“Waste of a Good Scotch"
Do
recent additions to the James Bond franchise such as 'Skyfall' reflect changing
representations of women in film?
Skyfall marks the anniversary of the
James Bond franchise marking it as the 23rd instalment in the iconic franchise
and marking 50th years of James Bond films and it couldn't have been
celebrated any better with the film winning an Oscar for best original
song and it being held as one of the best James Bond films of all time. But
behind all of the action, drama and fast cars lays a foundation of outright
sexism that hasn't been properly addressed in the past 50 years
of this iconic franchise, ever since Dr No James Bond has hardly evolved as a
character since the early 60’s and beyond.
Looking at the character in-depth
you see a man who only cares about himself and how he doesn't let
anyone else in even if he has slept with 55 women in the past 23 films. But due
to this James Bond films following a set structure that mirror’s Propp’s
film theory on character stereotypes. Due to how Dr No and Skyfall follow the
same character structure in over 50 years of making James Bond films and no
progression has been made from the first James Bond film to the latest James
Bond film. This is a key reason why I believe that James Bond will never be a
character that matches the views and ideologies of modern society in the 21st
century.
But the iconic Bond girl has become
an importance in every James Bond film and despite everyone acting ok with this
the way James Bond treats them is beyond belittling. But the question is has
James Bond shown any progression since Dr No to now in Skyfall with women.
To
compare the views and ideologies accurately the need to provide historical
context is very important. So when Dr No was released the views on women back
in the 1960's where changing "Feminism began to find a voice in
society, with movements like Women’s Lib demanding equal pay and opportunity."However during that
time it was a controversial view to have with the men fighting back
against that view "Women
were repeatedly represented shown as housewives, mothers, and homemakers while
men were often represented in situations of authority and dominance..."
So it's fair to
say that women were progressing but they did have to fight against
men's misogynistic view of the world. And this is where the main
problem starts for the James Bond franchise the author himself Ian Fleming. He
has been famous for his misogynistic views "Ian Fleming hates women and I don't buy into anything to do
with that. The Bond films are generally sexist. I don't like anything that
descends from a sewer of misogyny."
so it's to no surprise that Ian Fleming
made James Bond this overbearing hero making him everything
Ian Fleming wanted him to be with the author describing Bond as a "Height: 183cm, weight: 76 kilograms; slim build; eyes: blue;
hair: black; scar down right cheek and on left shoulder; signs of plastic
surgery on back of right hand ..."
Ian
Fleming copying and pasting himself into his own book series as the main
protagonist as a result that carrying the views and ideologies that Ian Fleming
has as well which had a knock on effect on the film series. Ian Fleming had a
reputation of being misogynistic and “…sexism
of the Bond novels is woven into the fabric of the films they inspired, as the
term Bond Girl”. He wrote the first
13 book which lead to the first 13 films to be built on the foundation of Ian
Fleming's ideology of men superiority. Also another problem that this
franchised faced was the timing of when the books where released.
The
films started in 1962 with Dr No but the book series started in 1953, the stereotypes of men and women where set in stone in
the sense of the man being the breadwinner who bring in the money and makes the
important decisions around the house however the role of the women back then
was to cook and clean and to do all of the house work and to basically wait for
the man hand and work and to do whatever he wants her to do.
I mention this due to the fact that this
was the era when James Bond was created, in a society where it was universally
accepted to have women effectively be slaves to men who are only around to
serve them and pleasure them which is why I mentioned this because James Bond
as a character in the books and the movies acts misogynistic and treats women
as toys rather than equals.
In the 1950's it was acceptable for
people in that era to treat women like that due to the fact that they didn't
have the power in the 1950's in comparison to the amount of power they have
now. So when the books came out and they pictured women as the inferior slave
to James Bond's charm and desire and the films also captured accurately what
the book try to showcasing the male gaze throughout the 50 years of James Bond
with over 40 plus women he has slept with in the process.
