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Does sexism still exist in the James Bond franchise?


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#1 quantumofsolace

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Posted 30 July 2013 - 04:37 PM

After decades of misogyny, have the films finally moved on and reinvented the 'Bond girl'? http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/does-sexism-still-exist-james-bond-franchise-110900683.html
 

When watching a Bond film, there's a few certainties you can tick off in a majority of his adventures: guns, fighting, fast cars, gadgets and women. The latter, and perhaps the most iconic of the ingredients, has become an established part; specifically the honour of being dubbed a 'Bond girl'. Many have come and gone over the years, and even now the memories of Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore (yes, try not to snigger) getting thrown into a bale of hay by a rambunctious Connery, or Ursula Andress' emergence from the sea in 'Dr. No' are cemented in pop culture, but arguably for all the wrong reasons.

It's one thing rising to fame in one of these films, but as a 'Bond girl', the connotations of merit are somewhat different in reality. The term 'Bond girl' means just that: an attractive female, often with little impact on the main plot, serving a sexualised purpose for a subplot that ends up with Bond bedding said female. Depending on your stance on feminism, it's either rather degrading, or a privilege to feature as one of these glamorous, desirable objects of 007's affection.

 

Vesper's plight in 'Casino Royale'

 

With the franchise getting a much needed reboot with 2006's 'Casino Royale', a new approach to the female lead was inevitable, but was it successfully implemented? Eva Green's Vesper is a breath of fresh air with her no nonsense attitude, stern authoritative intellect and icy intimidation, yet we are still encouraged to focus on her beauty. Indeed, we read her domineering qualities in accentuated terms because of how beautiful she is. While she appears to be the most reinvented Bond woman, once her motives are revealed it actually lessens her character. Being manipulated by men with blackmail and a perceived threat to the man she loves tells us she is actually subservient and in no real control after all.

 

The women of 'Skyfall'

 

Similarly, the set up initially is for Eve to be self-assured and confident, yet is quashed right at the end as the back-and-forth flirtation over the course of the film serve to put her in the position of Miss Moneypenny; a character synonymous for swooning over Bond's charm and sexual magnetism. The sole perception of Moneypenny over the decades is a suited, primed desk worker stationed to meet and greet Bond upon arrival.

 

Severine -- the quintessential 'Bond girl' -- is introduced as a strong woman, but is soon unravelled by 007 who confirms she's a) a whore, and a) under total control of villain Silva. She's got the looks and is, from the offset, seen purely as sexual gratification until she is nonchalantly disposed of (but not before Bond has domineeringly bedded her, of course).

 

Even though modern interpretation of 'the Bond girl' can appear rewritten, the fundamental flaws and motivations of these women characters still fall very much into the realm of inferiority. How does the franchise seriously address or overhaul the issue? Is a female Bond the only way?



#2 Jim

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Posted 30 July 2013 - 04:50 PM

I dunno.

 

What's your view?



#3 Hockey Mask

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Posted 30 July 2013 - 04:59 PM

It is better, much better, than it used to be but it will be difficult to fully turn the corner and keep the essence of Bond.  He hangs around beautiful women.  He rescues people.  He's Bond, James Bond.



#4 ViperSRT87

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Posted 30 July 2013 - 06:51 PM

After the Roger Moore era of the empty headed damsels in distress I think they have evolved a great deal. Dalton's leading ladies were important characters in the plots and often times helped Bond. Pam in LTK comes to mind where she helped Bond often times as an equal. The Brosnan era saw this as well in GE and TND then forced it even if it was a tad goofy in TWINE and DAD. Craig's ladies as well are in league with the ladies of the Dalton era. 

 

In regards to these types of articles put simply: Statists need something to do but sit on their asses and blog about what seems to offend them even when there is nothing there. Unfortunately these types have not moved out of the 1960s while the rest of the world, male AND female, have lives to lead and jobs to do. 

 

Also the fact is powerful evil people use people as pawns or control them through fear. This is a truth about evil people. Often times these evil people are indeed male and use women as pawns. The fact that this happens in a film is not sexism as it is what happens in real life.  


Edited by ViperSRT87, 30 July 2013 - 06:54 PM.


