One of the films sees Sean Connery try to pass himself as Japanese
Classic James Bond films have been given trigger warnings over their language, images and other content that “will cause offence today.”
The film franchise is one of the biggest in the world, and its popularity is just as strong today thanks to Daniel Craig’s turn as 007 and acclaimed films such as Casino Royale and Skyfall.
The British Film Institute is putting together a tribute to the work of British composer John Barry, who put together the iconic scores on several Bond films.
As part of the tribute, the BFI is presenting a series of films he worked on, including two Bond films: You Only Live Twice and Goldfinger.
The Metro reports that both films have been given disclaimers on the BFI’s website, which warn that the films “contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then).”
The warning continues: “The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners.”
You Only Live Twice, which was released in 1967, has a second trigger warning as well which addresses a scene in which Sean Connery pretends he is Japanese.
The BFI warns that the scene “contains outdated racial stereotypes.”
Meanwhile, 1964 film Goldfinger includes a scene in which Connery’s Bond seems to force himself on Honor Blackman’s Pussy Galore in a hay barn.
A spokesperson for the BFI said that the trigger warnings “pop up at point of sale when confirming tickets and appear in our printed guide and website copy related to the season.”
They continued: “As a cultural charity with responsibility for the preservation of film and moving image work and presenting it to audiences, we continuously face and deal with challenges presented by the history of film and television programmes and how they reflect views prevalent to their time.
“Whilst we have a responsibility to preserve films as close to their contemporaneous accuracy as possible, even where they contain language or depiction which we categorically reject, we also have a responsibility in how we present them to our audiences.”
They explained that the warnings are intended to “act as guidance that a film or work reflects views of the time in which they were made and which may cause offence.”
Last year, it was reported that some of Ian Fleming’s famous 007 books would have disclaimers in the front and would be edited to make their language more suitable for modern audiences.
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