363 - 369 Perspectives

Audience: Student classroom

Can I see a show of hands as to how many people in this room smoke? You know it’s killing you right? Of course you do. You’ve grown up your whole lives being told not to smoke and the government covers almost the entire cigarette package in warning labels. Some of you may have even lost loved ones to smoking. I lost my grandfather to lung cancer caused by smoking when I was ten. He was a strong, independent man, but eventually the devastating effects of smoking got to him and I had to watch him suffer for years as the cancer took his life away. Until quite recently, I too was a smoker. It doesn’t make much sense, and I’ve been told over and over again that it’s gross, it’s expensive and it’s unhealthy, but it wasn’t until I realized that smoking was killing me I made the decision to quit. It wasn’t easy, and it took some time, but it was well worth it. That’s why my goal today is to convince you to quit smoking. Before you can stop wanting to smoke, however, you have to want to stop smoking.

           There are many reasons to quit smoking. The first one that comes to everyone’s mind is health. The discussion about cigarettes always boils down to a matter of health. There’s an obvious reason for that; cigarettes are bad for your health. That is a fact and it’s been proven over and over again despite the billions of dollars cigarette companies have spent to try and refute these facts. Statistics show that about 37000 Canadians die every year from smoking. If you are a smoker and experience chest pain, shortness of breath, or have ever woken up coughing then you’re seeing the first signs of your body degrading from smoking. Another reason to quit is the huge amount of money it costs to support a smoking habit. At ten to fifteen dollars a pack in Canada, smokers can save thousands of dollars a year by quitting smoking. Just think, you could finally afford to go out on the weekends or buy yourself coffee every morning. Smoking is also not as attractive as it used to be. Back in the sixties everyone smoked, especially the good looking people. Thus, through false logic, if you wanted to look good you had to smoke. Nowadays, however, people don’t have the same views. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you, and few find it sexy.

        

        Quitting isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be hard either. There are many resources which you can make use of to help you quit. Helpful information can be found at almost any local hospital or doctor’s office. There are many different help hotlines set up where you can talk to real people about advice or support. When you are having cravings, things tricks such as chewing a piece of gum or sucking on a pen will help. Nicotine replacements such as patches and inhalers are shown to work as well for curing cravings. It is also easier to quit if you quit with someone else. As long as both of you commit, and make sure that the other one is committing, you will have a much easier time overcoming the pressure.

           

            Once you quit smoking the benefits will be impossible to miss. Within a year you will be able to run up a flight of stairs without wheezing at the top thanks to your improved lung function and circulation. You’ll have a longer life (and pay lower life insurance) thanks to your reduced risk of lung cancer and heart disease. You will set a good example for your future children, and you won’t be wasting your money on a pointless habit. It’s never been easy to change a smoker’s mind, but I hope from what I’ve said today you no longer have any reason not to at least try to quit.

“The name’s Bond, James Bond”.  For five decades, that line has become synonymous with one of the most popular fictional characters in popular culture.  This fictional character first appeared on the scope of popular culture with the debut of the first Bond film Dr. No in 1962 and recently showed up again with the debut of the 2012 film Skyfall.  This persuasive blog article looks to answer three key questions: 1) What makes James Bond so popular? 2) Why James Bond is so popular? And 3) How we can be more like James Bond? 

What Makes James Bond So Popular?

                 

Firstly, an argument can be made that James Bond’s exhibitions of mastery over his immediate environment is a quality that attracts an audience to James Bond.  In referring to Bond’s mastery of his environment, I am referring to his ability to command and conquer anything and anyone within his immediate vicinity.  Bond’s mastery over everything within his surrounding environment shows his audience that anything is possible and reinforces his importance within the story.  As well, the audience may be further attracted to Bond because while he exercises mastery over his surroundings, he is not subservient or dependent on any specific thing in order to meet his overall objective.  “Bond is a man that keeps up with the times. He is a master of the current technology and gadgets, but never their slave”[1]. From Bond’s perspective, everything serves an singular purpose to the completion of his overall goal and their value is diminished once they no longer constitute a purpose to him. 

               

Secondly, an argument can be made that James Bond’s hyper masculinity is a quality that attracts audiences to him.  Anyone who has watched a film with James Bond can attest to the notion that he is a modern day Casanova and being a modern day action hero.  Bond’s sense of masculinity may be the quality that attracts audiences to him the most.  This may be because his masculinity sends different uses towards his female and male viewers.  To his female viewers, Bond’s masculinity can be demonstrated the moment he displays his upper torso or the moment Bond seduces a woman.  “He Has a Way with Women. It had to be something. Nothing else can explain why pick-up lines like “I’m just looking” actually seem to work.”[2] To female viewers, Bond’s masculinity may serve a one dimensional purpose in that he may simply formulate or reinforce the idea of what physical attributes an ideal man should have.  To male viewers, Bond’s masculinity can be demonstrated the moment he engages multiple persons in lethal hand to hand combat or when Bond goes through an exhaustive process in order to apprehend a villain.  To male viewers, Bond’s masculinity formulates or reinforces their idea of what a spy should be capable of. 