Looking
at the official first ever James Bond film Dr No, it was made in the 1960's
only 4 years after the famous novel written by Ian Fleming. The film was hailed
as a masterpiece with reviews like "The James Bond series started in great style with this
cleverly conceived dose of sheer escapism that, unlike later episodes, remained
true to the essence of Ian Fleming's super-spy novels."
and "As well as the girls, guns,
gadgets we expect from the typical Bond storyline.” which demonstrates
how people still think how great this film was.
But at the same time this film follows
the character structure theory from Propp's when it comes to some of the key
elements of the film for example you have James Bond as the stereotypical white
hero, then you have Honey Ryder as the Damsel in Distress, you have Dr No has
is a stereotypical foreign villain and you have the black sidekick Quarrel who
dies at the end. Now in Dr No to see if we have any progression from Dr No to
Skyfall it's important to see how Dr No set the bar for the representation of
women in Dr No.
In this film is in parts Sexist and in
this film gets throughout the film with changes from the book to the big screen
with Honey Ryder name changed from Honeychile and how all she did was be a
damsel in distress throughout the entire film even if people see Honey Ryder as
one of the most iconic film characters of all time due to her introduction ever
if James Bond also had sex with Miss Tao during the film for no reason other
than to show off the power James Bond has on women and no one has to the power
to say no to him.
I believe that this heavily links with
Uses and Gratifications because I believe that a lot of people aspire to be
like James Bond, for men to have the ability to dress in the fanciest of
clothes, drive the most exotic vehicles, being able to do whatever you want
with no one to tell you otherwise and to be able to charm any women to obey any
demand you wish which is one of the reasons why I believe this franchise has
lasted so long people aspire to be James Bond it's a personal identity for
people to aspire to.
This demonstrates how men still had all
of the power in the early 1960's even with they were gaining power James Bond
took that ideology and took it back to the stone age with the film clearly
being made for white males who want escapism and get lost in the world the Dr
No creates. It links back to uses and gratification due to the fact that a lot
of people wanted to see themselves in James Bond.
They didn't provide him with a strong
personality or made him a unrealistic character they made him average male with
normal hair would could pass himself as a normal person which is why Personal
Identity and Personal Relationships play such a strong part in this film
success because of the fact that people could watch the film and see themselves
in it. To make a comparison to other character, Sherlock Holmes is an iconic
character created by Arthur Conan Doyle of a detective who a out of this world
observation skills.
The difference between the two
characters is that James Bond is relatable and could realistically become him
unlike Sherlock Holmes who has a God-given gift “His character is
glib, ruthlessly cunning, and hopelessly chained to his own cognition.”
The problem that is showcases in
Dr No is in this quote "Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses
possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at
twice its natural size.”.
To conclude
Dr No was a film that portrayed villains as foreign, women as powerless and
racial minorities as inferior therefore comparing it to Skyfall will be
interesting to see if in 50 years Skyfall has progressed from the Propp's
Character Theory, every race being portrayed as equals and James Bond actually
given a strong character.
"Skyfall, the latest James Bond film, smashed
through the $1 billion mark at the box office tonight as it continued its
record-breaking showing in cinemas worldwide."
With the 50
years of development Skyfall was released on October 26 in 2012 with Daniel
Craig as James Bond with the film getting universal praise with it being
compared to Dr No for overall quality and also winning an Oscar for best
original soundtrack and it scoring a rating of 93% on Rotten Tomato with
reviews like"It achieves
an effective balance between the ever-escalating action sequences that each
successive Bond picture apparently demands, fresh use of charismatic talent,
and nods to the legacy..."
So there is no denying that Skyfall is
one of if not the best James Bond film since the original. But looking at the
film in depth it suffers from the same problem the Dr No suffers from with the
ideology of men being superior to women. I say this because there are many
scenes in this film that demonstrates how women still have very little power in
comparison to men which makes it worse if comparison the age difference between
the films and how women now are represented a lot better in comparison to the
1960's that makes Skyfall even more sexist in comparison to Dr No.
