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Lovely stuff. And an upbringing that mirrors my own in this context. I fully, fully agree.
Though some of us turned out better than others, admittedly.....;)
Let's clarify something: There is a difference between the franchise's approach to women and James Bond's approach to women. It is EON that put women in skimpy outfits and made them sexual objects. James Bond the character did not do any of that.
How EON has painted women for this franchise has indeed changed. To a lesser degree, Bond's relationship with women has changed, too. But this whole idea of Bond (the character) being a misogynist is inflated and based on reputation, not reality. Thee are actually very, very few incidents of Bond truly mistreating women. The Patricia Fearing incident in TB is the main one. There is the ass slap in GF, which is relatively minor. Another that is borderline is the slap of Tatiana, and that leads to my main point. We're talking about a spy game, here, folks. These are not innocent people, playing a game of Monopoly, with fake money. From a standpoint of espionage, Bond's actions are justified. He uses sex and sexuality as a weapon.
The furor over Bond's "rape" of Pussy Galore is the most egregious act of this kind of ignorance. Critics of Bond's behavior conveniently side step the fact that Galore's character is an accomplice in the planning of a nuclear detonation at a major U.S. military installation. Chew on that. Bond's job is to thwart that effort, and he could have done this quite violently. Bond is an assassin, but when it comes to women, within this world of espionage, he has other tools he can use (sorry for the pun).
Bond does not generally interact with women who are NOT part of this world. Sylvia, Honey, Patricia, Tilly, and Vesper are just a few. One could also make a case that Fields is not a part of it, either, and her presence in QoS is one of the most complex. That's a different discussion. In general, Bond's approach to women outside that world is quiote a bit different and always has been. One need only look at his reaction to Tilly Masterson being struck down by Odd Job. Bond leaves his position, risking his own life, to check on her, and he is visibly shaken by her death. (He is also quite bothered by Fields' death, as well). This notion that Bond hates and mistreats women is simply not true. Yes, he has hit women...but who were those women and what were their motivations? (Tatiana is the one act of violence that is hard to watch, if only because Bond jumps to a horrible and wrong conclusion.)
While I am sympathetic to the MeToo movement, I just do not see it as applicable to Bond, the character. In terms of the franchise, EON has more and more created stronger female characters, and there is nothing wrong with that. At the same time, @DarthDimi , I don't buy the franchise has ever been particularly "Flemingian." I don't think the argument that "enforced gender equality" is a voodoo curse. Gender equality isn't forced, it's a reality. How did Triple-X ever become a Soviet agent in the first place? Was that forced or a reality?
Correct. When I'm talking about "the Bonds" or "a Bond", I mean the Bond films, not the character.
I couldn't agree more.
Once again, I couldn't agree more.
And here too, I agree.
Well, I guess here we disagree, but only a bit. I wasn't referring to the characters we've already seen but to some people demanding that Bond be played by a woman, or that Bond doesn't ever outperform a woman at the crucial moments in the story. But even Triple-X, in the end, had to be rescued by Bond; and while she had considered killing him, a simple invitation to sex from Bond was enough to make her change her mind. While that's highly implausible in real life, it was probably the simplest way to end that particular movie. Bond saves the girl, no matter how talented she herself is, and certain other assets of his save himself. Some people had issues with that in '77, but nowadays you couldn't release a Bond film like this anymore, especially with that ending, or else the Internet would be burning down the house.
Gender equality and gender equality are two different things. One is a fact, the other a mission. Those crusading for it often lose perspective themselves; in fact, as you have laid it out very well in the previous three paragraphs, people accusing the Bond films of being mysoginist and whatnot, are doing the series a serious disservice.
Hence why I'm calling it a voodoo curse. We've never been screaming for a female Bond or a Bond "woman" (because "girl" is nowadays unacceptable, apparently) who saves him all the time. Yet from nowhere, these delirious opinions have come creeping in fast; suddenly, some people have seen the light! They claim that Bond is not of these times anymore, that he has to change, that he is a misogynist and that this is not something we want to get exposed to these days. But as you have said it yourself, Bond's attitude towards women has changed too; it's still perfectly acceptable, isn't it? So what are they talking about and why do they insist on pressing this issue, unless these people are gruesomely obsessed with their mission to invade EVERY popular property out there, just to find a platform. They will continue to find reasons to accuse popular movies of not being there just yet, no matter what the filmmakers do.
