2007 Chapters (Layout Features)

Impasse, Bond et gagne. Jeux, théories des jeux et enjeux de la guerre froide

Steenshorne, Jennifer E.

Bond had always been a gambler…He liked being an actor and a spectator and from his chair to take part in other men’s dramas and decisions, until it came to his own turn to say that vital “yes” or “no”, generally on a fifty-fifty chance…Above all, he liked that everything was one’s own fault. (Casino Royale) Gambling is central to every Bond novel and film. From being a metaphor for the game between the U.S.S.R. and the West in Casino Royale, to the cheats of Hugo Drax and Goldfinger, to the delicate play of a child’s game, Rocks Paper Scissors, in You Only Live Twice, the gamble is central to the Bond narrative. Bond, indeed, is not only known for his gambling abilities in the Service, but is effective because he is a gambler, and identifies himself as a gambler. This hero relies not only skill, but on the bluff, the feint of hand, and the downright cheat. This article will examine the gambling and game playing of Bond not as merely another glamorous accoutrement to Bond’s world (like his car, his custom cigarettes, his women), but within the context of game theory and ideas about gambling in Cold War international affairs.