2d ago

Bond Fans Fear Amazon Will ‘Woke-ify’ 007—But the Franchise Had a Trans Bond Girl in the 80s

rudevulture.com Bond Fans Fear Amazon Will ‘Woke-ify’ 007—But the Franchise Had a Trans Bond Girl in the 80s

As Amazon MGM Studios takes full control of the iconic James Bond franchise with a reported additional $1 billion payment to longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, fans worldwide are questioning what direction the spy series might take under its new corporate ownership. The deal,...

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33 comments

Very strong "I'm not racist, I have a black friend" vibes from this article. One actress 50 years ago is hardly progress.
Rather than trying to redeem/rewrite 007, why not spin off a new character instead. Might take some effort and skilled writing, but Amazon have money right?
- Modesty Blaise
  Grew up in a refugee camp. Takes over a criminal gang, then turns it into an international mercenary syndicate that is employed by the British Secret Service. Is plenty good at killing, but prefers non-lethal weapons and martial arts. Has a long-time platonic male sidekick with whom she is emphatically not in a will-they-won't-they relationship; they're just best action friends.
  Modesty Blaise is just dying for a modern day franchise of her own, and she could just be Modesty Blaise, international woman of ass-kicking, not "the time they cast a woman as James Bond," or even a Bond spin-off. It's madness that it hasn't happened already.
  
  Arse-kicking, obviously.
  (I agree though)
  
  That would be refreshingly different.
- Not to mention all the actual racism, misogyny, and the rape.
  
  I appreciate the Bond series as legend, but my partner and I couldn't face any more movies portraying the same icky encounters as in ~~the first Casino Royale~~ Dr. No. We just felt incredibly uncomfortable for the woman being taken advantage of by Bond, in a beach hut
  We loved the Daniel Craig films, though. Suitably modern.
  
  The first Casino Royale is a parody starring David Niven. As I recall they specifically call that out to some extent.
  
  Ah sorry, I must be thinking of Dr No then. It had a scene in a beach hut. Thanks!
  
  And both feature Ursula Andress as I recall
- And calling her a "Bond girl" is a bit of a stretch. Great that she was included but she's not quite on the level of Melina Havelock or Countess Lisl von Schlaf in the movie.
  
  She was included because she was stealth and no one knew. It only came out after the fact.
  Most trans people were invisible at the time. You either did all the surgeries, fully passed, and cut off everyone who knew you pre-transition, or you didn't get get to live a normal life.
  She wasn't there because the filmmakers wanted to be progressive.

33 comments