UNIVERSITY OF VAASA

Faculty of Philosophy

Niina Sorvari

A Sexist, Misogynist Dinosaur?

The Changing Representations of James Bonds Masculinity

Masters Thesis

VAASA 2010
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 3

1 INTRODUCTION 5
1.1 Material 6
1.2 The Bond Genre 8
1.3 The Cinematic Bond 14

2 PERFORMING MASCULINITY 19
2.1 Filmic Representation 19
2.2 Doing Gender 22
2.3 Defining Masculinity 23
2.4 The Four Sites of Filmic Masculinity 27

3 REPRESENTATIONS OF JAMES BONDS MASCULINITY 29

3.1 The Body 29
3.1.1 The Gaze 29
3.1.2 The Actors 40
3.2 Action 42
3.3 The External World 47
3.3.1 Interaction with Friends 47
3.3.2 Interaction with Villains 51
3.3.3 Interaction with Women 55
3.3.4 Relation to Institutions 65
3.4 The Internal World 68

4 CONCLUSIONS 74

WORKS CITED 76
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______________________________________________________________________

UNIVERSITY OF VAASA
Faculty of Philosophy
Discipline: English Studies
Author: Niina Sorvari
Masters Thesis: A Sexist, Misogynist Dinosaur?
The Changing Representations of James Bonds
Masculinity
Degree: Master of Arts
Date: 2010
Supervisor: Tiina Mntymki
______________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT

Tutkielmani aiheena ovat James Bondin maskuliinisuuden representaatiot, jotka

muodostavat hyvin tunnetun kuvan hnest kovana, hegemonisena sankarihahmona.
Aineistona kytn viitt James Bond -elokuvaa eri vuosikymmenilt: Goldfinger
(1964), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Living Daylights (1987), Tomorrow
Never Dies (1997) ja Casino Royale (2006). Tutkielman tarkoituksena on tarkastella
miten Bondin maskuliinisuuden representaatiot ovat muuttuneet vuosien saatossa.
Hypoteesini on ett James Bondin maskuliinisuus on muuttunut sosiaalisten muutosten
vaikutuksesta: Bond kulttuurisena ilmin on tiiviisti yhteydess maailmaamme ja
yhteiskunnassa tapahtuviin muutoksiin, jotka puolestaan heijastuvat Bondin hahmoon.

Tutkimuksen pohjana kytn Pat Kirkhamin ja Janet Thuminin elokuvallisen

maskuliinisuuden esittmisen kategorioita. Teoreettisina lhtkohtina ovat mys Laura
Mulveyn teoria elokuvan miehisest katseesta sek Judith Butlerin idea sukupuolen
rakentumisesta tekojen kautta. Analyysin kohteina ovat James Bond erotisoivan katseen
haltijana sek kohteena, nyttelijiden fyysinen ulkonk, Bondin vkivaltainen
kyttytyminen ja kestvyys, kanssakyminen miesten ja naisten kanssa sek
suhtautuminen instituutioihin ja tunteiden nyttminen.

Tutkimustulokset osoittavat ett Bondin maskuliinisuus on muuttunut yhteiskunnallisten

muutosten vaikutuksesta, esimerkiksi naisten oikeuksien paraneminen ja kylmn sodan
pttyminen ovat vaikuttaneet ratkaisevasti Bondin hahmoon. Jos Bond on jollain
alueella menettnyt hegemonisen asemansa, on toisia miehisi piirteit korostettu
enemmn. Mys itse hegemonisen maskuliinisuuden ksitys on muuttunut vuosien
saatossa.

______________________________________________________________________

KEYWORDS: James Bond, representation, hegemonic masculinity, filmic masculinity,

gaze
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1 INTRODUCTION

It has been estimated that between a quarter and a half of the worlds population has
seen a James Bond film, either in the cinema or on television (Chapman 2000: 14). I
myself grew up watching James Bond films on television and still find them irresistibly
captivating and entertaining. Everyone knows Ian Flemings James Bond and the kind
of life this agent 007 of the British Secret Service leads: driving fast cars, gambling for
huge sums of money, sleeping with beautiful girls, saving the world from
megalomaniac villains, travelling all around the world and always overcoming the most
threatening dangers. The films and novels themselves naturally fascinate people because
of their adventures, action and exotic locations, but a great deal of the attraction lies
within the character of James Bond; a name which has become to signify stylish
masculinity and urban self-confidence (Cork & Stutz 2008: 23). It is precisely his
manliness that exists at the very core of his charm and appeals to both men and women.

During the last 25 years representations of men in general have attracted more and more
academic attention. James Bond, in particular, functions as a representative of the
normative human being, the middle-aged, white Anglo-Saxon. The aim of this thesis is
to study how Bond is represented in five Bond films that cover a period of 42 years:
Goldfinger (1964), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Living Daylights (1987),
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and Casino Royale (2006). I will concentrate on studying
how his masculinity is constructed i.e. how Bond is constructed as the hard and heroic
man that the audiences recognise and admire. I will use Pat Kirkham and Janet
Thumins (1993: 11) categorisation of the four sites of filmic masculinity as a basis for
the study, so the areas analysed include the body, action, the external world and the
internal world.

It can be expected that the character of James Bond has not remained the same for the
past 42 years because reality has an effect on fiction, characters and narratives. When
values and practices in society change, popular representations are bound to reflect
those changes. Moreover, since representations are an inherent part of society, they, too,
have an impact on social values and ways of thinking. Social change must have caused
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James Bond to change as well, but in what ways? Have some aspects changed more
noticeably than others and what could explain this? Is he still a sexist, misogynist
dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War as M (Judi Dench) calls him in GoldenEye, or has he
adapted to the changing values and practices of contemporary society?

