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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that saying Idris Elba isn't suitable to play Bond because he's 'too street'...

311 replies

BinarySearchTree · 20/09/2017 22:44

... is actually a racist comment, which - however 'jokingly' said - is absolutely not an appropriate thing to say in an office environment?

I'm on week two of a new position and between this kind of thing and other dodgy goings-on am debating whether to hand my notice in.

WIBU to mention my discomfort to line manager (who heard whole thing, laughed along etc.) or alternatively to just cut and run? Am I being a bit sensitive?

OP posts:
maxthemartian · 21/09/2017 08:41

I agree not everyone can do accents. Sean Bean trying to do American - any American, not even area-specific - is almost unbelievably dreadful.

LazyDailyMailJournos · 21/09/2017 08:42

Agree with silkypajamas and newdaddie

"Street" on it's own is not racist. Danny Dyer is often described this way. However in the context you're describing this, I would be uncomfortable that "street" is being used as a euphemism for "black".

As uncomfortable as it makes me - because I like to think that I am egalitarian - I do agree with Munroe Bergdorf's comments. I'm western and white and therefore automatically privileged. Racism is bred into the very bones of this country and the first step to tackling it is to recognise this. To admit that unconscious bias exists. Shining a light on these things means that they can be treated and mitigated.

FWIW I think Idris Elba is a very talented actor and that he would have made a fantastic Bond. Sadly he is too old for the franchise, which is a real shame. But saying he is "too street" to play Bond is fucking ridiculous. Daniel Craig played a gangster in Layer Cake - I didn't hear anyone saying he was "too street" when Barbara Broccoli signed him on.

FlowerPot1234 · 21/09/2017 08:44

maxthemartian
Confused If he managed a Baltimore accent in The Wire I'm sure he'd manage a suitable Bond accent, what with being a professional actor.

Do you think he should be Bond then?

Bluntness100 · 21/09/2017 08:44

Op. You're clearly not happy and don't want to work there, so just quit.

The bond comment is a silly petty thing to get het up about. If you don't want to work there and don't like It, quit, you don't need to justify it to strangers on line.

If there is someone you need to justify it to in real life, fair enough, but we aren't that person.

Be senisble, what are you going to tell future employers why you left? Because someone said idris was too street to be bond? Or that someone said cunt? Cmon. You'd never get another job again.

If you think they are disregarding industry standards then it really depends on what industry you're in and the impact of that. It could be major or it could be nothing and an irrelevance. You've not provided info.

LazyDailyMailJournos · 21/09/2017 08:46

The point about the accent is a straw man argument. He's a bloody good actor, do you honestly think it would be beyond him to, y'know, act according to the part (which includes a more polished accent)? There's a real lack of imagination here which is utterly depressing.

FYI Adrian Lester played Hamlet and got it in the neck for doing so, because some people couldn't imagine a "black Hamlet". He did an amazing job. Funny how it was fine for Benedict Cumberbatch to play Hamlet.

Fekko · 21/09/2017 08:48

I don't think it's racist - his persona is an east end lad, not about colour at all. Bond is a toff isn't he? All culture and saville row suites.

There's no reason why Idris can't wear the suit and put on a posh accent - he is an actor after all.

maxthemartian · 21/09/2017 08:48

Flowerpot I have no strong opinions one way or another on who should be Bond.
I was pointing out that his accent does not preclude him from being a suitable Bond as he had previously successfully portrayed characters with accents very different to his own.

FlowerPot1234 · 21/09/2017 08:50

maxmartian Fair enough. It just sounded like you were saying he should be Bond because he could carry off the accent, which hundreds of thousands of actors can obviously do!

alohaimnew · 21/09/2017 08:51

OK - you dont like it there i think and are looking for reasons to get out - fair enough. Leave then - you seem unhappy with some people in the office.

I do think that you are jumping the gun a bit to assume your colleagues were being racist by calling IE 'street'. You are looking for another reason to leave the place and have decided this apparent 'racism' is it. Dont fool yourself - just leave if your unhappy but stop making up things to suit your end-game.

DarceyBusselsNose · 21/09/2017 08:52

None of the Bonds conform to Flemmings description, except perhaps Connery and Lazenby, even though one was a Scot and the latter an Australian:

In the novels (notably From Russia, with Love), Bond's physical description has generally been consistent: slim build; a three-inch long, thin vertical scar on his right cheek; blue-grey eyes; a "cruel" mouth; short, black hair, a comma of which falls on his forehead.

In Ian Fleming's stories, James Bond is in his mid-to-late thirties, but does not age. In Moonraker, he admits to being eight years shy of mandatory retirement age from the 00 section—45—which would mean he was 37 at the time

After the death of his parents, Bond goes to live with his aunt, Miss Charmian Bond, in the village of Pett Bottom, where he completes his early education. Later, he briefly attends Eton College at "12 or thereabouts", but is removed after two halves because of girl trouble with a maid. After being sent down from Eton, Bond was sent to Fettes College in Scotland, his father's school

Facially, Bond resembles the composer, singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael. In Casino Royale Vesper Lynd remarks, "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless." Likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is "certainly good-looking ... Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold."

