“But let’s not forget that he’s actually a misogynist. A lot of
women are drawn to him chiefly because he embodies a certain kind of danger and
never sticks around for too long. He’s very f***ing lonely. There’s a great
sadness. He’s f***ing these beautiful women but then they leave and it’s…sad.
And as a man gets older it’s not a good look. It might be a nice fantasy -
that’s debatable - but the reality, after a couple of months…” - Daniel Craig
on Bond’s character
“The world has changed. I am certainly not that [sexist and
misogynistic] person. But he is, and so what does that mean? It means you cast
great actresses and make the parts as good as you can for the women in the
movies.” - Daniel Craig
“The problem with this analysis is that she previously gave him
her address and looks crestfallen when he doesn't show up. And he's Bond! The
entire franchise is predicated on the idea that women find him sexually
irresistible. Because what woman wouldn't want to sleep with an emotionally
distant trained killer? It's really neither here nor there if I think that
Daniel Craig has all the sexual allure of a bouncer from a Bolton nightclub
doing a bad Ross Kemp impression and Bond's relationship with women might best
be described as ‘pathological’. He's Bond! And this is a straightforward rescue
fantasy. True, the shower scene does have overtones of Psycho but, even within
the context of the film, we're invited to see him as an emotionally stunted
commitment-phobe.” - Carole Cadwalladr, Guardian writer on Skyfall
“Ideologically, none of us should like the Bond films, they are
sexist, heterosexist, xenophobic, everything that is not politically correct.
Either the audience don't notice these ideological issues or the films provide
a different kind of pleasure.” - Professor James Chapman
"the sadism of a schoolboy bully, the mechanical
two-dimensional sex-longings of a frustrated adolescent, and the crude
snob-cravings of a suburban adult" - Journalist Paul Johnson, a review
from Dr No, in the New Statesman, from 1958. The review was titled “Sex,
Snobbery and Sadism”.
"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." - Bidisha, writer of Venetian Masters
“You’re a sexist, misogynist, dinosaur.” - M, on James Bond,
played by Dame Judi Dench, in her first Bond film, Goldeneye.
“Thing is, the Bond of these early books really isn't the
unfeeling shagger of the movies. In Casino Royale he falls hard for Vesper; he
finds in her something which has eluded him in previous relationships, to the
extent that he's on the verge of proposing to her before her treachery is
finally revealed. And it's the revelation of that treachery and the letter that
Vesper writes to him that drives Bond to tears and causes him to utter that
last line. As a consequence, we're left with the impression that Bond will
henceforth be unfeeling, uncaring: a hater of women, even.
What's surprising is that this couldn't be further from the
truth. In the next book in the series, Live and Let Die (1954), Bond again falls for
a woman – not as hard as he did for Vesper, sure, but it's also clear that
Solitaire doesn't merely represent a fling for him. He reflects at length on
her allure, telling her, "You kiss more wonderfully than any girl I have
ever known." And if you think that's simply a line on his part, I should
point out that it's much, much worse than that: Bond actually means it. In
fact, the picture that develops over the course of the next few books is of a
man who, far from being a serial sex fiend, is actually more of a serial
monogamist. Book to book, when it comes to women, Bond is a big ol' softy.
Now, I don't want to be too much of an apologist here; Bond's
attitude towards women is frequently
chauvinistic. But it's worth remembering that these novels – at least the ones
I'm considering – were written in the early- to mid-1950s, when chauvinism
wasn't exactly out of the ordinary.
Based on the novels I've read so far, you could, I think,
accuse James Bond – and possibly Ian Fleming – of being many things: a snob,
certainly; a masochist, definitely; a homophobe, potentially; a racist,
casually – although again those last two are more a product of their time than
an active agenda. But a misogynist? I'm not so sure. If anything, I'd suggest
that James Bond is, in fact, an illustrious example of that most unfortunate
and ultimately doomed of beasts: the incurable romantic. And it'd be churlish
to criticize a man for that.” - Nick Jones, owner of Existential Ennui, Spy
book collector, on the early James Bond novels
“The key woman in Solace is Camille Montes, a trained fighter
and secret service agent seeking revenge on the villainous General Medrano.
Bond treats her as a protege, not as a booty call. Together, as agents and
equals, they bring down the bad guys.
