Are the male M's Gay?
Gassy Man
USAPosts: 2,972MI6 Agent
So a discussion in another post about whether Bond is a rapist or not (he's not) made me think of how specious reasoning of limited and misread evidence makes it possible to conjecture any number of things that seem implausible.
In that spirit, let's tackle the idea that M in his male incarnations in the Eon films is gay.
Here's the evidence:
-- There is no onscreen evidence that M is married or has a girlfriend.
-- M is never seen in any romantic situation with a woman.
-- Aside from Moneypenny, he is almost exclusively seen in the company of men -- Bond, Q, Colonel Smithers, Sir Donald, etc.
-- When we finally see M's house, it's a modest country estate housing two men -- M and Hammond. This undoubtedly would be a cozy arrangement for two homosexuals. The house is also neat and tastefully decorated. There are flowers out front. A phallic cannon greets visitors.
-- M was in the Navy, and as we all know, homosexuality runs rampant in that service.
-- M has been seen wearing both a bow tie and a cravat.
-- M's relationship with Bond is often strained -- this could be unrequited sexual tension masked as authoritative brio.
-- His real name is purportedly Miles Messervy, which sounds suspiciously swishy.
-- He enjoys a pipe -- clearly phallic imagery.
-- When we meet him in YOLT, he's aboard a submarine -- clearly phallic imagery and the whole gay Navy thing.
-- He keeps a painting of Her Majesty, the Queen, in his office. Clearly, a queen is another term for a homosexual man, so this is code.
-- He was a vice admiral in the Royal Navy, which means he was in rank atop a rear admiral.
Discuss.
(No, for the record, I don't think that any of this proves one whit about M being gay, which is immaterial in the Bond films anyway. He could be gay for all I know. But absence of evidence is not evidence, and Occam's Razor, since gays are in a minority, unless we're given facts to back up the claim, the assumption that makes most sense is that he is straight.)
In that spirit, let's tackle the idea that M in his male incarnations in the Eon films is gay.
Here's the evidence:
-- There is no onscreen evidence that M is married or has a girlfriend.
-- M is never seen in any romantic situation with a woman.
-- Aside from Moneypenny, he is almost exclusively seen in the company of men -- Bond, Q, Colonel Smithers, Sir Donald, etc.
-- When we finally see M's house, it's a modest country estate housing two men -- M and Hammond. This undoubtedly would be a cozy arrangement for two homosexuals. The house is also neat and tastefully decorated. There are flowers out front. A phallic cannon greets visitors.
-- M was in the Navy, and as we all know, homosexuality runs rampant in that service.
-- M has been seen wearing both a bow tie and a cravat.
-- M's relationship with Bond is often strained -- this could be unrequited sexual tension masked as authoritative brio.
-- His real name is purportedly Miles Messervy, which sounds suspiciously swishy.
-- He enjoys a pipe -- clearly phallic imagery.
-- When we meet him in YOLT, he's aboard a submarine -- clearly phallic imagery and the whole gay Navy thing.
-- He keeps a painting of Her Majesty, the Queen, in his office. Clearly, a queen is another term for a homosexual man, so this is code.
-- He was a vice admiral in the Royal Navy, which means he was in rank atop a rear admiral.
Discuss.
(No, for the record, I don't think that any of this proves one whit about M being gay, which is immaterial in the Bond films anyway. He could be gay for all I know. But absence of evidence is not evidence, and Occam's Razor, since gays are in a minority, unless we're given facts to back up the claim, the assumption that makes most sense is that he is straight.)
Comments
"Better make that two."
Bloody hell that's me outed as I too have worn both !
"He [Bond] hadn't seen Sir Miles's eldest daughter in years. The old man had been a widower for as long as Bond could remember, and had two grown-up daughters from the marriage that few people knew anything about."
Maybe he had Moneypenny as his personal defence in the latest films, seeing how it was merely luck that he didn't fall overboard.
...except there is a Mrs Hammond, in Fleming. We just don't see her in that film.
In the early films all M had to do was set out the mission and let Bond get on with it.
Unlike todays Films, where every character has to have a Backstory, and "Grow" as
a person.
