Jason Bourne, James Bond. Even the second letter in the Christian and surname is the same.
if so why couldn't he have done a totally different name? would've been more original.
Well, it was only one of many aliases he had-don't think it's the actual agent's name in 'real life'.
'What is an Oprah?'-Teal'c.
The similarity is of course striking, but I've always thought of it as a play on a "Jason born" after the "demise" of his former self, David Webb.
Jason, the leader of the Argonauts on the quest for the golden Fleece, is of course one of the greatest of mythological Greek heroes; he's on a par with the likes of Perseus and Theseus. But he is ultimately a deeply flawed, and deeply tragic figure. One of the accounts of his death, after having lost everything, by the rotting hull of his once-proud Argos on the beach is one of my favourite moments in classic mythology.
And without wanting to compare "The Bourne Identity" with say, such a classic as Euripides' "Medea", there is also a somewhat tragic quality, in a more popular and less accurate sense of the word, to David Webb/Jason Bourne in the films.
But then again, I haven't read the novel, so I may be completely off track! :)
I read somewhere that when Robert Ludlum created Bourne, he wanted Bourne to be the "American version" of Bond.
shareMaybe unintentionally, but I am sure he has said in interviews in the 80's that Jason Bourne was based on a real character he read about in the 1940's.
share