In the opening chase scene you have
James Bond chasing an unnamed hit man how is carrying a very important
macguffin for later on in the film and you have Eve a black female supporting
Bond as his equal. Firstly portraying Eve as a equal to Bond was very
refreshing to see a women playing such a key part in an action scene "Girls can be athletic. Guys can have
feelings. Girls can be smart. Guys can be creative. and vice versa. Gender is
specific only to your reproductive organs (and sometimes not even to those),
not your interest, likes, dislikes, goals, and ambitions.” After watching the opening
scene it showed a lot of promise towards a strong black female character being
portrayed as James Bond's equal which was be something which would be
unthinkable looking back at all of the previous instalments from this franchise
However it all goes downhill from here
where in the end of the opening scene you have James Bond in a hand to hand
combat on a speeding train and Eve hasn't got a clear shot. Now this scene
contains the two main female characters in Eve and M both making a very
important mistake which leads to both characters starting their individual
downfalls with M forcing Eve to take the shoot even if there was a high chance
of Eve killing Bond in the first place which is what happened.
This lead to Eve quitting field work
even if she did everything right to that point and was forced against her will
to take the shoot even if she said "I
can't I may hit Bond"
and effectively became a messenger with James Bond commenting "Ain't you a little overqualified to be
delivering messages”
and M forcing her to do it as the head of the MI6 department.
When it comes the M she created this
villain in the first place with Raoul Silva who was a world class hacker in the
MI6 and M released him due to him hacking the Chinese Government over they
threatened the UK, Raoul was simply doing something for the greater good of the
United Kingdom. Instead M shows more poor judgment and released one of the most
dangerous men on the planet with no guidance or control. Which only lead to her
entire department being threatened to be shut down due to her poor judgement
and lack of a need of the department in the first place.
No surprise that in Spectre they still
threatened to shut down MI6 because they didn't prove them wrong anything they
proved the government right because in Skyfall Raoul Silva is a villain that
was created by MI6. This doesn't even include one of the worst Bond Girls of
all time with Sévérine with her only appearing in a few scenes before
James Bond pointlessly sleeps with her and then a few scenes later she was shot
dead that's it there was no connection between the characters and not even
James Bond acted like he even cared about her playing her off comparing to a
drink.
"After Bond comes face to
face with the film’s villain, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), Sévérine is bound
and Bond is challenged to shoot a glass of scotch off her head. Bond misses,
but Silva shoots and kills her. Bond then glibly comments that her demise is
merely a "waste of good scotch." This was
unpalatable, and I could sense it in the shifting of some of my neighbours in
the theatre."
Also after he
says that he kills every single guard in the area which makes no sense because
if he could have done that why didn't he do it before Severine was shot and
Sliva killer her just to make a point to James Bond that not even James Bond
cares about ever so her death which makes her role in this film completely
worthless and her only purpose was to be a macguffin for the plot.
Due to it being a James Bond film it had
to have a Bond girl in once again beat over the point that James Bond is smooth
with the ladies even if the audience already know this and the need for a Bond
girl declines with every film. In this film every women in Skyfall is now worse
off since the start to the end with M death, Eve quitting field work, Severine
death and Bond's wife abandoned when he decided to go back to MI6.
However M's death was a brilliant
representation of women and how they are equal to men because in the past three
films since the reboot they were changing her character to make her less
powerful "Casino Royale, Quantum of
Solace and Skyfall, M's initial strength, which I argue comes to defying
attempts to categorize her, disappears and replaced with uncertainty about
herself.".
But in her death scene you can see her actively helping James Bond to set up
his old house with traps and proving more than emotional support which is what
the majority of Bond girls only do in the first place and when she dies you can
see the genuine emotion coming from James Bond in that scene unlike the death
of Severine. To conclude I believe we have regressed from the 1960's and Dr No
due to the fact that modern day media allows more and more people to have their
voice heard but no female has decided to take a real stand against the James
Bond franchise.
