The Brazilian Spy that Loved Me-or-The CIA World Factbook
My Name is James Bond -or- Get Smart in the Global Village
Growing up in Toronto, Canada in the early 1960's my parents would often take me to the drive in. In the summer of 1964, with the Hollywood dream factory's big screen success of Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger", a double feature was playing at the "Te Pee" drive-in, a re-release of "Dr No" and "From Russia with Love". As a young boy, it was easy to see Sean Connery's Bond personae as a man who was always being cast in the middle of dramatic excitement. As such, Bond and his signature line; "My name is James Bond" has been an enduring big screen Western archetypal action hero who embodies masculine virility in the face of danger.
On the small screen (TV) I would watch other "spy fiction" stories such as "The Man from Uncle", "I Spy", "Mission Impossible", "Danger Man", "The Avengers" and the secret agent parody "Get Smart". The Bond character and the other spy stories would have a lasting influence on my imagination and dreams. Having grown up during the Cold War, such popular films as "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" showed the frigid reality of political intrigue and the bleak prospects of the Cold War.
The Bond stories developed as the history of the Cold War evolved and political events and technology on the planet changed. In 1977, Bond's personae role was performed by Roger Moore (who also played "The Saint" in a former dramatic role) in "The Spy that Loved Me". Russia and Britain were no longer Cold War enemies, at least for the moment. Instead, their spies are working together, to fight a common global terrorist threat. In real life, twelve years later, reportedly the US intelligence community was conspicuously absent in predicting the political fall of the Berlin Wall. Were the CIA's "spies" literally sleeping on the job? What about Saddam's WMD's (weapons of mass destruction)?
In 1998, the film "The Siege" foreshadowed the acts of terrorism in New York City. Ironically, the Twin Towers are present in a number of scenes of the film. After 9/11, now fighting global terrorism, the Bond personae role was renewed by Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale". The film signaled the return to the original virile style of the Bond "007" personae, one in which the CIA and MI6 are working together. Judy Dench does a star turn, reprising her role as "M", Bond's MI6 boss. In true life, no woman has ever served as the head of MI6.
The global "intelligence community" has changed since when I was growing up. The "CIA World Factbook" has found a place on the web. New Hollywood dream factory film franchises like "Mission Impossible" and the "Bourne" series have entertained millions on the planet. Evidently, today in real life many countries have spies, including Brazil. Here is a dream sent to the International Institute for Dream Research (IIDR) from a Brazilian student;
Anita, 24 Brazilian Student
I was at my parent's house (this big mansion with a very expansive backyard). My mom was complaining that Sandra (my sister) spent 100$ to go buy food (instead of eating at home) and then she arrived with a large aluminum foil tray of pad thai (huge portion - like for whole family). She sat down and started eating it while my mom kept complaining and my dad started fighting with my husband about the 100$. Since he didn't want to give away Sandra's name he was just taking it so I got up and told my dad to stop yelling at my husband because Sandra was the one that spent it. I also told him I would need 100$ for something and so he took out his checkbook and gave it to me still complaining about Sandra.
Then there were people gathered in the backyard. There were stringlights, colorful decorations, flowers, and an elegantly decorated picnic table (for the event) where my mom was sitting. Ron (my......boss where i intern), Larry (my .....professor last semester whom I learned a lot from and respect his ideas and work) and I think George (an ex Brazilian brigade general who my dad does business with - by the way the men in my dad's family were all in the military so he has some traces of it in his personality) were there. There was also a Brazilian spy at the event. I knew there was a sniper that would be somewhere nearby to try to kill the spy. The spy was no one I knew but just some young professional looking guy without a face.
Then the dream changed and I was flying as Ron, Larry and George and the spy were riding motorcycles really fast on the freeway (overlooking the city's high skyscrapers and the ocean). I recognized a paparazzi style man on a motorcycle following us/them with a large camera. I understood this man to be the sniper and the camera was his gun disguised. Then we all reached a toll and we stopped; I flew down and then bounced up to fly. Then the men were each carrying black bags filled with money and we were walking inside a multi-story garage. One of them said "they don't even know were billionaires now!" Ron smiled at the comment and George grinned. Then Larry continued saying we would each invest in banks and law firms now and he started mentioning cities where to do it like Atlanta. I hesitated then I said "no, but I want to open up an ....... firm" and he became a bit impatient and was about to start telling me how to take care of my money but the others just nodded him off as if to say let her do as she wants. So he didn't say any more.
Then I remembered the sniper and turned around to find him 20 ft behind us with his camera. I threw myself behind a car and before I could warn the others I looked back and he shot Thomas in the chest and saw him fall to the floor. We all looked at him and gathered for a moment. I was shocked and afraid but at the same time I was okay with what was happening because I knew there was no sense in resisting it then. Then he shot George and I stayed behind the car on the floor. To my understanding he also shot Ron but I didn't see it I just kind of knew it when I was the only one left. In this whole scene in the garage I think I was the Brazilian spy. The spy was meant to get rid of the sniper or protect the three men (or both).
Then there was a moment when I was sitting there and I realized there was nowhere for me to go and it would be worse if he captured me. So I made a decision to make peace with myself and surrender. While I was on the floor there a woman standing beside me. I don't know who she was by her face and she didn't say anything but I think she was a spirit. Her presence gave me the courage to trust that I would be alright and that it would be okay after I died. So I didn't cry even though inside my mind and heart was afraid and I desperately didn't want to die. Something else took charge inside me and just put all that aside. I wanted to say something cause I knew they'd be the last words like in movies so I started to but then I realized not much was necessary. And so with courage I turned to her and said with all my sincerity "I love you".
As if I knew and realized there was nothing else to say. And when I said I love you to her it was like I was saying it to life. Maybe she was me. And then I put my hands behind my head and I got up from behind the car and surely enough the sniper paparazzi shot his camera and a bullet to my heart. There was an instant of pain and like a fast forward video of a flower's lifetime I say my face as if figuratively (what was happening to my body) alive and then quickly like dry up and wither in a second (like a mugshot - though it was so fast I couldn't see my actual face I just knew that is what it was). Then (this all happened in 1 or 2 seconds maximum) I felt peace, everything turned white and I felt my spirit/essence/energy merging with God like water returning to the ocean. Then I woke up.
Mr Hagen's Reply: Life, the Brazilian Movie -or- James Bond and the Paparazzi in Rio
Having been to Rio, the setting of some of the scenes of the Bond film "Moonraker" were familiar. Your dream is the convoluted narrative stuff spy stories are often made of, providing insight into not only everyday Brazilian family matters, money, banks, investment, the military, intrigue, murder, spirituality, but also the global "paparazzi", who reportedly played a role in Princess Diana's death. In your dream, your life flashes like a "fast forward video of a flower's lifetime". Other dreams received by the IIDR speak about "Life the Movie". Your last melodramatic words "like in movies" are "I love you".
In your dream, faces or the lack thereof, play an important role. For example in your own words; "The spy was no one I knew but just some young professional looking guy without a face." Today's intelligence communities have "facial recognition" software that can quickly identify "mug shots" like in your dream. What the so-called intelligence community cannot identify, is a person's true inner identity. In our dreams our everyday "personae" faces invariably give way to our true face. Yours reads much like the story of "Vanity Fair" only technologically set in 21st century Brazil, read IIDR dream interpretation "A Novel without a Hero".
From a popular music perspective, Nancy Sinatra's dream like Bond theme song "You Only Live Twice" finds expression in IIDR dream interpretations. One of my favorites, is Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only" (watch music video). The newest film edition "Skyfall" to Bond lore will be released in the fall 2012 (watch film preview).