#5 Hansen

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Posted 30 July 2013 - 10:18 PM

you can blame Bond for being colonialist even racist (the 'fetch my shoes' line in Dr No) but definitely not sexist. Bond girls have never been dumb girls, and this from the very start: Honey can kill a man with a spider, Tatiana saves Bond, Pussy knows what she wants and if Bond falls for Tracy, it is mostly for her independence.
Honestly, there are only two girls who cou.d have let Bond shown for sexist : Solitaire and Mary Goodnight. For the rest, they are smart and fit. And I am not dure that during the 60s you had woman characters as strong as the one you found in Bond.

#6 freemo

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 06:26 AM

But isn't Bond apt to be attracted to a "bird with a broken wing", or a damsel in some kind of distress or spot of bother or "kept woman" situatation. I always took it that the women characters in Bond stories were intented to make a statement about Bond, rather than about women (gender issues, yawn).

 

These are James Bond stories, after all.

 

And aren't characters with flaws and issues and predicaments and dubious motives more interesting anyway?

 

Does sexism still exist in the James Bond franchise? God, I hope so. If they took sexism out of the Bond franchise, what would they put in its place? Bland, condescending Anti-sexism, probably. Uggh.



#7 Dustin

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 10:42 AM

But isn't Bond apt to be attracted to a "bird with a broken wing", or a damsel in some kind of distress or spot of bother or "kept woman" situatation. I always took it that the women characters in Bond stories were intented to make a statement about Bond, rather than about women (gender issues, yawn).

 

These are James Bond stories, after all.

 

I suppose the series actually depicts a number of women somewhat more independent and resourceful than was the norm at the time. Honey for example is making a living out of a very particular and definitely dangerous business, solo-diving for seashells. She's able enough to defend herself with a knife. And if necessary take revenge with a spider. That's a far cry form a mere sexual object without personality. That brand of eye-candy arrived only with Dink in GF.

 

Other women in the series include a semi-independent operative in a diamond smuggler gang (Tiffany), a freelance psychic cabaret act (until Mr Big effectively held her prisoner for his own purposes), a Special Branch police officer, a female gang leader, a woman avenging her parent's death with bow and arrow and a former actress and now successful pearl diver. All of these characters are largely of the strong-and-independent variety, often not despite having been through rough times but because of it. And even the somewhat plainer version of the jet set playgirl - as Domino is a sample of - displays a kind of assured independence. She is a kind of - very expensive - prostitute, but she also knows her worth and deals with Largo on her own terms.

 

I guess on the whole sexism is definitely an issue with the series, but to me it seems women have been depicted far less favourable in other works than Fleming's and in other films than EON's.



#8 Orion

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 11:40 AM

This "SKYFALL IS HORRENDOUSLY SEXIST" angle i've seen a few times since it's release, does cover its ears and hum loudly over the fact that Bond's boss, the person who's film it essentially is, is a woman, who is being held accountable for her actions by a woman. Of the three senior British government officials who speak, 2 are women. It also looks away from Q, who is more office bound and makes a bigger mistake, when discussing Eve not to mention Bond at the very least tries to sleep with a completely different woman THE SAME EVENING as sleeping with Severine. Why is the fact that, when talking about these sexist attitudes towards the women, they chose to ignore that both have a male equivalent who is FAR more guilty of the accusations the article aim at those women. Yes, Skyfall can be seen as sexist but only if you ignore other details to fit your argument.



#9 Guy Haines

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 03:26 PM

Of the two younger female leads in Skyfall, one, Eve, is there to appear as Bond's "equal", only to emerge, in the end, as Miss Moneypenny. Something we should have seen coming, perhaps, but didn't, or at least pretended we didn't. The other, Severine, appears to conform to the typical Bond movie femme fatale, but is only around long enough to get Bond to Silva. Neither conforms exactly to the stereotype of the "Bond woman" who is around for most of the film and swoons into 007's arms at the end of it. 

 

And that's because there's another Bond woman in this movie - M herself. The film critic of "The Guardian" newspaper jokingly called her "the Bond girl to end all Bond girls". He said M treats her agents mean but keeps 'em keen (Look at the callous way she orders 007 to leave agent Ronson, despite Bond's protestations), and sets up the conditions that created Raoul Silva and his warped and disturbing obsession with M. Does it go beyond wanting revenge for betrayal, five months in a Red Chinese torture chamber and a botched suicide attempt? It's certainly hinted at, imho.