I was just about to say that I'm sure id read M was a widower. Good job I read all the posts. Also doesn't Mrs Harmond get mentioned in colonel Sun?
Puts paid to Bond going after another man - Blofeld - in OHMSS.
Emasculates Bond in Dr No, by taking his gun - and making sure he keeps hold of it, in his desk, presumably so he can fondle it whenever he wants.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
(In case someone hasn't read it yet:)
You're all correct that I'm being facetious. Something I despise is when people go off on the flimsiest of tangents to try to argue their position, often using a lack of evidence as evidence. Thus, Sherlock Holmes and Watson (like Batman and Robin) are secretly gay lovers, even through there is not one shred of evidence to support the claim (at least at the point the arguments were popular in the 1970s and 1980s). It's all, "Well, they could be because who knows what they're doing off the page/screen?" If we're going to go that far, we might as well say M is gay. Or transgender. Or a Martian.
I feel the same about the allegations that Bond rapes or sexually assaults women in GF and TB. It's clear from the context of what's onscreen that the women are written to be playing hard to get and then willingly and eagerly participate in what follows. Bond correctly surmises this from them, just as he surmises anything from the people around him. We can argue about whether the notion of hard to get is neanderthalic -- and it may well be -- but to argue that Bond rapes or sexually assaults Pussy Galore or Pat Fearing is to disregard the context of the scene. It's poor argumentation and critical thinking.
and it has been in print for quite a while. Now if you had
Mentioned the roulette table sex scene .... That would
Be different !
Personally, I think M is a Trump supporter, because not once in either print or film has he/she ever spoken out against Trump.
No. Seriously. Seriously now?
I still believe in Bond 25 it will be revealed that Dench M was Craigbond's biological mother. It's P+W, they should go and help Shonda write Grey's Anatomy Season 23.
An excerpt: http://www.parodies.org.uk/fleming-connolly.htm
I've always thought that parody was over-rated. (Although being the main force behind 24 Bond parodies in which James dreams of Felix every time he is asleep perhaps I should shut up!)
IMHO Bond's relationship with M (the male M(s), I mean since that is the subject here) is very much father/son with no sexual element. I'm basing this on Fleming, and Amis's view of the same. It pretty much holds true for the movies at least until recently- Ralph Fiennes isn't much older than Craig. With Judi Dench it obviously becomes mother/son.
Bernard Lee's M grumbles at Bond when he misbehaves (GF- "You've hardly distinguished yourself"), is proud of him when he does well (TSWLM- "Well done, James") and in general treats him as a son. Bond alternates between being keen to impress him (OHMSS- "Unusually small for a Nymphalis polychloris") and undermining him (take your pick!)- classic son behaviour. Although of course, neither of them want to rule the galaxy as father & son.
Similar examples could be picked out for Brown and especially Dench given her long tenure.
Perhaps a case could be made for Bond's warm feelings towards the roguish characters he meets- Kerim, Colombo (Fleming's spelling), Draco, Henderson, Tanaka, Litsas (from Amis) and arguably Quarrel. These are larger than life characters- physically big (bar Draco), loud, brash, modern-day pirates. Bond is drawn to them, not overtly sexually, but towards their magnetism. They form a contrast to his usual friends, Leiter and Mathis.
That's quite the reach.
And not around. -{
Bond: “I must be dreaming.”
hahaha!
"Better make that two."
I was convinced Adam West (Batman) was gay when he never got an erection (not that I was looking but in that outfit/underpants?) on screen when Julie Newmar (Catwoman) used to flirt with him in the series. I know he was quite the ladies man in real life but she was something else - what was not to like, she was stunning. Probably had some sort of anti Viagra device in that Utility Belt of his. 8-)
Jack Reacher-Round?
You noticed!
(on second thought(ss), compared to this, that is a very serious thread) "Even Bond fans have imaginations."
Personally I could care less. If you're a Catholic and a church goer by all means go nuts. If not and you're an atheist like myself who cares? Each to their own I guess if you even have an opinion.
For mine I think it could have been money better spent elsewhere; police force, immigration, hospitals, education etc.