If you come out of the new James Bond movie thinking you have what it takes to be a spy, think again. For the 24th ("official") time, Spectre offers moviegoers a fantasy of what it's like to be an elite member of MI6, aka the Secret Intelligence Service, and give your life to Queen and country by traveling the world, meeting beautiful yet dangerous women, taking in some fancy gambling and of course thwarting evil plans of various concern and plausibility. But the real MI6 says that's not a true depiction, at least not anymore.
Could James Bond become a member of MI6 today?
The short answer is no. The SIS has just launched a new campaign looking to recruit a different sort of spy for today's world, and the focus is on people of all backgrounds with "emotional intelligence." That is, they're not looking at higher-class persons with privilege, the finest academic background and travel experience so much as civilians who do well in social situations and, basically, are more human. Bond is apparently too much of a loner. In fact, he's sometimes labeled a functioning psychopath by psychologists.
"James Bond would probably not be successful in joining SIS, if he were to apply,” an intelligence source told Buzzfeed. “The service he represents is not the modern reality. Teamwork is central to SIS’s ability to deliver intelligence, and heroes working alone rarely achieve much." The source added: "They want people with a real passion for human interaction, understanding others and dealing with the sometimes complex nature of human relationships.”If you come out of the new James Bond movie thinking you have what it takes to be a spy, think again. For the 24th ("official") time, Spectre offers moviegoers a fantasy of what it's like to be an elite member of MI6, aka the Secret Intelligence Service, and give your life to Queen and country by traveling the world, meeting beautiful yet dangerous women, taking in some fancy gambling and of course thwarting evil plans of various concern and plausibility. But the real MI6 says that's not a true depiction, at least not anymore.
Could James Bond become a member of MI6 today?
The short answer is no. The SIS has just launched a new campaign looking to recruit a different sort of spy for today's world, and the focus is on people of all backgrounds with "emotional intelligence." That is, they're not looking at higher-class persons with privilege, the finest academic background and travel experience so much as civilians who do well in social situations and, basically, are more human. Bond is apparently too much of a loner. In fact, he's sometimes labeled a functioning psychopath by psychologists.
"James Bond would probably not be successful in joining SIS, if he were to apply,” an intelligence source told Buzzfeed. “The service he represents is not the modern reality. Teamwork is central to SIS’s ability to deliver intelligence, and heroes working alone rarely achieve much." The source added: "They want people with a real passion for human interaction, understanding others and dealing with the sometimes complex nature of human relationships.”
Could any other famous movie spies do any better in today's MI6?
If we ignore the nationality aspect of MI6 recruitment, the new campaign also seems to make a number of other movie spies obsolete. Certainly the robotic super soldier "human weapon" types such as Jason Bourne and Jesse Eisenberg's character in American Ultra would be out. Maybe even Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible series, though he does mostly work with a team so he's closer. The funny thing is the duo from Spies Like Us might be actual strong recruits now, based on their empathetic everyman personas.
One actor whose many roles make him suited to be the next real James Bond, save for his being American, is Vin Diesel. In addition to his "family"-oriented Dom Toretto in the Fast and Furious movies, he also played a Navy SEAL character in The Pacifier that a real-life SEAL captain, who always stresses their team-based brotherhood, told us was one of his favorite movies involving his special forces branch, albeit not because it depicts a realistic situation. Diesel also stars in xXx, where he plays a new kind of spy after a James Bond type is shown as being ill-fit for the modern world -- not that Xander Cage isn't also a solo action hero but he is otherwise more current.
