Today, it's hard to justify the need for a spy like Bond. We've got drones with their own licenses to kill—a different prickly ethical issue. And we've got video games that let us pretend to be Bond himself. We'll totally take you down in a four-player GoldenEye deathmatch, by the way—no Oddjob cheat code allowed.
But in Goldfinger, filmmakers still had that ability to dazzle audiences with futuristic technologies, like remote tracking devices, radar inside a car's dashboard, and lasers. Some of these gadgets have come to be in the real world, but we're still waiting for a car that dispenses oil to slip up our pursuers.
Yeah, don't you dare challenge us to Mario Kart either.
Questions about Technology and Modernization
- What bits of tech and gadgetry have become reality since Goldfinger? Which are still in the realms of fantasy?
- What do Bond's gadgets allow him to do that he would not be able to without them?
- Does Bond rely on gadgets at the expense of his own ingenuity?
Chew on This
Bond's gadgets add to the fantasy element of his story. He's given wild devices that exist just within the realm of believability, but he still manages to impress audiences with their cool factor.
Goldfinger's technology arguably outpowers Bond's: his laser can cut through anything, after all. So Bond has to pick up the slack with his sheer wit. It's not necessarily the technology that matters, but how you use it.