1.1 Material

Since this study focuses on how representations of Bonds masculinity have changed
over time, I have selected one representative film from each decade. The material
extends over a period of 42 years. The material consists of Goldfinger (1964), The Man
with the Golden Gun (1974), The Living Daylights (1987), Tomorrow Never Dies
(1997) and Casino Royale (2006). These feature five of the six actors who have played
Bond: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.
It is important that the films have different actors because an individual actors presence
and interpretation of Bond provide something new to the character, and thus, his
masculinity gains different nuances in different films.

The five James Bond films that are analysed in this study have been made between the
years 1964 and 2006. In Goldfinger (1964), which is the third film of the whole series,
Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to investigate a gold bullion dealer called Auric Goldfinger
(Gert Frobe), who is suspected of stockpiling great quantities of gold. Bond befriends
the villain and uncovers his plan to obliterate the world economy by contaminating the
bullions held at Fort Knox with nuclear radiation. Bond has to face, among other things,
a giant laser threatening to cut him in two and the metal-rimmed hat-throwing Oddjob
(Harold Sakata) before he manages to ruin Goldfingers plan with the help of his own
private pilot Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman).

In The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), 007, played by Roger Moore, receives a
message that he is the next target of the assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher
Lee), who charges one million dollars for a kill and uses a golden gun with golden
bullets. In addition, Bond must find a solar cell called Solex, which is a device that can
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convert the suns radiation into electricity. By working together with the lovesick fellow
agent Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) and Scaramangas mistress Andrea Anders (Maud
Adams), Bond eventually wins the game of cat-and-mouse.

In The Living Daylights (1987), Bond (Timothy Dalton) helps General Koskov (Jeroen
Krabb) to defect from the Soviet Union to the West, where he is abducted from his
hideout only a few hours later. Soon Bond discovers that Koskov staged the attempted
assassination on his life by convincing his beautiful cellist girlfriend Kara (Maryam
dAbo) to shoot blanks at him. Bond travels with Kara from country to country tracking
him down with the police and Koskovs henchman on their trail. In the end, the real
traitors are revealed and punished. This was the last Bond film made during the Cold
War.

In Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Bond (Pierce Brosnan) works together with a Chinese
secret agent Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) in an attempt to prevent the media mogul Elliot
Carver (Jonathan Pryce) from instigating a war between China and Britain. The mission
becomes personal when Carver discovers that his wife Paris (Teri Hatcher) is Bonds
former lover and assassinates her. Bond, however, gets his revenge eventually when
Carvers invisible stealth boat is sunk by the British, taking him down with it.

Casino Royale (2006) is based on Flemings first novel in which Bond (Daniel Craig)
has to prevent a villain called Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) from winning millions in a
poker game, so that when penniless and chased by his creditors, he would be forced to
turn to the Service for protection. Along on the assignment with 007 is the British
Governments smart and beautiful accountant Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), with whom
Bond falls in love so deeply that he resigns from his job. However, in the end he learns
his lesson never to trust anyone after being betrayed by Vesper.
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1.2 The Bond Genre

Ian Flemings creation, James Bond of the British Secret Service, appeared for the first
time in 1953 in the novel titled Casino Royale. The agent was named after an American
ornithologist with the same name, because it sounded plain and dull enough to Fleming.
The reason for this was that the hero had to remain a neutral figure also by name
because the things that happened to him were so extraordinary. (Chancellor 2005: 112)
The question regarding who was the model for Bonds character has existed ever since
the first novel appeared, and throughout the years, several actual spies have claimed to
have been Flemings inspiration. Some have also pointed out that his brother Peter, who
was a famous travel writer, had many similarities with Bond. However, Fleming himself
served in the Naval Intelligence Department during the Second World War, an
experience which is strongly echoed in his novels. He became accustomed to the world
of spies through his work, but shared also the same interests with the character he
created, namely girls, good food, golf and gambling. Though he was not a secret agent
himself but a personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, 007 still resembles
him to a great extent. To further reinforce the connection between Fleming and Bond,
photos of the author posing with a gun in his hand in film-noir style lighting were used
to promote his novels. (Chancellor 2005: 21, 26, 37, 51, 54) After Casino Royale,
Fleming wrote eleven Bond novels and two short story collections.

Flemings creation was proved unique, and already by 1964, the year when Fleming
died, over 40 million copies of Bond novels had been sold worldwide (Chancellor 2005:
6). Bonds adventures on paper did not, however, come to an end with Flemings death.
Other writers, such as John Gardner and Christopher Wood, have contributed to keeping
Bond alive by either writing their own stories or by adapting films that are not based on
Flemings original works into novels. Also Kingsley Amis, who is well-known for his
literary study of the Bond novels called The James Bond Dossier (1965), has written a
Bond story under the pseudonym Robert Markham. (Bennett & Woollacott 1987: 49) In
addition to Bond films, which have become one of the most successful movie franchises
making over billion dollars a film (Chancellor 2005: 6), there are video games and other
merchandise related to the films, magazines and fan clubs dedicated to 007, as well as
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interviews with the film-makers and advertisements. All these various texts contribute
to the popularity of James Bond and construct his character outside the novels and
films.

Bond has become a part of culture in many ways. Bond films are aired on television in
Finland every two or three years and in Britain on Christmas Day (Bennett &
Woollacott 1987: 38), which has led to James Bond becoming a house-hold name by
having a role in our everyday lives and traditions. There are numerous parody films, and
as early as in 1967, a parodical version of Casino Royale was made with renowned
actors such as David Niven, Peter Sellers and Orson Welles. Other successful parodies
include Spy Hard (1996) with Leslie Nielsen, Johnny English (2003) with Rowan
Atkinson and Mike Myers Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) which
was followed by two sequels, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). These films exaggerate and mock the style
established in Bond films in humorous ways and at the same time support the formulaic
nature of the original franchise. The films and Bond himself can function as an
intertextual source for other texts of popular culture, which further reinforces his status
as a prominent cultural figure.

As Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott (1987: 13) point out, Bond is a cultural
phenomenon of a certain kind. His existence is not confined to merely being a character
in the novels and films. People know the values Bond stands for without being familiar
with the original works because of the information they get through other texts.
(Bennett & Woollacott 1987: 14) Bond is a character of great resonance not only
culturally but also socially and politically. The films and novels often refer to topical
issues, and Bonds character has always been strongly tied to cultural and ideological
concerns by functioning as a representative of masculinity as well as for the West and
capitalism during the Cold War (Bennett & Wollacott 1987: 1, 18). The technology and
various gadgets used in the films have often been ahead of their time as well.

The Cold War had a significant effect on the creation of Bond and the whole spy genre,
which differs from other genres through its political content (Chapman 2000: 25). When
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Fleming began to write Casino Royale in 1952, the tension between the capitalist West
and the communist East was at its peak. Attitudes were cold, and the world was divided
in two: the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China and North Vietnam clashed
ideologically with the United States and most of Western Europe. The US and the
Soviet Union, in particular, participated in a nuclear arms race, attempting to create
more and more powerful weapons. The need to find out the enemys plans and progress
prompted the use of espionage. The war was cold also because it was fought by spies in
secrecy and not by thousands of soldiers on the battlefield. Fleming was strongly
influenced by the atmosphere of the time and by the spies he met because of his
profession. (Chancellor 2005: 206208) Fleming was, however, not the only one
affected by the circumstances, and the Cold War induced the birth of the spy genre in
the 1950s which boomed on film later in the 1960s. Spy novels and films were
extremely popular and portrayed spies as heroic, mysterious and even romantic
characters. James Bond, who fills all these descriptions, was a part of the emergence of
the spy genre.

According to John G. Cawelti (1997, original 1969: 71), all cultural products consist of
a mixture of conventions and inventions. Formulaic works of art are conventional, since
they follow certain codes known to both the audience and the creator(s). Because we are
familiar with these conventional rules, we know that, for instance, in a detective novel,
the detective will solve the crime and reveal the culprit, and that in a spy story, the agent
will complete his mission successfully (Cawelti 1997: 74). People in general want
stability and security in their lives, which is why we value the repetitive nature of
formulaic structures in popular narratives. However, we also have an innate desire for
variation, hence the popularity of serial works, which provide different plots within the
same structure (Berger 1992: 46), as Bond films and novels do.

The texts of a genre are separated from those of another genre by certain aspects such as
time, location, heroes, heroines, villains, secondary characters, plots, themes, costume,
locomotion and weaponry. For instance spy stories take place in the present and have
the whole world as location. The characters are an agent, a female spy, fellow agents, a
villain and henchmen. The agent wears suits, travels by cars and planes among other
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things, uses a pistol, often with a silencer, and has a mission, usually to save the world.
(Berger 1992: 3133) Though these aspects are different, for example, in a Western and
a science fiction story, they are still alike in that they both follow a somewhat similar
structure.

In his study on Russian folktales from 1928, Vladimir Propp discovered similarities
between the structures of different folktales and the roles of the characters in them.
Classic folktales have heroes and heroines, villains and villainesses. The heroes have
helpers, which can be people, animals or magic powers, as does the villain. There is a
conflict between the hero and the villain, which is indirectly also a conflict between
good and evil. They are the opposites of each other in many ways. The courageous hero
is young and social, whereas the villain is older and usually unloved and alienated. The
villain seeks power and wants to dominate others, but the hero often collaborates with
other characters and needs their help to defeat the villain. In addition, the heros love for
the heroine is romantic, whereas the villain feels lust and women want him only for his
wealth. (Berger 1992: 2022)

Propps study revealed also the structural nature of narratives. At the beginning of a
traditional fairy tale, the hero is given a task, traditionally to save the heroine from the
villain. On this quest, the hero faces various ordeals and obstacles but overcomes them
with the help of other characters and sometimes magic powers. In the end, he reaches
his destination, confronts the evil villain and destroys his whole empire. The heroine is
rescued by the hero, who then marries her. This structure of a classic fairy tale is the
model for all narratives of modern popular genres, from science fiction to adventure and
spy stories etc. Some parts can also easily be modernised to correspond the narratives
today, for example, instead of the hero marrying the heroine, the hero sleeps with her at
the end. (Berger 1992: 14, 2022) Bond stories, in particular, follow this traditional
formula of a fairy tale quite closely, and according to Umberto Eco, there are nine
moves in a Bond plot:

1. M gives Bond a task.

2. The villain appears to Bond.
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3. Bond gives a check to the villain or the villain to Bond.

4. The girl appears.
5. Bond possesses the girl or starts the process of seduction.
6. The villain captures Bond and, either simultaneously or before or after,
the girl.
7. The villain tortures Bond and, in some cases, the girl.
8. Bond vanquishes the villain, killing him and his representatives.
9. Bond makes love to the girl but he loses her: she leaves him or is killed.
(Berger 1992: 120121)

Most of these actions clearly correspond to the structure of a classic fairy tale. Bonds
helpers include other agents and gadgets, and he must defeat several henchmen before
facing the main villain. The order of these actions may vary, as can the characters,
locations and plots, but Bond novels are always structurally similar. The formula
applies also to the films because spy films are usually adapted from novels (Chapman
2000: 24).

