In 1944, Ian Fleming visited Jamaica for the first time to attend the Anglo-American Naval Conference, held in the country’s capital of Kingston. At the time, Fleming was a maritime intelligence officer who had already begun flirting with ideas he planned to author. He expressed his concept of a casino-set, spy drama that would become the first of the James Bond series, “Casino Royale.” After that introductory stay within the famous Blue Mountains of Jamaica, Fleming made an oath promising a relocation “to lap it up, and swim in the sea and write books” on the island. He returned three years later in 1947 to set up shop at his new Oracabessa incubator, which he named Goldeneye. “Casino Royale” was published in 1953.
It wouldn’t be the first time an Englishman fell victim to Jamaica’s intoxicating beauty, culture, and people. One of England’s most famous Crown colonies, an overt alliance among the two nations has existed for centuries. This relationship has a tumultuous history marred by slavery, exoticism, and fetishization, resulting in the tropics never knowing an existence outside the birdseye view of colonial powers. Both histories – Jamaica the spectacle and England the spectator – are undoubtedly intertwined. Fleming’s infatuation, then, is personal yet also not unusual when the colonial context is applied.
Fleming’s creative affair with Jamaica arose during the post-WWII global decolonization movement – just about a decade before independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. Still, present-day Jamaica grapples with the perpetually rapacious terms of its Emancipation “deal.” Economic disparities, lax progressive politics, and other lingering effects of white supremacist ideologies (i.e., the skin bleaching epidemic) torment contemporary Jamaican culture. To the most damming outcomes. While citizens adjust to life in a State of Emergency dispersing the country, James Bond came home to reconnect.
The franchise returned to its birthplace for Bond 25, bringing with it opportunities to stimulate local businesses and talents. Featuring two actresses of Jamaican heritage deepens Fleming’s connection to this place. Both Naomie Harris and Leshana Lynch are of Afro-Caribbean descent and they grew up in British households. Reiterating the ties between the English and Jamaica. This film comes at a time when encouraging moments are needed more than ever. Jamaica’s influence on popular culture proliferates, again finding solace in the arts. If only more arts resources were available.