 

The younger female leads in Skyfall seem secondary in the film not because of blatant sexism, but because the core of the movie concerns the relationship between M and Bond on the one hand and M and Silva on the other. The first relationship has been at the heart of all three Daniel Craig Bond films, I think, as Bond goes from new recruit to the Double O section (CR), via "man seeking closure" (QoS) to battle-hardened agent who thinks both he and M are "played out". Look at it that way and it's a sort of trilogy, but not the Bond-v-Quantum one we were expecting. The second relationship is rather disturbing - Silva/Rodriguez is the discarded favourite who , one gets the impression, did everything for "her" only to be thrown away by her. He was betrayed by someone who, one suspects, he was constantly seeking the approval of. He never heeded the words aimed at Bond by M early on in the film: "You know the rules of the game, you've been playing it long enough."



#10 Dustin

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 03:59 PM

Very good assessment of SKYFALL with regard to accusations of sexism there, Guy Haines. Some of those concerns I never was able to understand, but in connection with SF they seem especially far-fetched.  



#11 Professor Pi

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 08:16 PM

Yes, the films have evolved their portrayal of women since 1977's TSWLM, but it hasn't always been successful.  The leading ladies of Spy and MR were successful agents of their own (Anya in KGB, Holly in CIA), but still saddled with not so subtly pornographic names ('Agent XXX' and the infamous 'Goodhead').  This was how the writers tried to update the Bond women--by making them Bond's equal as a female agent (Wai Lin and Jinx.)  At other times the characters were intelligent and independent, but casting bad actresses made it unbelievable that they were a successful geologist or nuclear physicist.  Octopussy was a strong businesswoman running a circus, but again there was her name and fantastical empire that had her wearing a silk robe half the time so viewers could still objectify her skinny dipping.  Carole Bouquet's Melina Havelock was the strongest leading lady of the Moore films, able to hold her own with a spear gun and maintaining her independence throughout most of FYEO, though Bond fatherly lectures her on vengeance at least three times in the film.  The tables are turned come LTK, as Pam is the one who points out Bond's vengeance is ruining the larger mission of defeating Sanchez; however, her character too quickly gives in to Bond on the boat and she becomes a petulant teenage girl upon learning of his liaison with Lupe, undercutting much of the initial independent strength of the character.  The message being, she still needs a man.

 

Lupe Lamora, Elektra, and Severine are from the mold of using their sex to escape their situations, with Elektra, of course, taking it to nefarious ends.  Paris Carver may not seem to belong to this group, but she is used by Bond, as suggested by M, causing Carver to sacrifice his trophy wife. 

 

Kara Milovy was the most realistic female character to be found in a Bond film as her predicament is believable and she's not a comic book like secret agent.  Natalya Simonova pushes the limit on this mold as a gorgeous computer programmer, and GoldenEye still objectifies her with the crotch shot on the beach.  And Bond first sees both women through voyeuristic lenses, be it binoculars or sat cams, so the sexism is still there.

 

But by far the strongest, most independent woman of Craig's Bond, or any, would have to be Camille Montes.  Like Pam, she's an agent.  Like Melina, she is on a quest for vengeance.  Like Gala Brand of the Moonraker book, she works with Bond to defeat the villain but doesn't sleep with him.  It's mentioned that she 'slept with Greene to get close to him' but that doesn't define her like Vesper's relationship with the French Algerian boyfriend.  The film refrains from objectifying her or making her out to be a lesbian despite not having sex with our protagonist.  Still, Quantum of Solace isn't without a 'disposable pleasure' for Bond, and why M thinks a young Agent Fields (yes, joke name hinted at again) thinks she can bring in the Craig's rogue Bond stretches believability.  But Gemma Arterton gives the character some mettle at the Greene Planet party, tripping Elvis.  Yet she gets the objectification treatment, oily rather than golden, which is its own wry comment on Bond films' inability to resist escaping their own iconic chauvinistic tradition.

 

The films have come a long way since the 60s, with many baby steps acknowledging the growth and acceptance of feminism, but at the end of the day they are still set in a fantasy world. 


Edited by Professor Pi, 31 July 2013 - 08:21 PM.


#12 Revelator

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 11:04 PM

This was how the writers tried to update the Bond women--by making them Bond's equal as a female agent (Wai Lin and Jinx.) 

 

In the case of the former, they probably did too good of a job, since Wai Lin made Bond look useless in his own film.

 

The tables are turned come LTK, as Pam is the one who points out Bond's vengeance is ruining the larger mission of defeating Sanchez; however, her character too quickly gives in to Bond on the boat and she becomes a petulant teenage girl upon learning of his liaison with Lupe, undercutting much of the initial independent strength of the character.  The message being, she still needs a man.