Roger Moore played Bond with a humerous slant
Daniel Wotsit was blond therefore not a credible Bond
Timothy Thing simply not good looking enough
Brosnan, didnt have the upper class vibe.
Niven, a bond parody.

ponders< no one is worrying about bond being a sexual predator at 12 with 'a maid'

maxthemartian · 21/09/2017 08:54

Connery's Bond was also something of a rapist so its possibly best not to be overly purist about every detail.

SoupDragon · 21/09/2017 08:57

Daniel Craig played a gangster in Layer Cake - I didn't hear anyone saying he was "too street" when Barbara Broccoli signed him on.

I didn't think he was right for Bond at the time. I thought he was too blind and too "rough". He's been good though.

I am actually horrified that I can't think of black actors to consider though. To be fair, I'm crap at remembering the names of actors anyway but I think this is more to do with their relative scarcity in top roles which is depressing. Particularly top roles where they just happen to be black rather than a specific black character IYSWIM.

BurningOutNow · 21/09/2017 08:58

Yes it is racism and anyone who thinks it isn't is deluding themselves.

I can't count the number of times people have said to me that he can't play Bond because Bond is white and it's "political correctness gone mad".

James Bond is a fictional character ffs. A. Fictional. Character. It's not like they're signing Elba up to play Winston Churchill.

Collaborate · 21/09/2017 09:00

FlowerPot1234

If you actually read what I posted it's all there.

I said that I think many of the people who think he shouldn't be Bond are saying that on the basis that he's black. I call that for what it is - racism. If you think that too, then you'd be racist as well.

I reckon if you drew a venn diagram of racists and people who don't think he'd make a good Bond it would almost be a complete circle. That's because I think the vast majority of people who are against him being Bond are basing it on the colour of his skin. He recently played Roland Deschain from the Gunslinger books by Stephen King. In the books the character was white. He epitomised for me the character that I created in my mind from reading the books.

As an actor he's able to play someone who went to Eton just as well as he played the character John Luther.

One final point - if the one thing that makes Bond unrealistic for you is the colour of the actor's skin, you need to give your head a wobble.

IHateUncleJamie · 21/09/2017 09:01

As a Bond geek, IMHO the closest anyone has come to Fleming's Bond is a young Connery, although he was much more muscular and had a bigger physical presence than Hoagy Carmichael.

You are on your own IClavdivs! - no, you're not. 10 - 15 years ago, Colin Salmon would have made a superb Bond. And mmmmm at Damian Lewis. 😍

IMHO Idris Elba is not right for Bond. He's just not got that innate poshness. It's one thing to be able to carry off a convincing posh voice, but quite another to have an inbuilt middle-upper class aura about you. DC is much more convincing as Bond than he ever was as a gangster, and the opposite is true for Elba.

I don't think of "street" as being black; more "East end gangster", so unless you have proof that your co-worker did mean "black", then accusing him/her of being racist is BU. You would definitely BU to complain/leave on the basis of that one comment.

The other shenanigans - your call, really!

BurningOutNow · 21/09/2017 09:04

I accept you are just looking for excuse to play the racism card, guessing against middle aged white men (because we are racist by default)?

My eyes are rolling so hard right now they've practically shot backwards out of my skull.

MrsMHasIt · 21/09/2017 09:06

Yes it is racism and anyone who thinks it isn't is deluding themselves.

Oh right, great. Well there you go then. Thread over, everyone go home, our work here is done...

Hmm
TimeForTea73 · 21/09/2017 09:07

He's not too street he cant act. He's bloody terrible.

IClavdivs · 21/09/2017 09:07

Prickly Ball Sean Bean (working class in RL) has played a very posh Bond villain.

Sean Bean is an odd case, since his family was actually rather well off, but they made a conscious decision to stay in their original home in their council estate.

juneau · 21/09/2017 09:07

I'm not sure it's racist, but it's wrong. He's an actor and many actors can reinvent themselves or change their accents for roles. It would be wrong to assume that he is unable to do this, simply because his real accent is from London. I think he'd make a very sexy JB myself ...

FrancesHaHa · 21/09/2017 09:08

The comparison to Danny Dyer and Jason Stratam doesn't really work. Both have spent their careers playing gangster parts, so have become typecast.

Idris Elba although from Hackney has played a variety of parts, proving how good an actor he is eg The Wire, Nelson Mandela. I just saw a trailer for a film he's in with Kate Winslet in which he has a middle class accent.

So yes, thinly veiled racism, IMO.

TimeForTea73 · 21/09/2017 09:10

Also not remotely racist. I think we need to stop with opinions being interpreted as rascism..its ridiculous.

ParsnipLeekAndLemonSoup · 21/09/2017 09:10

MrsMHasIt

Do enlighten us. Why is it not racist?

MoosicalDaisy · 21/09/2017 09:12

It's not racist... but it is a judgemental comment, because he's an ACTOR, you can't really assign a 'personality' to someone you don't know!

MissEliza · 21/09/2017 09:15

Idris Elba as a person is too street but I could say the same for lots of white or black actors. However he is an actor, and a very good one so it would interesting to see if he could develop that sophisticated persona we associate with James Bond.
Saying that I think James Bond has to evolve to suit the 21st century world. Surely Mi5 officers come from all walks of life? I guess the writers have to balance the tried and tested formula of Bond with the reality of today.