am also not morally against the idea. There is nothing in the character that could inherently not be depicted by a non-white man.
While there are characters in stories whose race, religion, or ethnicity is an integral part of the story arc, Bond is not one of them. I would argue that the story and acting are pretty much not relevant at all to these movies. There is a bad person trying to kill a bunch of people, and Bond seems to be the only person who can stop them. That bad guy or gal is either very rich or associates with rich people, because watching poor people trying to be terrorists is less sexy. There are multiple beautiful women Bond seems to use and throw away, and ultimately he wins.
Now, take stories where the ethnicity of a character is pivotal to the plot, like in Othello — with Bond, it is not one of those. I would argue that in most stories, ethnicity is not pivotal to the plot — hence the world salivating for more stories with people who have more pigment.
What I find even more absurd is arguing whether a black actor should play Harry Potter. The moment your story has magic, time travel, or anything fantastical, you lose the argument for reasoning.
There are very few times I compliment the British. I’m not known for complimenting anyone, as we all suck, but they have depicted non-white actors in their TV shows years before America started to cast a few less type-cast actors. Does this make up for the centuries of colonialism? Fuck no! It just means they’re better at portraying actors as real people, rather than type-cast caricatures — nothing more.
So let Bond be Bond, whatever color they choose him to be. But more importantly — watch “Bait.” Trust me this time.
Prachi Ranade is an infectious disease physician and the Director of Epidemiology at the Peace Corps. She draws on her experience in international medicine and extensive travel to shape public health policy and to write short stories, narrative nonfiction, and podcast scripts with medical and horror elements. She is currently working on a memoir about global health, and the emotional toll of caring for patients across borders.