So Sean Connery died today and I had a few thoughts because he was a bond (ha!) I had with my father and I had a different "Bond" experieince, I think. . . Other than what is written here I have no defense for the misogyny but sometimes intentions do not thave the effect or outcome they are supposed to. . .
Bond girls are always written about, these days, as if they are exploited, objectified and subservient, and they certainly were to an extent. But my first Bond movie (I think I was around 12, and it was Dr. No) was actually the first time I saw women with any power or authority.
My mother and most of the women that I knew stayed at home and were “home makers”. Some had worked at interesting jobs before they were married, or had kids, but working women were not part of my life generally. Lilly McGrath, whose husband was an RCMP officer, was eventually secretary to Canada’s official languages commissioner, but stayed at home with her kids before they went to school. Jean Roberts was a childless social worker, and there was a woman or two that worked with my father. But most of the women I knew day to day were housewives or home makers – or worked at home – whatever you want to call it – they were “domestic goddesses”. I was not male identified I did not want to be a man but somehow I understood I did not want my life to be like the women I saw around me.
I guess before Bond, there was Mary Poppins and Maria in the Sound of Music. . . both out at approximately the same time. And, even then Maria was just moving from God to a man, and had a traditional – wife/look after children role - though she was unique in her methods and so a “rule breaker”, and Mary Poppins came with magic but still used it to look after children. Still pretty close to the domestic sphere. – But with James Bond - Dr NO, and soon after Goldfinger – Pussy Galore was also a strong woman who could fly a plane. . . changed my view of women for the better. Maybe I did not understand before the movie, that women could be villains, or evil, or not just be trying to “please” a man. But it did make me feel that I could be powerful, as a woman!
In Dr. No, the first woman we see, who appears to be some kind of “agent”, or possibly evil, is a woman taking photographs at the airport. She would have seemed to me “exotic” but also seemed in charge of herself.
In the film we see a dark haired woman (Miss Taro) playing a betting card game – she is the only woman at a table with men, and again seems to be sure of herself – and makes “advances” at Bond and speaks in double entendres.
I think, up until then, I thought women had to sit back and wait for men to come to them. The whole "waiting for the phone to ring" trope. Suddenly there is a woman gambling, seemingly suspicious (if not evil) and coming-on to an adult man. Later she invites Bond to her house and expects him to be killed on his way to her. When he arrives safely she is surprised, we now know she is evil, and will try and kill him, but once again she has more agency than any woman I had seen until then.
Although Honey Ryder is “saved” by Bond and is the “good girl” in the film, she is also on her own, (i.e. without a man) on a forbidden island, breaking the rules, free diving for shells and carrying a knife at her waist.
Somehow that film forever changed my view of women and the possibilities. (Note I acknowledge problematically women of colour were "evil" and the very white one was the good girl. Not sure if that affected my unconscious, but I seem to have successfully grown out of it consciously! Although not denying inplicit bias!) These women were professional, sexual on their own terms and aggressive not passive, and had incredible agency – no man was in charge of them! Suddenly it became clear, I did not have to be a housewife. I did not have to be subservient to, or wait for men to come to me. It was life changing even though “bond girls” are not traditionally thought of as feminist icons! You had to find your power in odd places in the mid-60's!
