Raju Korti
There is a great sense of achievement, testosterone and fun being able to live out your masculinity when you play an action role or an action-adventure or a real tough guy. If the latest ferment on the internet and western media is to be believed, the patented machismo of 007 James Bond is seriously threatened by an aggressive brand feminism that one has come to see in the last couple of decades.
Having read almost all of Ian Fleming in my impressionable school days and left awestruck by Bond's on-screen stunts peppered with technology advances scientists would fantasize, there was this unshakeable but utopian image of his character in my head. From time to time -- or so I felt -- this image took a little beating when the Bond switched his skin from Sir Sean Connery to Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig with assorted hunks like David Nigen, George Lazenby and a Timothy Dalton thrown in. So hooked we were as youngsters on Connery that it took sometime for us to reconcile that anyone else could also be licensed to kill. We had animated discussions on who was the real Bond until a few movies later we began to placate ourselves that Moore wasn't a bad choice either. I recollect as having read that Moore and his son were once sitting in a restaurant when in walked Connery. Seeing him, Moore's son said not-so-charitably "here comes the real Bond". Moore just smiled but there is no means to know whether it was genuine or forced. In all probability Moore Junior was also brought up on From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice. The Bond image was assiduously built up on a masculinity that no male -- of for that matter female -- could resist. This masculinity now is confronted by a pushy feminism even if that sounds like a feminist remark. However, a female Bond could redefine the James Bond franchise in the best possible way if it hasn't already escaped your attention that the women in Bond movies are no less enterprising, adventurous and have as many tricks up their sleeve.
Bond, Jane Bond, sounds as much interesting if you are prepared to accept Bond's change of gender. From what I have read, it is now a race between Emilia Clarke and Gillian Anderson (with our own Priyanka Chopra no less interested) and Leonardo Di Capri as their Bond boy. There is also a long list of men who are rumoured to be the one who will drink his Martini, shaken not stirred. Speculations are also rife that if cast, Idris Alba would be first Black Bond. So it is not just the gender but also the colour of his skin.
In her pitch, Clarke is convinced about this role reversal as a defining moment. Casting a woman is not merely about change of name and looks. A Jane Bond may not be shown as grappling with gender equality or issues that stand up as metaphors for the obstacles real women fight every day but It would be interesting if she does that in her movies as a sidebar. The battle begins with clinching the role in the first place and convincing that a female Bond could work well when the male protagonist is so firmly entrenched in people's psyche.
Bond films often portray sex as a weapon in and against 007's favour but if it comes to a female Bond, the idea would seem diluted. So her image would have to be suitably de-constructed, a challenge for the likes of Albert Broccolis and Guy Hamiltons. Jane Bond cannot afford to be just a bewitching woman in a male fantasy but a well rounded character who sticks to the core idea of being a secret agent compatible with a women's empowerment story. This is a chance for Bond makers for a gender correction to create a strong female hero. Still, that acceptance could be tough because there is this majority conviction that the swap won't work. The idea of woman taking the position of a man when you know James Bond has been an unwavering and accepted convention. It would be a tough call for Bond makers to reboot a 53-year-old franchise and package it for an audience for whom the very concept can be jarring.
A female Bond may or may not materialise but there is also this radical proposal that it was time the Bond was politicised. So far the Bond's raison d'etre was to safeguard the postwar order in the West. A case is being made out that the new 007 should go political and take on the real-life politicians who want to plunge the world into war and climate chaos -- issues like violent Jihadism, Russian intransigence, Chinese expansionism and refugee crisis. That would alter the Bond that Fleming had conceived in the fifties and make the hero more contemporary although I cannot resist wisecracking that it would be a case of Bond with the worst.
The concept of a female Bond may appears misogynist at the moment but why not experiment with misandry for a change? If James Bond can womanise, Jane Bond can have her share of men too. After all, to err is not always woman.
There is a great sense of achievement, testosterone and fun being able to live out your masculinity when you play an action role or an action-adventure or a real tough guy. If the latest ferment on the internet and western media is to be believed, the patented machismo of 007 James Bond is seriously threatened by an aggressive brand feminism that one has come to see in the last couple of decades.
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| A file grab of the trailer on female Bond. |
Bond, Jane Bond, sounds as much interesting if you are prepared to accept Bond's change of gender. From what I have read, it is now a race between Emilia Clarke and Gillian Anderson (with our own Priyanka Chopra no less interested) and Leonardo Di Capri as their Bond boy. There is also a long list of men who are rumoured to be the one who will drink his Martini, shaken not stirred. Speculations are also rife that if cast, Idris Alba would be first Black Bond. So it is not just the gender but also the colour of his skin.
In her pitch, Clarke is convinced about this role reversal as a defining moment. Casting a woman is not merely about change of name and looks. A Jane Bond may not be shown as grappling with gender equality or issues that stand up as metaphors for the obstacles real women fight every day but It would be interesting if she does that in her movies as a sidebar. The battle begins with clinching the role in the first place and convincing that a female Bond could work well when the male protagonist is so firmly entrenched in people's psyche.
Bond films often portray sex as a weapon in and against 007's favour but if it comes to a female Bond, the idea would seem diluted. So her image would have to be suitably de-constructed, a challenge for the likes of Albert Broccolis and Guy Hamiltons. Jane Bond cannot afford to be just a bewitching woman in a male fantasy but a well rounded character who sticks to the core idea of being a secret agent compatible with a women's empowerment story. This is a chance for Bond makers for a gender correction to create a strong female hero. Still, that acceptance could be tough because there is this majority conviction that the swap won't work. The idea of woman taking the position of a man when you know James Bond has been an unwavering and accepted convention. It would be a tough call for Bond makers to reboot a 53-year-old franchise and package it for an audience for whom the very concept can be jarring.
A female Bond may or may not materialise but there is also this radical proposal that it was time the Bond was politicised. So far the Bond's raison d'etre was to safeguard the postwar order in the West. A case is being made out that the new 007 should go political and take on the real-life politicians who want to plunge the world into war and climate chaos -- issues like violent Jihadism, Russian intransigence, Chinese expansionism and refugee crisis. That would alter the Bond that Fleming had conceived in the fifties and make the hero more contemporary although I cannot resist wisecracking that it would be a case of Bond with the worst.
The concept of a female Bond may appears misogynist at the moment but why not experiment with misandry for a change? If James Bond can womanise, Jane Bond can have her share of men too. After all, to err is not always woman.
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