Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Bond: More to the man of mystery

Professor reveals deeper meaning of 007 in new philosophy book

If James Bond and Buffy the Vampire Slayer came to blows, the charming British spy would find himself in a situation with a woman where for once, he doesn’t end up on top.

According to James B. South, Professor at Marquette University and editor of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy" and "James Bond and Philosophy," the girl-empowered heroine would have the egotistical womanizer begging for mercy.

"James Bond’s sexism would keep him from recognizing just how smart and adept Buffy is," South said. "Plus, Buffy once killed a Goddess."

Now what do James Bond and Buffy have in common?

Both are pretty good at beating people up. Buffy’s a woman and Bond loves anything and everything to do with the female species. Both stories follow a plot deeply intertwined with philosophical issues.

Yeah, right.

But South, in his newest book "James Bond and Philosophy," is tackling the difficult task of opening people’s eyes to the connections between popular culture and philosophy.

"There are many philosophers (and non-philosophers) who are rightly skeptical about the intersection of philosophy and popular culture," South said. "I think it’s up to those of us who see the connections to make a case for them. This volume, like "Buffy," is an attempt to do so."

According to South, the main purpose of the book was to illustrate several ways that philosophy can learn from popular culture and several ways that philosophy can help us understand and appreciate popular culture.

"I think that popular culture as a whole is significant for philosophical understanding," he said.

South and his co-editor, Jacob Held, began working on the book in late 2003. They sent out a call for papers and were bombarded with proposals that had to be sorted and read. South and Held settled on 17 essays from the scholars they thought most promising. They were careful to include a wide variety of approaches and topics from an international group of scholars from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Israel.

What Bond fans find so intriguing — the killings, torture, sex, deception — South enjoys as well, but for different reasons. What the average movie-goer or bookworm sees and reads as strictly entertainment, South discovered a piece of work tinged with philosophical findings.

"James Bond and Philosophy" addresses the philosophical issues and topics like the ethics of a "license to kill," the objectification of women and races, the validity of arguments on behalf of torture and the relation between morality and the meaning of life.

South grew up with Bond and was first provoked to work on "James Bond and Philosophy" at The Cultural Politics of Ian Fleming (author of the James Bond novels) and 007 Conference in May 2003. At the conference, he gave a paper on the influence of James Bond on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

"After the conference, I started wondering just what it was about James Bond that still resonated in the late 20th, early 21st century popular culture," South said.

While South admits that he does not see philosophy in everything, what he does find intriguing "is a body of work that seems to exhibit a level of coherence, consistency, depth of emotion and character development."

Box: Is Bond still a sexist? You can find out tomorrow when the new blond Bond comes to the big screen in "Casino Royale."