Feminism and Bond

When watching one of the most popular movie franchises out there, there's always one glaringly obvious fault looming in the world of 007 and that is the cack-handed and frankly dispiriting portrayals of women for the vast majority of the time.

Watching Bond himself, one has to be torn- either he's an asshole or a man-whore when it comes to women- and its very easy to make arguments in either direction. If he's an asshole, it's because he's a spy and he can't afford to have friends. He lives a life of danger and excitement, so sex merely becomes another form of recreation, something he can do with no attachments (again, hardcore spy) and no emotional connection whatsoever (can't have that if you're going to go shoot bad guys.) Therefore, Bond is perpetually doomed to forever 'love them and leave them.' It's just the hard truth about being a spy.

On the other hand, he could just be a man-whore. Not yet having invented an equivalent word to describe 'slut' or 'whore' solely for men,(we're waiting for the memo to come down from Feminism HQ. Get on that!) we're forced to use an amalgamation: man-whore. And Bond fits the bill pretty well: he had one true love early on (Vesper Lynd) who betrayed him- and he was married once (Teressa Di Vincenzo)- and she was killed. So if you like, everyone he's ever tried to love has either died or betrayed him, which therefore makes him a cold, lonely man, trying to exorcise his ghosts by getting on every woman he sees. Man-whorish? You betcha. Still kind of a prick? Absolutely.

The character's vagaries aside, the sad fact of the matter is that even in this modern age- and even with a recent 'reboot' of the franchise, Bond filmmakers have been woefully unimaginative in their portrayal of female characters- and it's more than a little irritating. Consider the names: Honey Ryder (Dr. No), Pussy Galore (Goldfinger), Dr. Holly Goodhead (Moonraker), Octopussy (Octopussy), Christmas Jones (The World is Not Enough)- double entendres abound- and not all of them are fun and what you would consider to be suitably pro-feminist. Do they have to be? Well, not always- but it'd be nice to see James Bond have honest to god, kick you in the balls, go head to head with you type of women to bounce off of instead of some of the portrayals that the Bond series has flung up.

In her defense, Pussy Galore was a tough cookie, even though she did fall prey to Bond's charms. Holly Goodhead was in Moonraker, so we can probably forgive her name, given how roundly awful Moonraker was. Octopussy was a surprisingly good movie, though for a character who runs a crew of female assassins, Octopussy herself proves to be almost jello-like in her response to the bad guys, being flung around the room and wilting under a decent amount of pressure from a bad henchman. Christmas Jones ruined an entire movie, given that her character was invented solely for a predictable, one-line, end of the movie joke you can see coming a mile and a half away. Women in Bond tend to be glamorous accessories for Bond rather than actual adversaries and although strictly within Bond canon and part of the old 'formula' of guns, explosions and woman making a good Bond movie- it'd be nice to see well-developed female characters that actually challenge Bond instead of putting up token resistance before inevitably tumbling into bed with him.

And here's the kicker: it's not all bad for Bond. Grace Jones in 'A View To A Kill' provides Bond with an ass-kicking as well as some remarkably muscular sex. Bond appropriately marries Tracy DiVincenzo in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and she's more than perfect for him. But it isn't until the post-Goldeneye era of Bond that we see some true three dimensional female character emerge into the world of Bond:

1. M: What a brilliant twist, casting the new M as Judi Dench with her steely resolve and unimpressed attitude with 007. There's always a glint in M's eye that tells us that she can and will squish Bond like a bug if he pisses her off too much. But Bond knows this and keeps getting the job done, even if he isn't always neat about it.

2. Elektra King: Sophie Morceau in 'The World Is Not Enough' probably ranks as one of the best Bond Girls EVER. Seriously now- what a brilliant, mind-messing twist they pull with this movie- making the pretty girl the villain? What a thing to do to Bond and Sophie Morceau knows it and plays the role beautifully to a hilt. And it's fun to see Bond struggle with it.

3. Colonel Lin: Michelle Yeoh in 'Tomorrow Never Dies' was probably the true equal of Bond. Fellow spy, has her own moves, her own country and proves herself quite capable of kicking his ass if she chooses too. In my opinion, she should have left him floating on that debris at the end of the movie and vanished into the night. The fact that they ended up necking on the debris never really sat all that well with me.

4. Vesper Lynd: Eva Green is even better than Michelle Yeoh in 'Casino Royale.' She reads Bond like a book, finds his weak points and exploits them- and they bounce nicely of each other and the chemistry between them right leads to a romance, but its not the typical 'OH JAMES!' and fall into bed romance. Not with this lady, Bond has to earn it with her. And he does.

5. Miranda Frost: 'Die Another Day'. Not only is Rosamund Pike HOT, but she once again messes with Bond's head by sleeping with him and being even more cold-blooded about it than he usually is by handing him straight over to the bad guys. A fencer, she provides a slightly anachronistic, but sexy villain.


The low points:

1. Tanya Roberts: 'A View To A Kill': You'd think that someone who'd been a 'Charlie's Angel' would know how to be a little more ass-kicking and hold her own better than this, but no... she draws a gun on him, but aside from that just seems fairly blonde and stereotypical, which is a shame. Her heart-rending screams when she's trapped in an elevator on fire are cringe-inducing. Of course, if the elevator's on fire, feel free to call to help- but don't just huddle in the corner and scream for a man! Have a little gumption about it, please.

2. Christmas Jones: 'The World Is Not Enough': Denise Richards came close to ruining this entire movie. For a start, it's pretty obvious that the choice of name is deliberate and will undoubtedly lead to a cringe-inducing double entendre- but really- what makes her a credible nuclear physicist? Really? We shouldn't judge a book by her cover, but really? Denise Richards, atomic scientist? No one can buy that one.

3. Bibi the Skater: 'For Your Eyes Only': Again, came close to ruining the entire movie. Her older counterpart, Melina Havelock is out for revenge, hot and wanting to kill someone- so she's got some motivation. But Bibi- or Phoebe or whatever her name is just seems like a random piece of teenage jailbait designed to tempt Bond. To his credit, Roger Moore actually has James Bond do the right thing and not think with his dick- primarily because she's just kind of annoying.

4. Strawberry Fields: 'Quantam of Solace': WHAT? WHY? Gemma Atherton might have turned this character into something, but just doesn't have the room to work with it at all. She shows up in a flasher coat and boots (that seems to scream: 'HEY I'M GONNA HAVE SEX WITH YOU', which she does in short order.) and speaks with this weird, clipped, I'm a nerdy librarian type of way. The one black mark on 'Quantam of Solace' I would have liked to see this character actually do something other than have sex with bond.

5. Jinx: 'Die Another Day': Halle Berry's much bally-hooed turn as a Bond Girl falls flat to me. All over the place. I mean, OK, she's an agent and I suppose she hold her own, but once again, jarringly, she ends up sleeping with him. Bit of a flat disappointment- compounded by the random appearance of Madonna.

But all in all, quite unlike vodka and vermouth, Bond and strong women don't really go all that well together. The franchise makes some brave attempts now and again to really get a good solid female character going, but sadly, they're few and far between. There are, I think, a solid place for really strong women in the Bond canon- we just need writers willing to invest the time into making female characters in Bond work- and work well.