According to James Chapman (2000: 2022), Bond films can be seen to belong to
different genres, which are the spy thriller, the adventure serial and the Hollywood
action movie. Being a combination of various genre traditions alone makes the series
one of a kind, but Bond films can also be regarded as a genre of their own. They are
unique when it comes to their production ideology, and there is no other similar series
that has been as long-lasting or has the character James Bond. (Chapman 2000: 22) The
films balance between conventions and inventions as all works of popular narrative, but
the formulaic nature of Bond films has been further emphasised for practical and
financial reasons. At the early stages of the franchise, the production company
deliberately focused on investing more on other areas in the films, such as locations,
gadgets and female stars, in order to avoid making the films dependent on one specific
actor (Bennett & Woollacott 1987: 198). Because of this, certain recurring features, so
called trademarks, became a part of every film. These Bondian effects, include:

the gadgets, the foreign locations, the threatening character of the villain,
who must incorporate both a physical threat and an intellectual threat to
the hero, Bonds relationship with the girl, the jokes and the form of the
crucial pre-credits sequence (Bennett & Woollacott 1987: 180).
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These are the general guidelines to be followed, and the audience knows what to expect
when they go see the latest film. These trademarks differentiate the films from other
works within the spy genre, thus supporting the idea of the Bond genre. In addition,
there are other, more specific details that make a Bond film a Bond film.

At the beginning of a Bond film, there is usually a scene where Bond, seen through the
barrel of a gun, walks into the frame, turns and shoots at the camera thus causing blood
to run down the screen while the James Bond theme plays at the background. The title
sequence during which the Bond song is performed and the credits are shown,
traditionally, has images of scarcely dressed women. In the film itself, there are certain
characters who appear regularly, such as Bonds superior M, his flirtatious secretary
Miss Moneypenny and Q, who provides all the gadgets. Bond has some well-known
recurring lines, and without doubt the most famous one is the way he introduces
himself, Bond, James Bond. Another unforgettable line is heard when he orders a
vodka martini, shaken, not stirred, which was not actually used in the early films but
was established later. Furthermore, Bond is naturally known for his humorous one-
liners which he often delivers right after someone has died at the end of a fight. In these
cases the purpose of the one-line joke is to allow the members of the audience to
distance themselves from the violence (Spicer 2001: 76). These characteristics make the
Bond genre unique and instantly recognisable.

Although the latest films with Daniel Craig as Bond contain some drastic changes, as to
having left out some trademarks typical for a Bond film, they still remain loyal to the
formula of a Bond adventure. As James Chapman states: the generic formula of the
Bond films is not permanently fixed, but adapts and modifies itself according to various
industrial, political and cultural determinants (2000: 200). In addition to being a
symbol for the West and capitalism, Bond also strongly stood for masculinity during the
late 1960s and early 1970s and became greatly criticised by the feminist movement that
was growing at that time. However, during the last five decades the world has changed;
the Cold War was ended, so now, instead of communists, Bond fights against terrorists.
Similarly, as a result of the criticism by the feminist movement, the Bond girls have
become more independent and resourceful than before. For a Bond film to attract new
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audiences year after year, it has to be changed in order to be topical and interesting to
viewers. This principle of adaptability also applies to Bonds masculinity which cannot
have remained the same, considering that the franchise extends over almost 50 years.

1.3 The Cinematic Bond

Ian Fleming himself always wanted to see the Bond novels made into films. In fact, the
stories of two of his novels, Moonraker (1955) and Thunderball (1961), were originally
film ideas which he eventually developed into novels. After the publication of Casino
Royale in 1953, many producers approached him, and a year later, the first Bond novel
was adapted into a one-hour teleplay but with various alterations. For instance Bond
was Americanised and called Jimmy instead of James. In the following years, other
adaptations surfaced, and in 1958 Fleming was commissioned by CBS (Columbia
Broadcasting System) to write a thirteen-part television series starring Bond.
Unexpectedly, Fleming pulled out of the project, and the series was never made.
(Chancellor 2005: 224226) Despite the various television adaptations, 007 did not
succeed in making a breakthrough, and Flemings novels did not attract more readers.

It was not until 1961 that a Canadian producer Harry Saltzman along with his friend
Albert R. Broccoli bought the filming rights to all Bond novels except Casino Royale.
Fleming himself did not take part in writing the scripts for the films. For the role of 007
he suggested a good friend of his, David Niven, and as a second choice the young Roger
Moore. However, Saltzman had already found his own favourite, the relatively
unknown Shakespearean actor Sean Connery. Fleming was not particularly satisfied
with his choice at first but changed his mind after meeting Connery in person. It was
decided that the first film was to be based on Flemings sixth novel Dr. No because it
was the most visual of his work so far. (Chancellor 2005: 227) However, some aspects
of the novel had to be altered for an adaptation more suitable for the cinema.

Fleming himself had stated years earlier, how Bond and his world should be portrayed
on film: [i]n real life, the secret service is a tough, modern organization very far
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removed from the cheery, tea-drinking myth usually attached to Scotland Yard (qtd in
Chancellor 2005: 226) and that the audience should dislike Bond until they get to
know him and then they will appreciate that he is their idea of an efficient agent (qtd in
Chancellor 2005: 226). He wanted the James Bond of the novels to be transferred into
film just as he was: tough, fatalistic and rather humourless. Nevertheless, the
scriptwriters of Dr. No took another approach and modified Bond by creating the
tradition of humorous one-liners which have been present in every Bond film ever
since. They lightened the mood and convinced censors to pass the films despite their
abundant use of sex and violence, but at the same time this decision was a step further
from Flemings Bond. There is no irony in the novels, and compared with the Bond on
film, the Bond on paper in general kills fewer people, sleeps with fewer women and is
more vulnerable and serious. (Chancellor 2005: 48, 63, 75, 80, 228) Even though the
film-makers did not follow the original text faithfully, they knew exactly what they
were doing, and the film found its audience.

