My talented Goddaughter texted me to rave about the new Jason Bourne movie. I hardly ever get a text from her so this was a pretty monumental moment. Impressed by her passion for the film I promised to go and see the movie. I also brushed up on the first move The Bourne Identity...

The Bourne Identity kicks off with Jason Bourne being shot in the head at sea in the middle of nowhere. He should die. He is in fact half-dead. He’s rescued from this half-death by a skilled if thoroughly disreputable surgeon who just happens to be on a rickety-fishing boat in the middle of nowhere. The doctor searches Bourne’s body and finds a mysterious object that has the magic power to transform Jason’s life. This object leads him to one of the world’s major banking institutions; he opens a deposit box within this bank and finds a series of magical objects: A gun. Money. Passports. With these magical objects in hand Jason Bourne can cast off his old, wretched life and become a man of means.

Jason Bourne leaves the bank. A group of armed men in uniforms try to take away his magical objects and ruin his new life. A beautiful girl comes to his aid. They escape the men in uniforms and race out of the city to the potentially blissful countryside.  A horde of dangerous men who look a lot like Bourne chase after him. Finally, after overcoming a multitude of threats to his own life and the beautiful girl by his side Jason Bourne confronts a secret authority named “Treadstone” (in case we didn’t get it Jason Bourne is being crushed between an irresistible force and an irresistible object.)

Treadstone wants to take away Bourne’s new freedom. Treadstone sends a wave of “assets” – a series of dangerous men who behave like android killing drones, to do what they do best and eliminate Bourne. Bourne used to be one of these assets and possibly feels a tinge of sadness whenever he kills one of them. The assets were too weak to free themselves from Treadstone and more or less deserve to die anyway. Happily, at the end of the book, Bourne and his new girlfriend escape Treadstone’s vindictive nastiness and head into a bright future together.  Hm.

All these years on, having re-read The Bourne Identity I’m convinced the novel was intended to be an intriguing work about a mad man who believes himself to be a secret agent who is unjustly persecuted by malicious, hidden, world domineering forces. Ludlum clearly decided the most impactful way to tell this story was by hiding Bourne’s insanity from Bourne himself, and the reader, until the end of the book. This last minute twist would reveal Bourne was on the run from a private mental institution known as Treadstone; Treadstone’s staff and assets were all well-intentioned medical practitioners trying their best to get Bourne back on his medication.

Ludlum’s publisher’s obviously preferred Ludlum’s delusional “traumatised assassin on the run” instead of the “delusional homicidal maniac on the run” story he actually presented. Contrary to public opinion the overwhelming majority of mentally unwell patients are not a threat to the public and the publishers probably didn’t want to do anything to perpetuate this unfortunate stereotype. A generous bundle of cash was probably offered to Ludlum and The Bourne Identity we all know and love came to be.

Despite all the changes to Ludlum’s original conception of the book plot I still think the original narrative DNA of the work still filters through into the reformulated version and continues to drive the entire story.  Considering the repetitive nature of the threats Bourne confronts (the unfortunate narrative cul de sac at the heart of the ongoing story), there’s nowhere whatsoever for Bourne to go once he recovers his memories or, more accurately, once he’s cured of his all-consuming delusion.

The Bourne Identity

A group of mysterious Treadstone agents chase after Bourne.

The Bourne Supremacy

A group of mysterious Treadstone agents chase after Bourne.

The Bourne Ultimatum

A group of mysterious Treadstone agents chase after Bourne.

Jason Bourne

A mysterious uber-deadly Treadstone agent seeks revenge on Bourne.

Throughout all of these movies Bourne is a man who does not know himself or the world he moves within; he is a man in pursuit of knowledge. A desperate, lost figure, who constantly jumps through one pane of glass after another while shouting “Who Am I?”