James Bond is unaging in modern prose, screen and graphic adaptations. This is unacceptable, in my opinion. An author can play clever tricks with his character's age - and Ian Fleming did - but should not simply deny it. In fact, Fleming's character worried about aging.
Asimov...
...wrote that he decided to keep his Black Widowers unaging. I disagree with this but it probably did not matter in this case since each twelve-story volume represents twelve monthly banquets and there are only six collections. The characters did not endure unchanged for decades.
Poul Anderson...
...got it right, as we would expect, with Dominic Flandry who begins his series as a teenage ensign, then matures over decades to become a respected Fleet Admiral. Other authors can probably learn by reading Anderson's Flandry series.
I commend Fleming's treatment of Bond and Anderson's of Flandry.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, Anderson did it right, showing series characters aging as time passes.
Ad astra! Sean
But. more slowly than we do, because Technic society has (moderately) effective anti-aging treatments.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
True, Technic antisenescence could enable people to live in good health till about age 110 in Terran years.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: about that. My father had the same belt measurement at 85 that he did at 18 -- he was a champion cross-country runner and nearly made the Commonwealth Games, and died at 92. The antisenescence treatment would bring everyone up to that level.
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