Due to the
opening scene in Skyfall it shows that they are capable of portraying women
equal to James Bond even if it was for a brief stint but it possible none the
less so what they need to do is stop putting in Bond Girls who actually have
chemistry with Bond and are put on the same level as Bond which leads to a
better overall film for example in Casino Royale, it's held as one of the best
James Bond films of all time due to the chemistry between Vesper and Bond with
comments like "Their introduction does not come until 58
minutes into the film, but Vesper clearly makes a big impact on Bond and their
somewhat feisty relationship develops as they pose as a couple at the Casino
Royale in Montenegro".
It was different back in the 1960's
because of the fact that they were just starting to find their feet but it was
still a man's world “Women are denied a viewpoint...” and they still had more of
an impact stopping James Bond in comparison to the modern day. For example when
James Bond first came out (The book series) there was uproar of women standing
up against this book calling it "Sex, Snobbery and Sadism" ,
"Fleming's Deadly Sin"
and "Junk Bond"
and these are all from newspapers when the books where released back in the
1950's so why has the outcry stopped.
It can be strongly argued that believe
that it comes down to what do women want because they have chosen to ignore all
the misogyny with review about Skyfall from women saying "With wry
geriatric jokes, a plot that strikes 007 right where he lives and even some
throwback gadgets, Skyfall gives James Bond a delightfully retro reboot."
that has come from this franchise for no reason at all for example when
Avengers Age of Ultron came out there was weeks of hate coming from women
talking about how the film portrays Black Widow as a slut and decided to
boycott the film entirely so it can be strongly argued that all comes down to
if women want to challenge one of the biggest movie franchises of all time.
But linking back to the question it can
be strongly argued that we have regressed from the 1960's due to the fact that people now have more
opportunities to get their opinion across to the public but they decided to say
nothing in comparison to people in the 1960's who at least tried to fight
against this movie franchise. It's become even worse in recent years due to the
rise of new and digital media and now people can become even more vocal than
ever before about things they disagree with.
Another key example of this is when they
showcased a black stormtrooper in the latest Star Wars film The Force Awakens
with comments like "blacks have taken it all from us: our belongings, our
lives &now our films. ban black actors from invading white spaces."
and "white children deserve wholesome movies, not more PC anti-white
diversity crap." also
on Twitter there was a campaign called #BoycottStarWarsVII purely due to people believing that
having a black character in a franchise like star wars in a horrible thing to
do.
Also when a black stormtrooper was
discovered this was national news in America so if people are so quick to
voice their opinion on Star Wars which is an equally beloved franchised like
James Bond maybe even more loved than James Bond why aren't we discussing the
misogyny of this character.
It's becoming more clear that everyone
is aware of the fundamental problems that James Bond's character has but people
just don't want to have a serious discussion about it for example in this
article from the Time "Every few years we get a new Bond film, which means
every few years we get a new Bond girl. With each new film, we ask, will this
be the time where we get someone who is more than just a damsel in distress,
perhaps even a woman to save the day? The answer is always no. James Bond is
the saviour of the world so ceding power to anyone would be unthinkable."
The only
way this is going to change is if the Propp's character structure stop
fundamentally effecting the film which I believe it is doing currently,
secondly people need to stop seeing James Bond as this great white saviour
because of this people see him as a role model which he isn't he is a
misogynistic person who kills people and does whatever he wants and finally
they need to stop including women in the James Bond films unless they are given
the same amount of power as James Bond is given.
So the representation of women in the James Bond franchise hasn't
made much process if any at all due to the fact that no one wants to challenge
the 50 year franchise into doing something different instead of copying and
pasting the same story over and over again.
Word Count
without Quotes = 3,190 words
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