Play it Again, James: Seriality in the Craig Bond Films

This article analyses the effects of seriality in Spectre. The film does more than just use the famous Bond formula. Within the Craig serial, it seems to tie up loose ends introduced in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, presenting the real villain behind all villainies in Blofeld and bringing back Mr. White, the mysterious eminence grise who disappeared without a trace in Quantum of Solace. By these tightly-knit references, the Craig Bonds go beyond the standard practice of repetition and variation prevalent in the Bond franchise. The article tries to tease out the intricate web of references to earlier Bond texts: what do they remember? What do they forget? Looping back into the 1960s will be related to the Bond franchise, ideologies of the Cold War, and the phantasms of terrorism.