After Bond, James Bond, blows up an embassy in the movie Casino Royale, his boss, known only as ‘M’ laments the 21st century state of international espionage when she gets hauled across the carpet by the powers that be.
“Who the hell do they think they are?” she asks. “I report to the Prime Minister and even he’s smart enough not to ask me what we do. Have you ever seen such a bunch of self-righteous, ass-covering prigs? They don’t care what we do; they care what we get photographed doing. And how the hell could Bond be so stupid? I give him double-O status and he celebrates by shooting up an embassy. Is the man deranged? And where the hell is he? In the old days if an agent did something that embarrassing he’d have a good sense to defect. Christ, I miss the Cold War.”
Bond is, of course, a product of the Cold War, an idealized secret agent out of the imagination of a real life spy. Again in the words of ‘M,’ in his post-Cold War manifestation, Bond is “a misogynist dinosaur, a relic of cold war that never turned hot, and he’s the result of an unholy trinity of hyper-masculinity, international terrorism, and whatever the hell ‘quintessential Englishness’ actually means.”
Culturally speaking, there is an appeal that harkens to simplicity, a world of easily identifiable allies and enemies in which good is good and evil is evil and fighting evil is justification for a ‘licence to kill.’ Bond is a man’s man and a ladies man, sophisticated yet ruthless, noble yet conscienceless. His consequence-free world is the ultimate fantasy: do what you want; when you want; with, or to, whom you want; and get away with it.
It is easy to see the appeal of the illusion, even while reviling at its real-life implications.
That appeal translated into a unique event for Yorkton on March 4. Dubbed Casino Royale, loosely after the 007 movie, it featured all the fun trappings of that glamourous world, minus the danger, including limousines and champagne, evening gowns and tuxedos, martinis and cigars, elegant hors d’ouevres and smooth jazz, and handguns (albeit pellets, not bullets).
“Make no mistake, this event was a huge success, with 160 guests jam-packed into a totally transformed Royal Honda,” said Ross Fisher, executive director of the Health Foundation, which co-sponsored the event along with Rediscover Downtown and the car dealership.
That transformation included floor to ceiling backdrops reminiscent of Montenegro, the ostensible setting for Casino Royale, although it was filmed in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.
A catwalk graced the middle of the showroom where a fashion show thrilled the guests and gaming tables provided a la carte entertainment.
In the service bay, attendees could try their hand at target shooting.
It took more than 100 volunteers to pull off the event including 30 who spent all day Saturday just setting up the venue.
“All in all, it was spectacularly entertaining,” Fisher said.
And, at $100 per ticket plus the sundry other fundraising efforts, which included a silent auction, the evening raised $21,000 for the beneficiaries. The Health Foundation will purchase equipment for the Regional Health Centre maternity ward with its share, while Rediscover Downtown will put their proceeds into revitalizing the city’s core.
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