The series, I think, has always done its best to stay as Flemingian as possible, and I'll concede that's not the same thing as following Fleming's template straight on. What I meant was that Bond doesn't have to be perfect, faultless or a textbook example of "gender etiquette". By demanding that Bond surround himself with "strong women" without whom he couldn't accomplish his mission, or better still, that Bond become a woman himself, they are sucking the Fleming right out of it. I want a Bond film to tell a good story with characters that are essential for it. I don't want a Bond film that results from nothing but compromises to placate those insisting on something LGBT-positive, gender-positive, race-positive, politically correct, ... Because then there is not a lot to enjoy anymore.
@DarthDimi +1
Spectre Trash.
it's the new UK release date, yes. Was announced alongside the teaser poster.
:)) :))
https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/scott-z-burns-the-report-james-bond-no-time-to-die-162350366.html
And Burns was involved in 007’s new adventure, No Time To Die, after being hired as a script doctor by director Cary Joji Fukunaga. But what’s it actually like to write a Bond film?
“It sounds really corny,” Burns tells Yahoo Movies UK, “but if you’re a screenwriter, and you’re working in Final Draft, and you type in the character ‘Bond’ and you get to write dialogue: You do have to chuckle.”
“To me, it’s the most significant movie character of all time. It’s a privilege to work on that. You just can’t be cynical about it. And the work that Daniel has done to evolve the character is so great.
“Cary has all sorts of ideas about where he wants to take the story, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge and I overlapped a bit, and I’m a huge fan of hers.”
How does it feel to have another iconic writer come on to your project?
“When you’re brought in to rewrite something, it’s all hands on deck. Your job is to solve a set of problems. I was brought in late in the game, and we were barrelling towards production. And so, you know, you just want there to be ideas.
“It’s one thing when it’s a character you’ve created, when you have that pride of authorship.”
Will you marry me? :-) That post made my day. Made me think back to when I was 10 and watching people melt in 'Raiders..' and seeing Bond kicking Loques car from the cliff. Trauma-stuff today. A jolly good time back then.
Thanks..
My girlfriend insists that I shouldn't, but hey... I'm glad we're on the same page. ;-)
When's the wedding, you know I don't live that far from you...
[-(
I know. I usually leave it to porters to tell me this sort of thing.
Well that’s pretty obvious. I pointed out Safin being a Russian name the minute after they broke the news. The connection between the name and all those car plates seen in the Norway/Scotland shoots sounds like a super strong confirmation about Russia featuring in the third act.
colleague would be to have a conversation with him to explain everything. In fact it would be great to have an adult supervision rather than learning it from one's peer groups. It is up to the parents to teach their kids from right and wrong, communication is the key here. With internet and TV and all the mediums these days children are growing at faster pace and parents have to keep up with them as well. Film's and television does have an impact on our life for a certain period and age, not every kid is intelligent enough to differentiate between right or wrong that is where parents come in. If she wants her child to see bond film's let her start with Roger films because they are more light hearted and really popcorn entertainment (as we call it) with minimum to no adult content or even pierce films because they are fun and enjoyable for younger one's and classy enough to give new fans a taste of world's most famous superspy ;)
Well, actually they did. JJ hinted at Rey being somebody special the whole film... and surprise, actually she isn’t a so called “nobody”! The fans just wanted an instant answer, they had to wait 4 years.
But have we seen the Land Rover at all in Scotland, Norway, Matera, in racing action? That's why I brought up the russian plates (and Safin being russian villain). I know some other cars have them.
Much ado about nothing, I think.
You're elevating a minority opinion into far too much importance. Who are these "some people" you're talking about, anyway? A very loud but very small number of people on YouTube or Twitter?
The last 2 Bond films have made over $2 billion. Things are fine.
I’m sure we may look back in 10-20 years time and just accept these societal changes that drive change in the franchise. For example Judy denchs casting as the female M was IMo instrumental in making everything at MI6 post Goldeneye seem fresher, more contemporary and less like dads army.
The part that is unforgiving is, to boycott a film that even us hardcore fans know very little about, only based on tabloid trash and 'stuff that people been saying online'.
And then producing countless hours of 'commentary' about it. Must suck not to have a life.