Why I am writing my James Bond paper

The main reason why I am writing this paper is probably because of my grandfather. He was the one who introduced the whole family to James Bond. He would always tell me about how he went to the first few Bond movies and later when the kids were old enough he would take them around the holidays to see James in the theaters and this became a tradition for my family and it is one that has been going ever since.

I have home videos where I am opening up presents on Christmas and the James Bond marathon is playing on TV in the background. When I went to visit my grandpa we watched two kinds of movies: war movies and James Bond. Also something about James Bond reminds me about my grandfather.

He wasn't British and he didn't smoke at all. He did drink a lot during his lifetime, but then he was converted to Mormonism and changed his ways so that's not it. Maybe it was because he used to make me wooden guns that looked like Bond's Walther PPK and some of my first shooting lessons came from him. Most likely though it was the way he carried himself. Though my grandpa wasn't a very large man at 5'9 he carried a lot of authority with him. He was a sailor in the Navy for the entire Korean War. He was a cop in the 60's and 70's. Whenever I was with him I felt safe. And I admired him because of the many stories he would tell of when he stood up to defend himself or when he had to protect others in the line of duty as a policeman. He was protective of his family as well and once he actually had to when a couple of hippies were pushing my uncle around because he was wearing an ROTC uniform. My grandpa recognized one of them as someone who had a warrant out for his arrest and he arrested them both on the spot by himself. The he lined up my dad and his siblings and told those hippies never to bother his family again. He always worked hard to provide for his family and budgeted money well so that they could afford everything. He was a man of action and responsibility. Bond though a fictional character represents a lot of these masculine traits, only he exhibits them to the ultimate. So when I watch some of the old school Bond movies I see a little bit of my grandpa there. And I am reminded of the kind of man I want to be. Sure there are a lot of qualities about James Bond that as a christian and somebody who wants to raise family I wouldn't adopt, but there are many great things there that have been lost through the social changes that have come.