The wokescolds won't stop until they've ruined everything. In recent years, we've seen the bowdlerization of novels by Roald Dahl, woke remakes of Agatha Christie classics, and disclaimers on classic Disney cartoons.
Now, the British Film Institute is getting in on the game. The BFI, the institution dedicated to preserving the heritage of British cinema, is screening the James Bond films from the '60s along with some other similar movies, and it has decided to slap trigger warnings on the films on its website.
Before you start rolling your eyes, there's a slight twist in this tale. Not only is the BFI warning that mid-20th-century spy thrillers might be offensive to modern snowflakes, but it's also claiming that audiences found these movies offensive when they first hit theaters.
"The BFI has warned on its website: 'Please note that many of these films contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then),'" reports GB News. "'The titles are included here for historical, cultural, or aesthetic reasons and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners.'"
You've got to be kidding me. Who would've been offended by these movies in the swinging '60s? Grubby Communist henchmen? Megalomaniac billionaires intent on taking over the world? SMERSH? SPECTRE? (Someone should tell the BFI that both of those organizations are fictional.)
Others who might have taken offense to these films back in the day include sexy Japanese secret agents, rifle-toting henchmen on skis, mute Korean butlers with razor-brimmed hats, kidnapped cosmonauts and astronauts, gorgeous Russian double agents trying to defect, and power-hungry half-Chinese-half-German scientists who neither look Chinese nor German.
I've been a fan of the 007 movies for as long as I can remember, and the '60s films are some of my favorites. While there are a few lines or portrayals that make me wince or chuckle just a bit, I've never thought anything in any of those movies was terribly offensive.
There is a small line in my all-time favorite Bond film, "You Only Live Twice," that always bugs me. When Blofeld's spaceship is about to take over the American spacecraft, one of the tracking station agents radios NASA and starts with, "Hello, Houston?" But he pronounces it as "Hoo-ston" — not "Hew-ston" like in Texas or even "How-ston" like Houston County, Ga., or Houston Street in New York City. It grates on my nerves tremendously, but I'd never call that offensive.
Recommended: How Did I Miss 'Snowflake Mountain'?
Don't these people realize that audiences in the '60s didn't take offense to most anything? Much of the output from that era was far from politically correct, and while the James Bond film series pushed the envelope a little when it comes to sex and violence, it's more tame than most anything we see on the big or small screens today.
British journalist Mike Parry lived through the '60s, and he appeared on GB News to discuss how ridiculous the BFI is for acting like the original audiences took offense at the Bond movies.
"Honestly, do you know the worst part of this report?" he asked. "Part of it says that the warning on the raft of 1960s films being offensive, they were also offensive then in the '60s."
"No! I lived in the '60s. I can tell you I was not offended to see James Bond assuming the identity of an oriental person because he was working in Japan," he countered. "I mean, it's ludicrous!"
A randy killing machine who gets to play with the latest gadgets and the most beautiful women shouldn't be offensive in the era of ultra-violence, hypersexuality, and transgender everything. Movies with clear-cut good and bad guys ought to be refreshing at a time when everyone is a flawed, amoral anti-hero. Dialogue that doesn't rely on the F-word in every sentence should resonate with people who hear so much profanity.
It's true that the '60s were a different time, but we shouldn't have to slap a warning label on everything that's not woke and not infected with left-wing nonsense. It's long past time for the ruining of our cultural classics to come to an end.
Here at PJ Media, we love to call out the wokes as they try to ruin our culture. You can help us take on the left with unvarnished truth and a rollicking sense of humor by becoming a PJ Media VIP.
Not only does your VIP membership net you some terrific benefits — exclusive content, podcasts, access to the comments section, and an ad-free experience — but it also helps us stay independent and avoid the self-appointed gatekeepers of the left-wing narrative.
VIP Gold gives you even more of the good stuff, with VIP benefits across the entire Townhall family of sites and live chats like Five O’Clock Somewhere. It’s all a great value on its own, but if you use the promo code SAVEAMERICA, you’ll get 50% off!
The discount allows you to become a VIP for about $2 a month, or you can go for the gold with VIP Gold — which gives you all the VIP goodies across the whole Townhall family of sites — for about $4 a month.
Help us take on the left again and again. Become a PJ Media VIP today!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member