“Connery's bond would slap women around, and the films
presented them as playthings for the main character. That's a long way from
1995's GoldenEye, where Bond's main squeeze, Natalya Simonova, was a computer
programmer with sass and survival skills, and one of the villains was a woman
soldier. Sure, she killed men while she had sex with them, but she was, at the
very least, more than a withering flower.” Danielle Riendeau, on the changes in
Bond’s portrayal over the course of the franchise.
In one of their first encounters, Bond, thinking he's being
heroic, "saves" Camille from Medrano, only to find out she'd worked
years to get close enough to the general to assassinate him. He thinks he's
doing her a favor, but she's understandably angry with him for blowing her big
chance. Later in the film, Camille saves another woman from being raped by
Medrano, and faces off against him in combat, eventually killing him and
bringing her own journey for justice to an end.
It's rare for a Bond film to allow a woman to be strong in the
same ways Bond is — and Quantum of Solace deserves praise for treating its
woman agent with this respect.” - Danielle Riendeau, writer for Polygon, commenting on the
improvement of Bond’s casting in Quantum of Solace.
“Eve begins the film as a
field agent. At first, I was excited to see a woman of color presented as a
tough, competent lady in the field. Then she basically screws up on a mission,
causing Bond to be severely injured and drop off the face of the earth for awhile.
Later, she shows up to basically be a booty call for Bond. I could deal with
all of that, if it weren't for the fact that she resigns as a field agent by
the end to become a glorified secretary. Eve literally becomes Moneypenny (a
long-running Bond character) by the end of the film — Bond's secretary that
always lusts after him. The Craig Bond films had previously done without this
particularly sexist element, but here was a woman of color basically admitting
she had no place in the field, and taking a desk job instead. This was
enormously disappointing.
Bond's most egregious act of assholery takes place when, after
rescuing a woman from the clutches of Silva — where it is strongly implied that
Silva had sexually assaulted her — Bond walks in on her in the shower for some
surprise sex. Instead of reading as playful or fun, the scene feels gross and
intrusive. Bond would've known what this woman had been through, and walking in
on her as she is naked and vulnerable is unforgivable.
Later, that same woman is fridged — killed in order to give the
male hero further motivation to go after his enemy.” - Danielle once more, on
Eve’s role in Skyfall, and how she became “Moneypenny” and the sex act in the
shower that Bond had in the film.
“To the credit of Daniel Craig, his films have gone some way to
addressing the blatant misogyny with the inclusion of strong female characters
and have attempted to avoid the usual pitfalls, but it’s a battle he could
never win.
Both M and Vesper may have suffered premature deaths, but
importantly, not just because they were female – and therefore expendable – but
because they got their hands just as dirty as 007. Quite simply, they were more
than just “Bond girls” e.g. pretty young women in need of rescue.
However, based on the conclusion of Spectre and Craig’s recent
comments about slashing his own wristsas opposed to playing
Bond again, it seems highly unlikely that we’ll see him back as 007. Regardless
of whether or not you like him, Craig has at least attempted to address the
issue of misogyny (unlike his predecessors). In an amusing twist, it turns out
Daniel Craig was the hero James Bond needed, but not the one the franchise
deserved…” - Simon Roger Key, writer at D&C Film.
“Off topic, but I can't view James Bond as misogynistic. He's a
cutthroat spy with a license to kill, a duty to the Queen, and he absolutely
will do anything, use anyone, and steal, use, wreck, f**k, and kill anyone to
further his goals.
So he uses his suave demeanor to pick up a few ladies along the
way? Uses some to, again, further his goals by undermining them (if they work
for the enemy). He would use any man or animal if it were necessary. What does
sexing up a few ladies have to do with sexism?
It's like saying he's a murdering sociopath under a cool
facade. I swear these monkeys will find offense at the drop of a hat if it got
them off on the attention they never got as a child, or to pass the time in
their horribly unfulfilled life. “ - Anonymous
“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 neighbors in the theater.
The film had just introduced what had appeared to be a fresh
femme fatale, and promptly thrown it all away to use her as a plot device so
that Bardem's villain could be introduced. As a casual viewer, this was
upsetting. As a feminist, it felt personal. While was still largely able to
enjoy the remainder of Skyfall, since then, I've been more wary of the Bond
franchise. It might sound naive, but I had never considered that the new Bond
films (which mask their misogyny far more stealthily than the older flicks in
the franchise) were still treating women like such expendable figures—and now
I've become incredibly conscious of it.” - Jade Budowski of Trifecta, on the
more subtle nature of misogyny in Skyfall.
