{"id":31,"date":"2008-12-02T17:03:01","date_gmt":"2008-12-02T17:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=31"},"modified":"2008-12-17T16:22:07","modified_gmt":"2008-12-17T16:22:07","slug":"vengeance-no-solace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2008\/12\/vengeance-no-solace\/","title":{"rendered":"Vengeance : No Solace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-30\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/12.jpg?resize=141%2C76\" alt=\"\" width=\"141\" height=\"76\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Quest for a &#8216;Quantum of Solace&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In &#8216;Quantum of Solace&#8217;, James Bond, the otherwise stereotyped one, runs amok somewhat. He loses his gentlemanly cool and &#8216;playboyishness&#8217; quite a bit and makes out with only one girl, in a very brief scene. Yup, lots more violence; with almost no sex. A reflection of our gritty times? He becomes less of the same old Bond, because he had bound himself in indignation, with a wish for vengeance for a lost lover. Never before has this happened &#8211; Bond clinging to a past lover &#8211; from a previous instalment.<\/p>\n<p>M, his MI6 supervisor warns him &#8211; that if he can no longer tell his friends from foes, it is time for him to quit the espionage business. Ominous truth&#8230; for Bond almost did not recognise that he was his greatest enemy when consumed by hate. In the typical Western silver screen model of solo heroism (which is really a kind of villainy too), he ravages through cities and establishments for revenge, leaving a wake of destruction behind, that rendered him wanted.<\/p>\n<p>Duty and revenge become inextricably mixed; revenge became his duty. In fighting monsters, he almost became a full-fledged one himself. Becoming cold and dispassionate, his wanting to punish the guilty punished himself constantly. M however, while chiding him, was able to empathise with him, remarking thus &#8211; &#8216;He&#8217;ll be a pretty cold bastard who didn&#8217;t want revenge for the death of someone he loved.&#8217; But is there even a quantum of solace in revenge sought? (&#8216;Quantum&#8217; refers to a minuscule amount.) Vengeance merely causes pain to the guilty; it doesn&#8217;t erase pain. But he was too blinded to see this. As Stonepeace put it &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">If the guilty are remorseless, execution does no good.<br \/>\nIf the guilty are remorseful, execution does evil itself.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Reformation is the answer; not revenge. Bond however, turns professional in the last mimute, and dissolves his personal grudges after apprehending the guilty&#8230; without killing. Yes, that&#8217;s the way it has to be &#8211; or there would be no more 007 sequels! Bond finally finds more than a quantum of solace&#8230;. in letting go&#8230; of hate. From the Dhammapada, as taught by the Buddha &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #993366;\">&#8216;He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,&#8217;<br \/>\nin those who harbour such thoughts, hatred is not appeased<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Quest for a &#8216;Quantum of Solace&#8217; In &#8216;Quantum of Solace&#8217;, James Bond, the otherwise stereotyped one, runs amok somewhat&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[75,24,103,64,45,22,104],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","tag-attachment","tag-hatred","tag-letting-go","tag-repentance","tag-stonepeace","tag-vengeance","tag-violence","wpcat-26-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}