Robert A. Caplen's Blog

Skyfall , the fiftieth anniversary installment in the James Bond franchise, opened across the United States last month.  Its success in Europe was a harbinger for record-breaking box office receipts on both sides of the Atlantic.  Much has already been written about the film, which some predict may take home several Oscars—possibly even earning a Best Picture nod from the Academy.  Few words, however, have been written about the Bond Girls.  Or, in the case of  Skyfall , the Bond Dame.
In my analysis of James Bond and feminism, I observe three distinct periods that describe the Bond Girl archetype as it evolved over the past fifty years: the Golden Era of the Bond Girl, which concluded with  Moonraker  in 1979; the Post-Feminist Bond Woman Era, which spanned the films beginning with  For Your Eyes Only  in 1981 and ending with  The World Is Not Enough  in 1999; and the Revisionist Bond Girl Era, ushered in with Die Another Day ten years ago.  Skyfall fits neatly within the continuum, imbuing nostalgia for an era we have left behind while marching forward. The nostalgia is offered by Eve and Severine, who provide the appetizer. Eve is a field agent-turned secretary—perhaps a step backward in career advancement—who ultimately exercises choice and full autonomy over her career.  Severine is, in essence, a throwback to Andrea Anders from  The Man With the Golden Gun , an object of desire whose function is to bring Bond to the villain and who cannot serve two masters.
The forward-looking, main course is ultimately M, the true "Bond Girl" in  Skyfall .  The gravitas with which Skyfall presents its protagonist—how she reacts to monumental change, instability, uncertainty, and threats against both her livelihood and her life—is its true strength.  An attack upon British Intelligence is, ultimately, a personal attack against M, and she considers it as such.  Bond is the dutiful, irreverent-yet-obsequious blunt instrument that M wields in the field against the perdition lurking in the shadows.  The lighthearted flirtation and tit-for-tat banter between Bond and Eve, as well as the chemistry between Bond and Severine, offer brief moments of levity in a film that otherwise awakens depth and complexity heretofore unseen in a Bondian female.  It is, as Bond once quipped in  Goldfinger , "positively shocking" and wonderfully executed by Dame Judi Dench.
Dame Judy Dench as "M" in Skyfall 
That the  Skyfall  Bond Girl is a Bond Dame removes sexual aesthetics from the equation, permitting the lens to focus entirely upon the character's substance: M is nothing short of professional; dispassionate under pressure, whether responding to rapid gun fire or rapid fire from the Ministry's inquisition; and intent on completing her job on her terms.  She is unapologetic for the ramifications of her decisions, even as those decisions threaten her demise.  Having shattered the glass ceiling, this M expects her male subordinates to pick up the shards and carry on.
Eve and Severine are Bondian feminism, fitting easily within the framework of the franchise's successful formula.  The M we see in  Skyfall , however, embodies true feminism.  A Revisionist Bond Girl Era indeed.

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SHAKEN & STIRRED: THE FEMINISM OF JAMES BOND
by Robert A. Caplen
(c) 2010, 2011 by Robert A. Caplen
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The first installment in the SHAKEN & STIRRED series, THE FEMINISM OF JAMES BOND by Robert A. Caplen is an independent book of historical scholarship, cinematic analysis, and critique. The FEMINISM OF JAMES BOND book, this website, and all materials related thereto, associated therewith, and appearing herein, are not associated with, and have not been prepared, endorsed, or licensed by any individual or entity that created, produced, or is affiliated with the James Bond novels or films. Accordingly, it bears no relation, association or link, directly or indirectly, to any James Bond rights holder. All images used in connection with SHAKEN & STIRRED: THE FEMINISM OF JAMES BOND have been licensed from their respective owners. All intellectual property rights related to the James Bond novels and films belong to their rightful owner(s).

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