Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What "Quantum of Solace" means

The new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, comes out this week. Bond movie titles are often meaningless relative to the plot of the movie; this one however seems particularly bizarre. The title is actually that of a Bond short story that has nothing to do with the plot of the movie. In the story, Ian Fleming describes a Quantum of Solace this way:

"Quantum of Solace - the amount of comfort. Yes, I suppose you can say that all love and friendship is based in the end on that. Human beings are very insecure. When the other person not only makes you feel insecure but actually seems to want to destroy you, it's obviously the end. The Quantum of Solace stands at zero. You've got to get away to save yourself."

A quantum of solace is the smallest amount of feeling that a relationship requires to stay alive. Once that measurement reaches zero, there's nothing left to the relationship. Who knew that a Bond movie title could be so profound?

Oh, and QUANTUM is the name of the evil organization in the movie, but I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

1 comment:

Scooter said...

I still say that it is a dumb name. I have no interest in this movie. Of course I am not a Bond fan either way.