Tracy Draco vs. Xenia Onatopp
ironpony
Posts: 57MI6 Agent
I feel these are the two best Bond girls of the series, but it's hard to pick which one is better. Does Xenia count as a Bond girl since she is a henchwoman, or does that not count?
Tracy is the best in the sense of the best developed character and performance, where as Xenia is the best for just raw sexiness and guilty pleasure, if that counts? What do you think?
Tracy is the best in the sense of the best developed character and performance, where as Xenia is the best for just raw sexiness and guilty pleasure, if that counts? What do you think?
Comments
Tracy's best comparison is Vesper, and Xenia's is Fatima Blush.
That's true, but I guess that's what makes them the best Bond girls is I am comparing the best orange to the best apple of all the apples and oranges if that makes sense?
I think I would have to say that Tracy is slightly better than Vesper and Xenia is slightly better tham Fatima though.
Glancing at the thread title got me imagining a girl fight! I'm not sure who'd win... Xenia is the pro but Tracy has some moves: just ask Grunther!
#Gymkata. I'd agree with your point in terms of Holly Goodhead's structural role in the story of MR, although, in terms of acting and performance, other Bond women whose competencies matter to plot outcomes, such as Pussy Galore or Wai Lin, are played more energetically and memorably, imho. (Both of my examples admittedly need rescuing.) That said, I'm always appreciative of love of MR!
I too think Xenia and Tracy are too different to say who's the "best". I'd say Tracy together with Vesper are the best Bond girls (but both die. Does that say anything about me or the series?). Xenia is the best henchwoman.
There is also the laser fight in space. And Jaws and his girlfriend. 😏
They are completely different types of characters, not directly comparable.
Tracy is so good as she is for two reasons:
1 - Fleming wrote her that way. She probably gets more pages devoted to her character than any other FlemingGirl except Vivienne and maybe Tiffany. She was the definitive exploration of his concept of the "bird with one wing down", and why Fleming's Bond is attracted to such types.
2 - Diana Rigg played her. We were very lucky such a competent and charming actor played the character, as other than Honor Blackman, up to this point it was mostly models and/or non-English speakers cast as lead BondGirl. But she is better as Emma Peel. If you like this performance, and 60s spyfilms in general, its time to start watching seasons 4 and 5 of the Avengers.
Xenia is not a Fleming character, and very shallowly written, basically a gimmick character. But Famke Jannsen gives an all-time great scenery chewing villain performance. I always give bonus points to a scenery chewing villain. But I think Barbara Carrera's performance as Fatima Blush was even more outrageous, she was the best part of that movie by far. Either one of them could have been a Batman TV villain except for the sexual innuendos.
Luciana Paluzzi's performance as Fiona Volpe should also be compared to Xenia, she is the prototype. She played a very similar character in the first Man from UNCLE film, before Thunderball.
Holly Goodhead, as mentioned by Gymkata, is most impressive as co-leads go. She too is a Fleming character in all but name, filling exactly the same plot functions as Gala Brand. Once they are in space, Bond in fact contributes nothing useful except as muscle, while Goodhead is qualified to do all the important work. Doesn't Bond look heroic pulling those plugs out of the wall in the Orbital Communications room while she reprograms the camouflage unit? Then of course only James Bond can aim and hit those evil globes while Holly Goodhead flies the shuttle and reenters the atmosphere. But Lois Chile's performance is quite bland.
Madeleine Swann is also more comparable to Tracy in terms of plot function. But we haven't seen her character in Bond25 yet, so it's too early to say for sure what she's all about, except that Bond has quit his job to be with her.
We may forgive you one day....
True, but a great series of comments resulted.
I think Tracy is popularly regarded as an iconic Bond girl for many reasons, some of which have been mentioned on this thread. As much as I think Famke Janssen is a very attractive woman whom I would like to have known personally in a dating sense, I don’t see how her character in GE would be in close ranking to Tracy as a Bond girl. Maybe Ironpony’s reasons are similar to mine, to quote Depechemode, “it’s a question of lust”?