New James Bond screenings slapped with trigger warnings

Last Updated on January 12, 2024

The name’s warning. Trigger warning. The British Film Institute is catching major flak for tacking on a disclaimer ahead of a collection of movies screening this season, including two James Bond pictures.

As per The Guardian, the London-based organization is including the following text ahead of their retrospective on composer John Barry, of course, best known for composing nearly half of the James Bond films: “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). 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.” The notes with You Only Live Twice also state that the movie “contains outdated racial stereotypes.“

One has to question the necessity of a trigger warning here, especially from a world-renowned organization such as the British Film Institute, who we should note named Goldfinger – another movie screening in the John Barry series – as one of the 100 greatest films ever. There seems to be an utter lack of trust in modern audiences’ ability to understand how times have changed (editor’s note – the “will cause offence (as they did then)” line is especially harsh). Such warnings aren’t entirely new, but putting them ahead of Bond movies is far different and more offensive in its own right than when Disney put disclaimers ahead of works aimed at children.

The BFI defended themselves with, “Whilst we have a responsibility to preserve films as close to their contemporaneous accuracy as possible, even where they contain language or depiction which we categorically reject, we also have a responsibility in how we present them to our audiences. The trigger warnings/content warnings that we provide in all of our exhibition spaces and online platforms act as guidance that a film or work reflects views of the time in which they were made and which may cause offence.” OK, admittedly this isn’t nearly as bad as when they tinkered with Ian Fleming’s original books but I’m not sure their logic is as tight as they think.

And it’s not only the James Bond movies that the BFI is slapping with disclaimers, as they have noted that Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy has “homophobic language and sexual violence” and the 1960 thriller Never Let Go contains “racist attitudes and language”.

Do you support adding disclaimers to movies? Has sensitivity to viewers gone too far? Should movies made in the 1960s be judged through a modern lens? Give us your thoughts in the comments section.