From the comments, where a question is asked – and promptly answered:
Regarding which, John D replies,
Hard pass. Here’s an idea – make a good film with a good female character and start your own franchise. Or would that be too much work?
Ah, but then those of a progressive inclination couldn’t piggy-back their Current Year politics onto someone else’s work, established over many decades. Plus, there’s lots of self-congratulatory subverting to be done. All that signalling about how antiquated and tiresome it is to have a white, male hero being daring and heroic. Because hey, nobody wants that.
The Screen Rant article, by Shaurya Thapa, is, it has to be said, not entirely persuasive. There’s some obligatory wittering about things from the past being “problematic” – among which, the fact that a film series about an iconic male character has always featured said male character:
We’ve already had 25 movies with male James Bond actors… Bond is always portrayed as a smart-talking gentleman who shows up in a sleek suit, has a way with women, and prefers his martini to be shaken, not stirred. With seven actors and 25 movies, the persona of a male James Bond is bound to become oversaturated. A female James Bond with a brand-new charm and demeanour would be the solution to breathing new life into a character that’s nearing its saturation point.
Which does seem a bit like complaining that every season of the detective series Bosch features, among other things, a white, male detective named Harry Bosch.
But this is, we’re told, “the perfect time for a female Bond.”
Many iconic franchises have transitioned from the 20th century to the current one with more diverse casting choices… It’s only right that even the James Bond movies go beyond a strictly white male hero… It’s only a matter of time before a woman James Bond seems believable.
A woman named James.
We’re also told, “A gendered spin on the character can open up more potential for exploring Bond’s individuality.” And this exploration of the character’s individuality will apparently be achieved by erasing a rather fundamental aspect of the character – his maleness – and replacing him with an entirely different person of a different sex.
Readers are invited to ponder whether similar transitions might enrich the character of, say, Miss Marple, who, via similar logic, could be depicted as male, and as always having been male. Thereby exploring her individuality. Answers on a postcard, please.
The recent, sex-swapped iteration of Doctor Who is invoked as a “positive example” on this front, as if Jodie Whittaker’s brief, unloved manifestation had been a rip-roaring success – despite the terrible writing and wildly unpopular retconning, both loudly derided by fans, and despite the subsequent, rapid death-spiral of viewing figures. Because boring and alienating much of your audience, and shrinking it dramatically, is a political triumph. A breath of “new life.”
Onwards and upwards!
Mr Thapa, by the way, has written over a thousand articles for Screen Rant. He claims many areas of expertise, and many “domains of knowledge,” including fact-checking. He also boasts of his “academic background,” details of which are, sadly, not divulged.
Recent Comments