                

Whereas Bond is more popular among his male audiences, there has been controversy surrounding his views and treatment of the women in his films.  These claims arise mostly from feminists who claim that Bond is anti-feminist and the claim that Bond subjugates the women in his films through the practice of sexual objectification.  While I can agree to the claim that Bond does have a habit of sexually objectifying females, to the extent that their names are thinly veiled sexual innuendoes (Pussy Galore, Honey Ryder, Xenia Onatopp being obvious examples), I do not subscribe to the claim that Bond is anti-feminist because the social position of the females in his films are not subservient to Bond’s social position.  Rather, women in Bond films are portrayed in a positive spotlight because they portray characters that are intelligent instead of being inept.  As well, several actresses that have played the roles of Bond girls state that they do not feel that their roles are subjugated or oppressed, but rather celebrated because they have more than a visual value on the screen. 

Why Is James Bond So Popular?

                

Firstly, an argument can be made that James Bond’s overwhelming sense of self confidence provides a powerful reason for his tremendous popularity.  Any person who has watched a James Bond film can attest to the fact that his sense of self confidence is a defining characteristic of James Bond.  “When things get hard and go wrong, it doesn’t cause them to throw in the towel, it only pushes them harder”[3] This is a sense of self confidence that has enabled him to accomplish feats that extend beyond the laws of logic and feats that extend beyond the laws of physics.  This is not to say that James Bond has not experienced hardship or difficulty in the pursuit of his tasks, but what separates Bond from nearly every other living person is his can do attitude and his sense of utter resilience.  If faced with a monumental task or a series of monumental tasks, a person would be tempted to give up when faced against overwhelming odds of failure.  Recreate the scene in Goldeneye where Bond is sitting in the cockpit of a plane that is seemingly plummeting towards the bottom of the mountains, assuring his demise.  Now, almost any other person would be looking for a means of escaping from the plummeting plane.  But instead of simply giving up and resigning himself to his seemingly ill fate, Bond toggles with the controls, achieving to angle the plane upwards within the last crucial moment, and avoiding a short and brief demise. 

                

Secondly, an argument can be made that James Bond’s high stress tolerance level provides another powerful reason for his tremendous popularity.  Any person who has encountered or experienced a high stress environment can attest to the constant temptation to crumble under the immense pressure.  But whereas anyone who has experienced a high stress environment can attest to the constant temptation to crumble, any person who has watched a James Bond film can argue that James Bond not only maintains a calm composure under a high stress situation, but actually seems to thrive within that high stress situation. “Life is tough for everyone; get over it.”[4] A popular quality and a defining characteristic about James Bond is his ability to maintain a calm and cool composure during a stressful environment.  Imagine the final poker match between James Bond and the villain Le Chiffre in the movie Casino Royale.  During that final match, all the players bet all the chips (“went all in”), raising the value of the victory (“vig”) to one hundred and fifty million dollars.  Now, Bond also has to deal with the fact that the money that he is playing with belongs to the British taxpayers and that if he lost, he would have had a direct hand in funding global terrorism.  Combine this fact with the fact that Le Chiffre has an ace full house, almost guaranteeing Le Chiffre victory.  Almost any other person would be showing indications of high stress, but Bond not only maintains a sense of calm, but also remains poised and composed and later reveals his hand to have a straight full house, making Bond victorious. 

How Can We Be More Like Bond?

Firstly, one thing that we can learn from watching James Bond films is his brief reliance on the tools that he utilizes in order to achieve his goals.  But one thing we can easily discern about Bond’s tools is their short time span of use to him.  Now, Bond clearly demonstrates to his audience that while he depends on various tools to aid him in his pursuit of a goal, that he is not subservient to the tool itself.  As well, Bond clearly demonstrates his little need of a tool once it has served its purpose by aiding him in his pursuit of a goal.  Now, Bond’s casual attitude can be applied within the contexts of post - secondary education.  Once a tool has served its purpose to us in our pursuit of goals such as meeting paper deadlines or studying for tests, we can put the tool aside because the tool has no more immediate value to us.  I make this argument because as college students, we have the greatest number of technological tools readily available to aid us in our learning.  Yet, the same technological tools that aid us in our learning may sometimes have a negative effect on us because we may utilize the tool for non-educational purposes. 

Secondly, one thing that we can learn from watching James Bond films is to have more self-confidence while embarking on a difficult task.  Self-confidence is what allows Bond to attempt and succeed in his plan, not matter how bold or audacious they seem.  Bond’s self-confidence is what motivates him to see things through.  Bond’s self-confidence is also what keeps him calm and poised in the midst of a dangerous situation.  As well, Bond’s self-confidence is what drives him to make the best out any situation that befalls him.  Anyone that has watched James Bond in action can attest to the notion that no matter how audacious or risky Bond’s plan seems to be, that Bond will always manage to get through a situation no matter how dire it seems to be.  “A man can be counted on to complete the mission, whatever it may be. Anyone can start something, but very few can consistently finish.”[5] Now, Bond’s self-confidence can be applied within the contexts of real life by always finishing what you started and never losing your composure in the pursuit of a task.  Now I am not saying that we will encounter the same types of situations that Bond has faced in the past, far from it.  What I am saying is that everything is a based on a matter of perspective and that if we had more self-confidence like Bond, then we would be able to encounter and surpass nearly any obstacle that befalls us.