 

As you noted, the Bond films are fantasy, and part of that fantasy is that women need James Bond. Not because he is a man, but because he is a superlative man. I enjoyed Pam's snit, partly because it showed that her feelings for Bond were deeper than expected, and partly because she literally called bull**** on his womanizing. And it was also something of a novelty to see a Bond girl actually feel jealousy.

 

But by far the strongest, most independent woman of Craig's Bond, or any, would have to be Camille Montes.  Like Pam, she's an agent.  Like Melina, she is on a quest for vengeance.  Like Gala Brand of the Moonraker book, she works with Bond to defeat the villain but doesn't sleep with him...The film refrains from objectifying her or making her out to be a lesbian despite not having sex with our protagonist.

 

Well, she should have been objectified (all attractive men and women are objectified in Bond's world, starting with Bond) and she should have slept with Bond. Fleming got away with Gala not doing so because her reasons for doing so came as a plausible surprise and left a bittersweet coda more powerful than QoS's almost-embarrassed chaste farewell.

Bringing up Strawberry Fields also points us to a couple of genuinely sexist features that still linger on and are more unwelcome than ever: the disposable bedmate and the Madonna/whore complex (wherein the spunky evil girl enjoys sex with Bond but must be killed, whereas the bland good girl either doesn't get any or has to wait until the end, since she always survives). Severine was disposed of in an especially clumsy manner in Skyfall; having a female character exist only so that she can pass on information, get porked, and then be killed is a not only sexist but boring. Ditto with the good/bad girl syndrome, which is bad for characterization--whereas Fleming's Domino was a complex, morally ambiguous character, the film's version is bland and has to surrender too much personality to Fiona Volpe.

In a Bond movie, Bond should objectify women. But he--and the film--should also be interested in them as human beings, because their personalities and histories help make them attractive to Bond and the audience. They are characters of equal significance, and the film should think twice before treating them like disposable crumpet.



#13 sunset

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Posted 01 August 2013 - 04:06 AM

Yes, just like in the real world, there is still a lack of female equallity.  We have come a long way from Connery's Bond forcing himself on a woman after being told NO!  Today, the Bond women are stronger and more equal, but sex still sells.  I did have a lady friend once say she never wanted to step down to be equal to a man!

In the "movies", Bond is a man, and he is THE man.



#14 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 01 August 2013 - 01:39 PM

I´m absolutely against sexism of any kind.

 

But not in a Bond novel or film.  



#15 Professor Pi

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Posted 01 August 2013 - 07:31 PM

 

But by far the strongest, most independent woman of Craig's Bond, or any, would have to be Camille Montes.  Like Pam, she's an agent.  Like Melina, she is on a quest for vengeance.  Like Gala Brand of the Moonraker book, she works with Bond to defeat the villain but doesn't sleep with him...The film refrains from objectifying her or making her out to be a lesbian despite not having sex with our protagonist.

 

Well, she should have been objectified (all attractive men and women are objectified in Bond's world, starting with Bond) and she should have slept with Bond. Fleming got away with Gala not doing so because her reasons for doing so came as a plausible surprise and left a bittersweet coda more powerful than QoS's almost-embarrassed chaste farewell.

 

Still, I'm rather glad Camille didn't sleep with Bond.  Camille seems to recognize that Bond is still damaged goods emotionally from losing Vesper.  While Bond never makes advances toward her, there is still a connection between them that I find to be more emotionally intimate when contrasted with the physical interaction between Bond and Fields.  The story and script didn't seem headed in that direction and to tack on a sex scene would have taken away from that poignant farewell.  "I wish I could set you free," she says to him and then gestures to his head, "but your prison is locked in there."



#16 elizabeth

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Posted 01 August 2013 - 09:42 PM

What a topic to return to posting on.

 

I'm not a feminist and never will be, but I'd never thought of what sunset said about Bond forcing himself onto a woman after being told no, but let's remind ourselves of what Hansen said; Bond girls have always been smart (except for Goodnight, she was a bit useless and only a sex toy).



#17 Revelator

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Posted 02 August 2013 - 06:40 PM

Still, I'm rather glad Camille didn't sleep with Bond.  Camille seems to recognize that Bond is still damaged goods emotionally from losing Vesper.  While Bond never makes advances toward her, there is still a connection between them that I find to be more emotionally intimate when contrasted with the physical interaction between Bond and Fields.  The story and script didn't seem headed in that direction and to tack on a sex scene would have taken away from that poignant farewell. 

