James Bond meets The Lone Ranger

This week's readings are of particular interest to me as I am working on a thesis dealing with the re-formulation of the James Bond films, starting with "Casino Royale."  I even have the Bennett and Woollacott book at home from the library.  In thinking about trans-media storytelling, it is easy to look to the history of James Bond as an example.  The novels tell stories of the cold war, the post-cold war Bond films use the stories, but using contemporary global issues of terror.  The adaption by the Bond films to contemporary global politics shows effective use of collaborative authorship, the new directors and writers use the original character or characters and inject contemporary issues for a new Bond story.  

The question of whether this is different from past trans-mediated stories, no.  In researching The Lone Ranger and the mediation of stories between radio, television and comics, it is true that the stories overlap between the medias.  The creator of The Lone Ranger used considerable control in making sure that the Lone Ranger character kept true to the original conception.  The values of the Lone Ranger, the voice of the Lone Ranger and the stories that surround him were kept in line with each other.  In the case of the Lone Ranger, continuity was extremely important and unchanging.  The stories were still mediated, but not changing.

The difference between the Lone Ranger and James Bond is that of adaptation to contemporary times and issues.  The Lone Ranger did not change from the late 1930's to the mid-1950's.  George Trendle would not allow any deviation from his vision.  James Bond has changed many times, in character, in villains and in global issues of terrorism.  Bond had to stay contemporary to stick around.  Bond is currently in his 5th decade on film.  That could not have happened if Bond had followed Trendle's model.  

The questions of authorship exist in both cases.  While Trendle was the creator and in charge, he had a lot of help.  The television show "The Lone Ranger" had multiple writers with assistance from the radio writer and Trendle himself.  The collaborative nature of authorship existed, though most gave credit to Trendle alone.  The Bond series has had many, many film writers and directors to give unique story and vision to each film.  There is no question of collaborative authorship with Bond.  While change is inevitable, when dealing with television or film, some form of collaborative authorship will occur.