Dr. No was a success, and soon Bond was known all over the world. An icon was born,
much thanks to Sean Connery. To begin with, he fitted the description of Bonds
appearance perfectly, but the character and the actor fused together on other levels as
well. According to Bennett and Woollacott (1987: 45), an actors real life can become
fictionalised and blended with screen images to result in the construction of a mythic
figure poised midway between the two. This is the case with Connery and Bond. Since
he played Bond in the first film of the franchise (and in the next four as well), his acting
and looks strongly defined the character, even more than all the other actors who have
played Bond. Connerys own demeanour, confidence and sexual magnetism became the
characteristics of Bond (Cork & Stutz 2008: 24), and even today many regard him as
the real James Bond, because he gave the agent a recognisable face and set the overall
tone on how to portray 007. Despite this strong link between Bond and Connery, every
actor has brought something new and different to the character compared with previous
actors. Their physical looks, talent and ways of portraying masculinity are naturally
merged with the characteristics of Bond, who always changes a little with the changing
actors.
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Connery presented Bond to the audiences as debonair, brooding and ironical. He kept
his cool in every situation and was a hero who never failed. He defeated the villains,
saved the world and got the girl at the end and often at the middle of the film. After
Dr. No, Connery did four other Bond films: From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger
(1964), Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1967). He returned to the role in
1971 for Diamonds Are Forever and again in 1983 for the unofficial Bond film Never
Say Never Again1. The films Connery made were rather light, and the deadpan humour
used in them was full of self-irony. This was needed to bring some reason to the world
of the film with its exotic settings and unbelievable situations by indicating that Bond
himself realised some things that happened to him were rather absurd, not just to the
people watching the film (Ambjrnsson 2001: 16). His remarks connect Bonds world
to reality and prevent it from becoming too fantasy-like.

Before Connery returned to the role in the 1970s, an Australian model George Lazenby
starred in one film called On Her Majestys Secret Service (1969). By choosing a man
with good looks but no prior experience in acting, Saltzman and Broccoli took a great
risk. In addition to the new lead actor, the film deviated from previous films by focusing
more on the story and characterisation and by diminishing the number of various
gadgets (Chapman 2000: 137). Peculiar and unnecessary references were made to
Connery in order to indicate that the actor had changed, but Bond also examined old
gadgets from previous films to create a link between the new actor and the past films. In
addition, the fact that in this film Bond did something extremely unorthodox and got
married might have estranged some critics and members of the audience. Nevertheless,
Lazenby managed to make Bond look like himself and avoid imitating his predecessor
too much, but the film still made less profit than the previous films, and he did not
return to the role.

The eighth film, Live and Let Die (1973), introduced Roger Moore, the former Saint
Simon Templar, as the new Bond. After a good response from the audience, it is no
surprise that in the next decade or so Moore did six more films: The Man with the

1
Never Say Never Again was not produced by the company of Saltzman and Broccoli, thus it is often
excluded from the franchise.
 17

Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes
Only (1981), Octopussy (1983) and A View to a Kill (1985). Moores version of Bond
was posh and less cruel than Connerys. He was more humorous and rather self-
parodying. In the 1970s, especially, the scriptwriters played with intertextual references
to other films, such as having a character called Jaws bite a shark in The Spy Who Loved
Me (Bennett & Woollacott 1987: 16, 38). The films in general had a much lighter tone
which suited the audiences of the 1970s and 1980s and their desire for escapist
entertainment (Cork & Stutz 2008: 28). The Cold War was coming to its end, and the
world was changing rapidly. People wanted to escape reality and turned to fantasy for
comfort, of which another good example is the Star Wars-trilogy, released between
1977 and 1983.

When Moore became older, Timothy Dalton took over the role of Bond in the next two
films: The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989). While Moores films did
not focus much on the agents characterisation, Daltons darker version offered
something else. His own intention was to portray Bond as Fleming had intended and to
accentuate his bitter and ruthless characteristics but also to reveal his human side. The
scripts as well were created paying more attention to the dramatic dimensions of Bond.
(Cork & Stutz 2008: 30, 298) Particularly Licence to Kill (1989) focused on Bonds
character through his personal vendetta to revenge the mutilation of his friend, Felix
Leiter, and the murder of his newlywed wife. Though Daltons first film was a great
success, this new approach to Bond in the second one was too different from what the
audiences were used to. After two films and a break of six years in the making of Bond
films, Dalton refused to return to the role anymore.

Pierce Brosnan was well-known for his performance in Remington Steele as a former
thief turned private investigator, and he was a perfect choice for Bond according to
many polls held in the media (Cork & Stutz 2008: 34). According to Andrew Spicer
(2001: 186), Brosnans Bond was not modern but retro, and his sophistication fitted
perfectly the world of postmodern consumerism. In other words, after the somewhat
darker period of Dalton, Bond was again hedonistic in his own traditional way and
was consuming cars, alcohol, women and clothes among others. After Brosnans first
 18

film GoldenEye (1995) three more successful films followed: Tomorrow Never Dies
(1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002). Although in
GoldenEye his friend, a fellow agent, deceives him thus making Bonds mission quite
personal, the four films concentrate in general on the action and on being as entertaining
as possible. The technique of going back to the basics seemed to work, and despite the
critics negative opinions, every film still received millions of viewers.

After four films Brosnan quit, and the search for a new Bond began with much interest
from the media. Several suggestions were made and polls held, but in the end, naming
Daniel Craig as the next 007 was a surprise to Bond fans. The new Bond had lighter
hair and blue eyes and was quite a contrast to Sean Connery, who was still, for many,
the cinematic personification of Bond. Despite all the doubt surrounding Craig, his first
film Casino Royale (2006) became a hit and was praised by both fans and critics. His
interpretation re-defined Bond and brought realism to the films by showing how behind
his cruel and professional mask, there was a damaged human being (Cork & Stutz 2008:
3435). This was Daltons approach too, but the audiences of the 1980s were not yet
ready to see weakness and faults in their hero. Showing the real person behind the
superhero is, as a matter of fact, a current trend, and Bond is without doubt a superhero
with his almost superhuman abilities, such as physical stamina. For instance,
Christopher Nolans Batman Begins (2005) draws a very different picture of Bruce
Wayne as compared to Joel Schumachers preceding films, Batman Forever (1995) and
Batman & Robin (1997). Now Wayne struggles with combining his hidden identity with
his public image while being forced to hide the secret from his friends and loved ones.
This is quite different compared with the earlier version of him as a rich and famous
playboy who occasionally saves Gotham City without an identity crisis. In October
2007, Craig signed to make four more films (IMDb), and the second one, Quantum of
Solace, was released in 2008 making it the 22nd official Bond film.
 19