 

The ideal place for a sex scene would have been when they were stuck in the cave or whatever it was (I haven't seen the film since in a few years) and had some downtime together. In Bond's world, sex is a therapeutic activity, and it would have been a good way for both characters to forget their past by bonding with someone new. As for Fields, I would have cut her entirely from the movie (then again, so much of QoS was underwritten and in need of rewrites and edits). Bond films shouldn't have to set up a binary of smart-chaste-final-girl versus disposable-sex-object-girl.



#18 dtuba

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Posted 03 September 2013 - 02:49 AM

Although I'm not a huge fan of the Brosnan era, it seems that women did fare quite well in his films (At least the first 2.5 of them....)  

 

 

GE: Of course Dench's casting as M was probably the most obvious move, we also had a new Moneypenny that seemed pretty independent and somewhat immune to Bond's banter. Natalya was a great character, as an innocent bystander that turned out ot be quite a decent ally. We had Xenia who was not the first female hench-person, but might have been the strongest physically.

 

TND: Out of all the Bondgirls who claim to be "Bond's Equal" I think Wai Lin was probably the only one qualified, physically, to back that statement up. (I think she might have been more muscular than Pierce himself).

 

TWINE: Electra King was the first female villain since Rosa Klebb and was probably even more powerful, at least she seemed to answer to nobody.

 

...But then halfway through TWINE we meet Dr Christmas Jones, and ...well it's pretty much downhill from there. Madonna included.


Edited by dtuba, 03 September 2013 - 02:52 AM.


#19 Binyamin

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Posted 03 September 2013 - 05:23 AM

One of the elements I enjoy about the James Bond franchise IS the sexism.

James Bond is a fictional character who can get away with things that we can't. He can smoke without thinking of the future, drink to excess, break the traffic laws, and shoot bad men without answering to the law.

And he can spank women and enjoy them for sex.

It's a masculine escapist fantasy. It's softcore pornography, with more gadgets and better lighting. It's a movie. It's not real. It can still be enjoyed as entertainment.
 



#20 quantumofsolace

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Posted 12 September 2013 - 07:17 AM

huffingtonpost 11 09 2013

What Barbara Carrera, A 1980s Bond Girl, Thinks About The Series' Sexism

Bond Girls aren't known for being the most empowered female characters, but what's it really like to play one?

Barbara Carerra, who played Fatima Blush in 1983's “Never Say Never Again” -- during the Sean Connery era of James Bond films -- spoke with Julie Bosman about her experiences being a Bond Girl. As actresses like Carerra, Honor Blackman and Ursula Andress learned, it's not a label that is easily forgotten.

"[After playing Fatima Blush], every role I got offered was bad-women roles, bad women, bad women,"

Bosman also asked the Nicaragua-born actress how she felt about the criticism Bond films often get for being sexist. Instead of defending the series, Carerra said that she agreed with the critique:

I think that was true. The women were more or less a decorative piece. They had big smiles, beautiful hair, bikinis. There were exceptions, but most of them weren’t given much to do except look pretty. With Fatima, that’s what I loved. I didn’t want her to be another Bond girl. I wanted her to have a lot of something, a lot of oomph.



#21 quantumofsolace

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 02:10 AM

Double-0 Heaven: The women who have shaped the Bond series http://uk.movies.yah...-215100801.html



#22 Odd Jobbies

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 09:12 AM

I hope not in terms of the Production, but in terms of the characters on the page absolutely sexism should be present and accounted for - that's if it wants to resemble real life in any way.



#23 The Krynoid man

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 09:33 AM

The Bond films are sexist, but they're meant to be. The character is a male fantasy, the man who can get away with anything and is irresistible to women.

#24 glidrose

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 09:25 PM

It's a masculine escapist fantasy. It's softcore pornography, with more gadgets and better lighting.


Music also tends to be better.

Bow Chicka Bow Wow, Bow Chicka Wow Wow, Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka.

#25 Iceskater101

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Posted 03 October 2013 - 12:27 AM

I think they are still sexist but not as bad. I mean look in Skyfall, I mean Eve was out in the field, so that shows that women definitely can lead as successful lives as men. There still will always be the sexual comments but it wouldn't be a James Bond movie without it.