The Importance of James Bond collects Jef Costello’s critical writings on movies, television, literature, opera, conceptual and performance art, and even advertising. Costello is at his best in bringing out Traditionalist, New Right, and masculinist themes in such works as the James Bond movies, Fight Club, and Breaking Bad. He offers sensitive readings of the classics of dystopian fiction, explores fascistic themes in spy spoofs from the 1960s and little-known American movies from the Great Depression, and hilariously demolishes pretentiousness, cynicism, and vulgarity wherever he finds them. The Importance of James Bond is a treasury of wit and insight that establishes Jef Costello as one of the leading cultural critics of the New Right.

CONTENTS

Foreword

1. The Importance of James Bond
2. Skyfall
3. The Cat is Back!
4. Fight Club as Holy Writ
5. Breaking Bad: A Celebration
6. Adieu, Breaking Bad
7. Better Call Saul!
8. The Flash in the Pan: Fascism & Fascist Insignia in the Spy Spoofs of the 1960s
9. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: A Cautionary Tale
10. Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
11. Gangway for a Führer: Proto-Fascist Cinema of the Great Depression
12. Disingenuous Genius: A Tribute to Leni Riefenstahl
13. Why Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows Sucks
14. The King’s Speech is C-C-Crap
15. Rage Against the Machine: A Very American Ring Cycle
16. Dystopia is Now!
17. Tito Perdue’s Lee
18. The Vermont Teddy Bear is a Giant Phallus
19. Bi-Coastal Adventures in Modern Art
20. Why I Live in the Past

Index
About the Author

Author: Jef Costello
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 232
Published: 2017
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1940933085