2 PERFORMING MASCULINITY

Teresa de Lauretis (1987: 3, 18) states that gender is constructed through its
representation in various social technologies, such as cinema, and in institutional
discourses, such as theory. Film, as one technology of gender, produces, promotes and
establishes different representations of gender. Because these representations are
grounded in cultural conceptions of gender and are in an incessant dialogue with
culture, they are varied, constantly changing and regulated by generic conventions.
James Bonds hegemonic masculinity, which culturally dominates other types of
masculinities, is created through various representations in the films. These
representations of Bonds masculinity and how they have changed are studied in this
thesis by using Pat Kirkham and Janet Thumins categorisation of the four sites of
filmic masculinity as a basis.

2.1 Filmic Representation

According to film critic Richard Dyer (1993: 3), reality is seen only through various
representations of reality. This means that representations, such as images and texts, can
only refer to reality since it is so vast and has its own logical limitations when it comes
to creating meanings to things (Dyer 1993: 23). A representation is not real as such,
but can be seen as some kind of distorted reflection of a certain aspect of reality
(Costera Meijer & van Zoonen 2002: 327). It is someones, an individuals or a groups,
interpretation of a member of a certain group that might be partly true, but also
misleading and occasionally even offending. A representation is not an exact depiction
of one single real person but rather a combination of attributes connected to people
similar to this person. In films the characters and events are not real but fiction,
representations. For example, the characteristics of Bonds masculinity do not coincide
with those of the men in the audience watching the film. Bond is a collection of
masculinity traits that are seen as ideal for an action hero by the author and/or the
scriptwriter. In general, the mediated world is full of representations that are presented
as the truth but in reality can, in fact, prove to be very different from it.
 20

We all play significant roles in the process of creating representations. To begin with,
objects, events and people do not usually have a fixed meaning (Hall 1997: 3). It is us,
people, who give them a meaning, as Stuart Hall points out:

we give things meaning by how we represent them the words we use

about them, the stories we tell about them, the images of them we produce,
the emotions we associate with them, the ways we classify and
conceptualize them, the values we place on them (1997: 3).

It is the interaction, the dialogue, between representations and audiences that makes
them meaningful. Audience members have various ways of reading and interpreting the
representations they see, so their meanings vary. (Costera Meijer & van Zoonen 2002:
329330) Because individuals have diverse backgrounds and knowledge levels, the one
and same thing can hold different meanings to different observers.

Time is another important factor when it comes to creating representations. Because of

historical specificity some representations are strongly tied to the era in question, which
leads to different readings of the same things in different times. This means that
representations change; some can be read in another way now as they were, for
example, a hundred years ago. We as members of different cultures react to
representations in varied ways also because of the different cultural codes available to
us (Dyer 1993: 2). Our ways of reading representations are defined by the cultural
practices and values we have learned to follow. However, we are able to read
representations across cultures if we are aware of the codes of the other culture and are
therefore capable of applying them instead of our own codes.

In addition to audiences being involved in creating representations, the media and films
have great power over what kinds of representations are actually provided. Once a
specific representation is created, the media can further reinforce the beliefs attached to
it, whether true or not, by presenting it repeatedly and thus making it a common fact in
the eyes of audiences without them even noticing it. (Helsby 2005: 67) Though it is
much easier to reinforce representations, the opposite can happen as well: new
 21

representations that challenge the existing ones can eventually with time change old
expectations and representations.

Among magazines, billboards and television shows, the cinema is one powerful medium
to produce representations. Richard Dyer (1993: 2) points out that representations
function by following the codes and conventions of that particular cultural form in
question, and these include various restrictions that define the ways in which reality can
be represented, i.e. the medium affects representations. As Teresa De Lauretis mentions:

the impression of reality imputed to cinema by general consensus is not

the physical imprint of objects and shapes onto the film, the capturing of
actual reality in the image, but rather the result of cinemas ability to
reproduce in film our own perception, to reconfirm our expectations,
hypotheses, and knowledge of reality (1984: 63).

Reality cannot actually be represented in film but it can seem real to us. For example,
the world in which Bond lives might seem genuine because it corresponds partly to
what we observe in our world every day. However, Bond as a character and the ways in
which he is represented are not completely compatible with what has been established
in our world, but still they function perfectly within the world of the film. This fictional
world is constructed so that Bonds character does not stand out as odd, which it most
likely would do if he were living amongst us. He exists and acts on the terms of the
reality established within the narrative. The feeling of reality can be further
intensified when some characters in films appear to be rather ordinary. This makes
identifying with them easier, since viewers recognise something similar between
themselves and the fictional character. Films can, of course, offer also positive role
models, but some representations are not worth idealising or cannot be imitated as such.

Representations have a significant role in how we perceive ourselves and others. We all
belong to some social grouping, and how that particular grouping is represented, for
instance in the media, affects the way we see ourselves. Moreover, how we see the
members of other groups is largely determined by representations offered in different
cultural forms which usually present only a limited view of that group. These kinds of
 22

representations have repercussions in the real world because they might affect how
some groups are treated and the possibilities and restrictions they have in life (Dyer
1993: 1, 3). Representations not only influence peoples opinions of others but also the
way they form their own identities because ones identity is constructed by combining
elements of various representations.

When growing up, we learn about the differences between masculinity and femininity
through representations that offer models for gender identification (Adams & Savran
2002: 153). According to Teresa de Lauretis (1987: 3), gender is, in fact, representation,
and the representation and expression of gender is to construct it. When a woman
crosses her legs while sitting, she unconsciously expresses her gender by doing
something women typically do and at the same time establishes this act as being
feminine. Thus, as it is nowadays assumed, ones gender is constructed through doing
acts which are regarded either feminine or masculine.

