Is James Bond now part of today's culture of toxic masculinity?
Seventy years ago, in 1953, Ian Fleming, a British WWII planner and supervisor for commandos, published a brief espionage novel, Casino Royale, and thus James Bond was born. The book allowed Fleming to reimagine British imperial greatness and continue in fiction his command over manly men willing and able to kill and die for a cause, for the thrill of the fight, and for pride...
...the great ideological struggle post-WWII was not against communism abroad, but at home against feminism. Men loved Bond because they knew they were losing. Indeed, feminism has won and Bond is now an exemplar of toxic masculinity, probably in need of therapy. ...
...According to the pieties of our times, Bond is now beginning to face censorship for being, as was said of Byron, “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”...
... Meanwhile, women must still feel the shock of Fleming’s decadent Romanticism, infamous for phrases like “the sweet tang of rape.” Intersectionality is hierarchical, after all, and it’s not yet fully structured in our entertainment...
...For my part, I’m confident Bond will be severely censored and I expect the change to come with the next series of films, when we will have a politically correct 007. Perhaps his mission will be to execute the politically incorrect. He will be a good “ally,” no doubt. Nowadays, this is what passes for a sophisticated view of art—didacticism, it used to be called, and it was despised as moralistic. Works of art used to be judged by how they reveal human nature, not simply by advancing an ideology...
...Bond was bold and demanding, especially in his vices, drinking and smoking only the best, and chasing after glamorous women. This may come as an insult to career women. Or they may indulge the fantasy of glamour themselves....
...Toxic masculinity is manliness when we’re afraid of it and also think we don’t know what to do with it. The best image we have of it is James Bond, because he’s part of our modern world, but he is aware of its dark side, too...We need him to let us know how to think about danger and why we need to face danger to become men. Even women might need Bond to learn how to judge men...
I like the early James Bond movies, with the kooky criminals, crazy inventions, formulaic plot lines, and, ahem, the girls.
Alizée had a song about dreaming of becoming a James Bond Girl
Anyway, the later James Bond movies, in my opinion, had too much action, not enough of a plot. I don't care for them.
I also like the various parody movies--Austin Powers, OSS 117, some of the Jean-Paul Belmondo movies, Johnny English, Fantômas, etc.
I perceive the James Bond movies as being just silly, innocuous entertainment, with a touch of eye candy. Nothing deeper or more meaningful than that.
I never read any of the books. Future movies might be more "politically correct", to satisfy the author of the article that I cited, but I'm unlikely to watch them, simply because they overdo the action and don't have enough of a plot.
Archer [2009–?] is an animated exaggeration of James Bond. The title character is Sterling Archer who is spectacularly good in dangerous situations; and spectacularly dangerous in just about all other situations, as well. He has all of James Bond's bad characteristics (such as drinking and womanizing) turned way up. His mother runs a small, independent special ops business which employs Sterling and a few others...and just about everyone there is deeply flawed.
The show is very funny. And very unsuitable for younger audiences.
_________________ When diagnosed I bought champagne! I finally knew why people were strange.
Joined: 16 Mar 2023 Age: 36 Gender: Male Posts: 291 Location: 90º north Lat, 90º south Late
14 Apr 2023, 8:14 pm
Had a co-worker whose wife took Archer seriously and his wife hated it and would always leave the room; it's only facetiously misogynist and racist though. Even the JB movies I grew up watching were pretty messed up, but I still think Moore was the best Bond.
14 Apr 2023, 10:40 am
