I love this so much. And I love the comments. Everyone knows this story, but everyone's totally willing to watch it again and again and again. the characters - you don't even know their names except Seymour and Audrey, but someone says "Masochistic Patient" and everyone gets it, and "Dentist" just gives you a big grin…

I'd love to know weather Benedict Cumberbach's experiences in filming "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" changed how he felt about filming television. And I'd like to know more about the decisions and influences behind the cinematography for the standard opening sequence, which is one of the most visually beautiful scenes…

Apparently this is her.

Just read them out loud to the husband. At that line, he groaned in pain.

But Bond never denies himself a beautiful women! He's like anti-denial guy. He's sitting there and Evil walks in in sexy heels and he's all "Hey, it's Evil! Damn, girl, you look hot. I know you're gonna try and kill me in two scenes, but there's still time to get it on..."

I think it depends on the couple. Say you have a couple who were in love once, and the love fades but they don't actually want to find someone new. They're happy together and just want to keep going, but it's not working. Maybe this would help them through.

But this just means that God really does have a plan and would never let anything hurt us! It's a miracle!

We've already got a lot of poles in Florida and LA.

Thanks! It's something I noticed a little while ago and have been thinking about. I see it a lot in fiction described as Men's Fiction - things like Mack Bolan, Jack Reacher, etc. Those guys, "tough" guys, are all about this concept. It's really interesting stuff, once you explore it a bit. I don't see it as weird or…

Yeah, my enjoyment of the Batman TV show as a kid was unsullied by any thoughts besides a dismay at the cliffhanger endings and childhood delight in the "zap! bang! Pow!" sound effect graphics. As an adult.... whoa. It's a very different show. (Cliffhanger endings still suck, though.)

I think it's pretty common. I never really went through it, but given how much it shows up in fiction, it seems like other people have. It's kind of a cool trope. Even Sherlock Holmes fits into it. These sorts of guys do tend to inspire homosexual stories, though, possibly because they're as attractive, unreachable…

True - but statistically speaking, homosexuality is still a likely explanation. (And I was only referencing your comment, not the overall topic.) For the record, though, I think he's likely hetero or bi, not homosexual.

True, I was just addressing the question, not the overall topic. :)

I find this whole discussion really, really amusing. His sexuality being an issue is completely sideways to the whole point of his story, and yet also central to a lot of the fascination people have with him as a character. In a lot of older writing, sex was a completely taboo topic on all levels. Some social norms…

Actually, he had a son because he was raped. If he were gay, it would put a whole other spin on that episode. Make it rather more sad, in my mind.

...well, he could be asexual. But a complete lack of sexual interest in women often indicates a sexual interest in men.

He didn't say the character was homosexual. He said the concept of the character, the surrounding imagery and atmosphere, was homosexual. Which is nothing that we didn't already think, hence, the lack of drama.

As an adult, I can intellectually say that right now I behave both in a fashion dictated by my understanding of the world as a moral individual - but social pressure is still a factor in behaviours of lesser importance. Not everything is "stealing and murder are wrong" on the scale of behaviour decision-making; most…

If that's the case, then I don't see how you could ever have a proper anarchic society. A society without social pressure of any kind? No pressure to conform to any sort of social norm, at all? First everyone in the society would have to comprehend exactly what behaviours comprised social pressures, then they'd have…

Authority has a lot more behind it than threat of force. Social pressure is an often underestimated system. Peer pressure isn't "because he might beat me up", it's a shaming system often involving internal exile from social support.