2.2 Doing Gender

In her well-known book, Gender Trouble (1990), Judith Butler challenged the generally
established idea of biological sex and cultural gender as separate, although mutually
interdependent. According to her, gender is not the causal result of biological sex,
which is determined by anatomy (1999: 910). Having a binary system of two sexes
does not mean that there are only two genders. Sex as a category cannot be seen as
natural, because biology is culturally gendered as male and female to begin with.
This means that a person whose body has the characteristics of female anatomy is not
automatically defined as being feminine and of the female gender or of male anatomy as
being masculine and of the male gender. (Storey 1998: 141) By separating gender from
sex, it becomes a free-floating artifice, with the consequence that man and masculine
might just as easily signify a female body as a male one, and woman and feminine a
male body as easily as a female one (Butler 1999: 10). Without any restrictions set by
biological sex, gender can be expressed in many versatile ways.
 23

Butler (1999: 4344) also introduced the concept of gender performance; that gender is
constructed through doing rather than being. Doing is the reiteration of single acts
of gender, called gender performatives, over time again and again. The repetition of
these instances of doing is gender, which seems like a state of being. But as she points
out: [t]here is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; that identity is
performatively constituted by the very expressions that are said to be its results
(Butler 1999: 33). So, it is not the subject who does but what the subject actually
does that creates gender identity. Things we do are gendered according to the binary
division of sex into opposite male and female, so gender performatives guide us towards
either masculinity or femininity. General cultural norms also control our behaviour
because they define what is acceptable and expected from us. Bonds masculinity as
well is constructed through gender performance. What the character does, for example
how he dresses, fights, drinks martinis, flirts with women or drives a car are
performatives reiterated in the film. It is through the reiteration of these instances of
already gendered performatives that his masculinity is constructed.

2.3 Defining Masculinity

There are certain sets of norms in society that define what is regarded as masculine and
what feminine. These norms are necessary constructions that we need to operate in
the world, to locate ourselves in relation to others and to organize a sense of who we
are (Nixon 1997: 301). They guide our lives in that they function as examples for us to
follow and goals to strive for, but they also affect us through normalisation, i.e., by
providing traditional and coercive models on how a normal man or woman behaves
(Butler 2004: 206). Men are expected and encouraged to follow certain norms so that
they would fill the requirements set for masculinity, and women those set for
femininity. Norms and rules are not concrete but certain expectations in peoples minds
that are reinforced by our actions in everyday life and also by representations. Even the
slightest deviance from the norms might cause surprise, or in some cases anger, because
we do not want anything to disturb the safe, familiar, routine-like world of ours.
(Gauntlett 2002: 9495)
 24

Masculinity is usually defined as being constructed in relation to the opposite

characteristics of the other, which is femininity (Skeggs 1993: 17). Since women are
expected to be emotional and nurturing, men are then rational, unemotional and
practical (Beynon 2002: 56) because anything that is feminine does not belong to being
a man. However, there is actually no unified definition of masculinity (Dyer 1993: 42).
It has been widely understood that masculinity is constructed socially and culturally, not
biologically. When it comes to biology, it is actually maleness that is a quality found
in all men instead of masculinity. (Beynon 2002: 2, 7) Masculinity is not a concrete
product which can be grasped, and any sense of masculinitys embeddedment in mens
inner selves comes only from fictional and superficial accounts of what a man is
(Whitehead 2002: 34). The outer world has a great influence on what we perceive as
being masculine.

Various mass media, such as television, films, internet, advertising, literature and pop
music create accounts of being a man and construct masculinity through representations.
The representations function as accessible role models, and cinematic masculinity in
particular provides carefully created visual and idealised images of men. According to
Beynon (2002: 64), the men on the silver screen can likely have a much greater
influence on young boys than the men in real life, because they might seem much more
exciting. This might be true in that boys turn to romantic films and pornographic films
for examples on how to be romantic or a good lover, but it is usually the father at home
who provides the role model for how to be a father and a husband. People generally
tend to adopt qualities they find worth-while in various role models and combine them.
However, the idealised images do not actually tell us what men are really like. They
give ideas of what men should be like, present ideals of men or then at least try to
present what men are in reality. (Dyer 1989: 43) The people behind these ideas are the
film-makers and their interpretations of masculinity are presented in the film. The
action-adventure genre in particular characterises men in relation to authority, having
power over others, aggressive behaviour and technology (Hanke 1992: 191) which all
are characteristics fitting for Bonds masculinity.
 25

Masculinity is strongly connected with social and cultural matters, and there are many
factors, such as sexuality, class, age and ethnicity, which separate men from each other
(Whitehead 2002: 34). Therefore, masculinity is seen to comprise of masculinities,
since one can express gender, i.e. be masculine in various ways (Beynon 2002: 1).
There can be several different types of masculinities: white and black, middle class and
working class, homosexual and heterosexual, heroic and hard, and hegemonic (Connell
1995: 76, 78). Masculinities are created through comparison with others, for example,
white masculinity is often constructed not only in relation to white women but also
black men (Connell 1995: 75). In the west, heroic and mythic masculinities, on the other
hand, are deeply ingrained in the national psyche (Beynon 2002: 6) and have been
idealised for centuries. But when dealing with various masculinities, one might be
inclined to oversimplify things. For instance, there cannot actually be a single black
masculinity because there are black men who are also middle class or gay or both
(Connell 1995: 76). One characteristic is, however, common to all masculinities,
namely having power over femininity which has to be clearly separated from
masculinity (Dyer 1993: 42). The ability to overpower and control others, whether it is a
question of women, other men, their own bodies and feelings or machines, is generally
linked to masculinity (Segal 1990: 123), and hegemonic masculinity in particular.

