Austin Powers: Reinventing the Myth of Mod Spies and Swingers

Abstract

Abstract for book: Why does the secret agent never seem to die? Why, in fact, has the secret agent not only survived the Cold Warwhich critics and pundits surmised would be the death of James Bond and of the genre more generallybut grown in popularity? Secret Agents attempts to answer these questions as it investigates the political and cultural ramifications of the continued popularity and increasing diversity of the secret agent across television, film, and popular culture. The volume opens with a foreword by Tony Bennett, and proceeds to investigate programs, figures, and films such as Alias, Austin Powers, Spy Kids, the new Bond Girl, Flint, Mission Impossible, Jason Bourne, and concludes with an afterword by Toby Miller. Chapters throughout question what it means for this popular icon to have far wider currency and meaning than merely that of James Bond as the white male savior of capital and democracy.