Maryam D'Abo and Bond girls are Forever
actonsteve
Posts: 299MI6 Agent
As with everyone I watched the documentary "Bond Girls are Forever" out on the Casino Royale DVD. Written by Maryam D'Abo, presented by Maryam D'Abo and produced by Maryam D'Abo.
Well, I wasnt impressed. There were a couple of times I got angry. The problem?
Well, I think the age old problem of Bond and feminism. This is the first time someone has done a feminist critique on film about the Bond films. And she put forward some pretty impressive argumments and some of the "Royal Family" of Bond girls were present and interviewed. Ms D'Abo had to have a particular slant of how the role of Bond girls had changed since 1962.
But I cant help but wonder if she got it wrong.
To Ms D'Abo the proactive "feisty" Bond girls (Jinx, Wai Lin, Holly, Pam) were the best. They all should be like this. The more demure Bond girls (Tania, Solitaire, Kara) were letting the side down. I always thought the better written Bond girls of the books (Tracy, Honey, Domino) were the more interesting. It was their story which kept you reading to the end
Also, I'm beginning to think she had real issues. She kept on saying her character was ONLY a cello player and the part wasnt "kick ass". It was obvious Miss D'Abo was disapointed about not being a "kick ass" Bond girl. I also found her critique of the Moore era when she showed Maud Adams her scene of 007 slapping her was highly embarassing. I really felt for Maud being put on the spot like that.
All in all, her feminist critique of the Bond girls was well thought out and probably long overdue. I'm in the Jill St John camp "If you have a problem being a Bond girl dont take the role"
And I just conclude that James Bond and feminism dont go together.
Well, I wasnt impressed. There were a couple of times I got angry. The problem?
Well, I think the age old problem of Bond and feminism. This is the first time someone has done a feminist critique on film about the Bond films. And she put forward some pretty impressive argumments and some of the "Royal Family" of Bond girls were present and interviewed. Ms D'Abo had to have a particular slant of how the role of Bond girls had changed since 1962.
But I cant help but wonder if she got it wrong.
To Ms D'Abo the proactive "feisty" Bond girls (Jinx, Wai Lin, Holly, Pam) were the best. They all should be like this. The more demure Bond girls (Tania, Solitaire, Kara) were letting the side down. I always thought the better written Bond girls of the books (Tracy, Honey, Domino) were the more interesting. It was their story which kept you reading to the end
Also, I'm beginning to think she had real issues. She kept on saying her character was ONLY a cello player and the part wasnt "kick ass". It was obvious Miss D'Abo was disapointed about not being a "kick ass" Bond girl. I also found her critique of the Moore era when she showed Maud Adams her scene of 007 slapping her was highly embarassing. I really felt for Maud being put on the spot like that.
All in all, her feminist critique of the Bond girls was well thought out and probably long overdue. I'm in the Jill St John camp "If you have a problem being a Bond girl dont take the role"
And I just conclude that James Bond and feminism dont go together.
Comments
I don't think Ms. D'abo was trying to make a feminist statement with this documentary. In fact, the one time that feminists are mentioned, Jill St. John calls them "bad sports," taking the Bond films much too seriously. She says: "Bond women are larger than life. They're not meant to represent "the real woman." They're meant to represent almost a dream-like quality. It's a fantasy quaity. How can anybody take that seriously and complain about it? It's meant as entertainment. It's not meant as a social statement or a chronicle of how far women have come in life."
Bond films have been a target of the feminist movement. However, just because Maryam D'abo asks somebody about it doesn't neccessarily mean that she is a feminist herself or that she agrees with their view of the Bond films. She was merely throwing the question out there objectively.
I don't recall Ms. D'abo declaring the latest Bond girl roles "the best." I also don't remember her being disappointed with the nature of her character. I mean honestly, can u picture a Maryam D'abo with guns blazing or fists in the air?
The role of Bond girls has changed. They are no longer smacked on the bottom like in Sean Connery's time. The last time Bond hit a woman was in 1995. Bond girls have transformed from damsils in distress into Bond's equals. Things change with time.
The point of the documentary was not to make a social statement, but rather to document the changes in Bond girls over time. Maryam D'abo herself admits that Bond girls are not just a fantasy for men. She believes that they also mean a lot for women. Now, does this sound like the voice of a feminist?
-Roger Moore
The Bond series has always been sexist and will always be sexist. If people want politically correct feminist movies, they should watch the Lifetime channel, not James Bond movies
Yeah I definitely didn't get that when I saw it either. She was like "I can't believe he got away with that in Octopussy!".
I was like: Maybe he was a little forward, but I don't think he went all out raping her there. Then she said what a different time the 80s was, when that decade was when the independent Bond girls started emerging, Octopussy being one of those girls.
