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| Connery during his bodybuilding days |
I don't have a Bond alum or event to report on today, so I will continue with Part II of my ongoing discussion about Ed
Brubaker’s comic book spy story,
Velvet
that started last year and is its second story arc of the series. I gave a
presentation at Wondercon last year on the series and am revisiting and
updating my paper. You can find Part I post on Wednesday June 3, 2015.
Defining Male/Female Roles from the Eon Productions’
Bond films
In this section, I will briefly discuss the roles that men
and women filled in the Eon Productions James Bond films. This is meant a
quick, high-level refresher only since I’ll be teasing out the details of these
definitions as I discuss Velvet Templeton.
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| Connery and Andress, on Dr. No set |
October 5, 1962 at the London Pavilion, audiences witnessed
the birth of “Bond. James Bond” in Dr. No,
as uttered by relatively newcomer, Sean Connery: an enduring global spy
phenomenon was born. Suave, intelligent and lethal in battle and in the
bedroom, our filmic James Bond has been Caucasian male from the British Isles
(in most cases). Their hair and eye color has varied from one actor to another
and they have all been taller men. All of them have had moderately fine
physiques and usually were in their 40s when they portrayed Bond (there have
been outliers to that statement, but I’m relaying general terms). Dalton and
Craig’s Bond have gone rogue from MI6, but usually all of the Bonds were
devoted to their Queen and country and always loyal.
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| Goldfinger and his henchman, Oddjob |
There was another defining moment in that first Bond film
that was just as important. From the moment Ursula Andress’ Honey Ryder stepped
out of the water in a snug white bikini, knife strapped on her hip and holding
a couple of large conch shells, vibrant beautiful women became inexplicably
tied to the secret agent’s image. All of the Bond Girls have been beautiful,
intelligent and sensual; often they are victims, damsels in distress, or sometimes Bond’s sidekick or helper
through the film. As to looks, well we have had all types of appearances –
always slender and usually in their 20s or 30s. It should come as no surprise
that alongside the debate about the best actor to portray Bond, so too does the
conversation lead to discussions about who was the best Bond Girl: there cannot
be Bond without his girl.
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| Lee as M |
The other main character of the films is the arch-villain.
This person, almost always has been portrayed by a man who is out for world
domination. The method getting there has been paved with gold, genetics,
lasers, water, oil, bombs and so much more. Generally, they are not attractive,
unless a woman fills the role, and can be classified as, well, maniacal in their
thought and deeds. And, the villain always has his or her henchmen or
henchwomen. Henchmen are typically killed while henchwomen usually turn on
their crazy boss after succumbing to the charms of Bond, only to die later for
being a turncoat. These mini-bosses have come in all shapes and sizes as well.
The most memorable: Oddjob, Jaws, Pussy Galore, etc.
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| Llewelyn as Q |
The last group of individuals that are staples to the Bond
films are M, Q, and Miss Moneypenny. I’ll talk about Miss Moneypenny in a
moment because she is important to Velvet’s story, which I’ll talk about in
Part III. M is an interesting character because a man and a woman have
portrayed M during the history of the films. For many of the films, we had
Bernard Lee, who represented structure and gateskeeper of agency protocol,
sometimes having to resort to the stern father figure for Bond when James has
turned in a bad showing as an agent with a license to kill. But for a time, M
was a woman, Dame Judi Dench. She represented the same as the man, but the dynamics
of the relationship changed; she seemed to have doubts (within herself as a
leader, perhaps) and struggled to control her firecracker of an agent.
Q, on the other hand, always admonishes Bond for being
careless with the gadgets, but essentially, the Quartermaster filled the shoes
of the older, wiser uncle. He, and he has always been portrayed by a male
actor, is a bit of a mystery. Had he served in the military? Or was he always
an innovator? In any case, Q and James are the old couple but deep down, they
respect each other.
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| Connery and Maxwell |
As a counterpoint to Q, Miss Moneypenny has always been a
Miss and when Bond has to see M, he always lingers at the secretary’s desk.
Their flirtation is fun and tantalizing. The romantic tension between them is
playful, however the professional line is never crossed. Fleming never revealed
a first name for the endearing secretary in his novels, and in The
Moneypenny Diaries, a trilogy of novels
penned by Samantha Weinberg under the pseudonym Kate Westbrook, Westbrook gave
Moneypenny the first name of Jane. In You Only Live Twice, it is revealed that she was an officer with the
Women’s Royal Naval Service. In subsequent films, Miss Moneypenny is shown
participating alongside M in official meetings. While she could be considered
the “Girl Friday” type, she was more than just an assistant. For her position,
she would have had clearance to top-level reports and she was probably tasked
with preparing intelligence reports. It wasn’t until Skyfall that the audience learned that Miss Moneypenny’s
first name was Eve and the events that led her to hang up her gun and take a
position as M’s secretary are revealed.
In Part III, I’ll discuss how Velvet came into existence and
introduce her story.
© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All
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