I think there was a social statement running all the way through this. There is nothing wrong with this. A feminist critique of James Bond is probably overdue. What I didnt like was the tone where ex Bond girls were put on the spot and meant to explain their decision to take the roles in the wake of feminism. And she asked this of St John, Chiles, and Carey. And Maud Adams was made to look at TMWTGG again in a feminist context.
Anyway, I shall watch again tonight and come back and answer your points individually.
The women who came off best were Jill St. John and Carey Lowell who both seemed content with their role in Bond women history.
Lois Chiles does not act naive. When discovering the name of her character she says: "How am I gonna explain that to my parents?" However, she does admit that she strangely likes having one of the more obscene names.
One thing she was unhappy about was the film's closing line ("Take me around the world one more time."), believing it to also have a sexual connotation (which I can see
-Roger Moore
To Maud Adams...."Your chararacter is a female victim. How do you feel about that?"
The inclusion of Jane Seymours voice when she is filmed on the set of Doctor Quinn medicine woman where she says James Bond is not an english gentleman for the tarot card trick.
Are they not leading questions?
I take your point but she asks this of all of them. Does that not suggest an angle?
Interestingly, the very bright ones ie Chiles, Paluzzi, Lowell and St John (who is a member of mensa) seem the most au fait about being a Bond girl and have come to terms with it. Carey Lowell even pulls a face when D'Abo uses the term 'Bond woman' saying it is more politically correct.
There was definitely an angle to this documentary and Ms D'Abo definitely found the evidence she wanted ie the treatment of the Mankiewicz/seventies Bond girl. But she must have been suprised when other evidence presented by Adams, Blackman, Andress etc seemed that they were rather proud of their roles. That they are not ashamed of them.
Ms D'Abo also went with that angle with Eva Green. I call Vesper a post-nineties Bond girl. She doesnt need to mimic 007 by blasting around like Wai Lin or Jinx, She is mysterious, intelligent and enigmatic.All the attributes that dont really impress Ms D'Abo and her idea of what a Bond girl should be.
I cant help think that Ms D'Abo is stuck in the eighties.
Do they?
TND - Bond saved Wai Lin when the Vietnamese thug had the gun in the bike shop, when Carver had her at gun point on the stealth ship. Also, Bond seemed to be in charge of that boke, not Wai Lin
TWINE (Elektra) - the scene where she and Bond get trapped under the snow - how was that not damsel in distress?
TWINE (Christmas)- She waited for Bond to rescue her in the submarine, in the nuclear test site. It was Bond doing all the stunts at the caviar factory
DAD - Jinx, the "Bond equal" shes the one who was about to get killed with a laser in iceland...bond saved her. The she got trapped in an ice palace...bond saved her. While Jinx was flying a plane, and fighting Frost, when that was all over it was Bond who saved her.
CR - The stairway fight, the kidnapping/car crash, even bond going after vesper into the house.
Additionally, both Paris and Solonge can be likened to damsel's in distress, both are stuck in marriages they want out of.
I think Bond girls will always be damsels in distress. I think that Bond will always be superior to his leading ladies. This isnt a sexist comment - its simply because we're paying to see a Bond movie, not a tomb raider. Bond will be the dominant character, irregardlss of gender.
What irks me is people who rubbish on about how treatment of women has changed over the years. Bond has been up against female agents since 1977 in TSWLM. Jinx was 25 years after that - that doesnt make her new. As for people saying that the women of today's movies are 00's or nuclear scientists, thats true. But quite frankly Tatiana was a significantly more involving character over Jinx. I see Jinx as a devolved girl over Tania.
Of course Natalya needed saving on the train, but later in GoldenEye, it was she who had to make the decision, since she suddenly became the more important factor in Trevelyan's plot than Bond.
Did d'Abo interview Scorupco? I forgot...
I've come to the conclusion that the phrase "shes his equal" and "this one is different" is given for every Bond girl probably to get them on board. I've certainly heard it for thrity years.
No, sadly it was devoid of Brosnan girls, except for DAD.
And JFF, you're almost right. Not only did I leave Natalya off my list, I left off Xenia too! GE actually did have strong leading ladies to its credit. Natalya is not in the same class as "Bond equal" jinx
And all of those were independent Bond girls, but I know that Bach NEVER EVER talks about TSWLM and Bouquet stays away from FYEO too. I wonder why that is... most of those were independent women too, except for Mary Goodnight that is.
And thanks taity, I think Natalya is the most "Bond equal" of them all, but Xenia and Natalya are both strong women, except they weren't "equal" or "strong" in a sickeningly irritating way like Wai Lin or Jinx.