According to R.W. Connell (1995: 37), there are certain relations of alliance,
dominance and subordination that exist between masculinities. Hegemonic
masculinity, which defines the ideal ways of being a man, is always in a domineering
and praised position in relation to other masculinities. The concept of hegemony,
which originally derives from Antonio Gramscis analysis of classes, refers to a
situation where one social group attains and retains a leading position within society.
(Connell 1995: 77) Hegemonic masculinity, then, is a certain type of masculinity to
which women and other masculinities young, effeminate and homosexual men are
subordinate (Carrigan et al. 2002: 110). In order to maintain and secure its domineering
position in society, representations of hegemonic masculinity are continuously
presented and praised in various cultural forms, so that they become generally accepted
by the public. At the same time, representations of alternative masculinities are ignored,
disparaged and in some cases incorporated into hegemonic masculinity. (Beynon 2002:
 26

1617) James Bonds hegemonic masculinity is presented as being above others, such
as villains, homosexuals and black men. Also being physically deformed or merely
older makes the villain inferior to Bond who, as the alpha male, is strong and perfect.

As Connell (1995: 76) points out, hegemonic masculinity is not a fixed character
type. Successful ways of being a man at a certain place and time construct hegemonic
masculinity. The hegemonic position is not then always connected to the same patterns
of behaviour; societies and the opinions of people change, and new groupings challenge
the ideals of the hegemonic masculinity in power and create new alternatives. (Connell
1995: 7677) Masculinities have to be reconstructed constantly in order to fit the
definition of masculinity of that particular era in history (Dyer 1989: 42). Men differ
from each other in different parts of the world and different times in history, as do their
ideas and experiences about being a man (Beynon 2002: 2). The model for being a good
father, husband, son or man in general changes from generation to generation which
naturally influences fictional characters as well. Characteristics that are considered ideal
for a man now in the 21st century are not the same as in, for example, the 1950s.

Even though ideal masculinity or hegemonic forms of masculinity are seen as

something that men must conform to, it is not always possible (Beynon 2002: 65). The
ideals provided on how to be a man are often quite unattainable and failing to meet them
might cause anxiety in men (Skeggs 1993: 27). When it comes to hegemonic
masculinity, the number of men who actually practise it is very small (Connell 1995:
79). The models for this type of masculinity are also rather scarce in real life. Although
some film actors and athletes can function as representatives for hegemonic masculinity,
often the most visible ones are fictional characters (Connell 1995: 77). An imaginary
male character like James Bond can easily be strongly hegemonic without seeming
ridiculously macho because he lives in a fictional world in which his behaviour is
acceptable.
 27

2.4 The Four Sites of Filmic Masculinity

In their article You Tarzan Pat Kirkham and Janet Thumin (1993: 11) state that there
are four sites where representations of different masculinities are constructed within the
cinema. Masculinity can be created through the characteristics of the male character or
explicit themes questioning and challenging the idea of what being a man really is.
Kirkham and Thumin (1993: 11) name these four sites the body, action, the external
world and the internal world. In addition to the visual representation of the male body
and the clothes which the character wears, the site of the body includes the actors
presence and the man being displayed as a spectacle. Action focuses on how male
strength is expressed through physical violence, competition, aggression, skill and
endurance. The external world refers to how the male characters interact with each other
and with the institutions that govern their behaviour. The last site, the internal world,
concentrates on portraying the inside of the male characters minds and their anxieties
about being a man. (Kirkham & Thumin 1993: 1112)

By using this categorisation as a basis, various representations of Bonds masculinity

are analysed. The site of the body is studied through Laura Mulveys (1993, original
1973: 116) theory on the gaze in narrative cinema. If Bonds body is displayed openly
in an eroticised way, who is looking at him, a female character or the audience or both?
The gaze is applied also to typical masculine behaviour in that the holder of the gaze is
usually a man, in this case Bond. The actors physical appearance is studied as well
because it gives an idea of what is regarded as masculine. The site called action deals
with how male strength is represented. Bonds use of physical violence against men and
women is discussed, as is his endurance.

In patriarchal society power has become almost synonymous with masculinity, and
films contribute to this notion strongly by connecting masculinity with matters of
hierarchy, knowledge, status and success. The male desire to control people, emotions
and events becomes blatantly evident within the cinema. Filmic representations of male
interaction and attitudes further reinforce our already existing awareness of male power
and control. (Kirkham & Thumin 1993: 12, 1819) The question of power in James
 28

Bond films is studied in this thesis through Bonds interaction with not only men but
also women. The internal world refers to the experience and articulation of being and
how fictional male characters manifest their anxieties about their masculinity (Kirkham
& Thumin 1993: 12, 23). The thoughts and feelings of a character can only be revealed
by interpreting what is seen and heard. In this study Bonds inner world is dealt with
through showing emotions which can be regarded as being weak, i.e. not masculine.
Does Bond ever cry, and if so, why? Does he express joy, pain or anger and in what
kind of situations?
 29

3 REPRESENTATIONS OF JAMES BONDS MASCULINITY

By using Pat Kirkham and Janet Thumins categorisation of the four sites of filmic
masculinity as the analytical framework, different representations of Bonds masculinity
are discussed in this section. How the body is looked at is studied with the help of Laura
Mulveys theory of the gaze and by concentrating on the actors physical appearance.
The second site, action, deals with Bonds violent behaviour and endurance. Within the
site of the external world, Bonds interaction with men and women and his relation to
institutions, like M are analysed because how other people react to Bond reveals a great
deal about his manliness. Finally, the issue whether Bond ever shows his feelings is
discussed within the site of the internal world. By concentrating on these areas in the
five Bond films, Goldfinger, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Living Daylights,
Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale, the aim is to find out how representations of
Bonds masculinity have changed.

3.1 The Body

One way to portray filmic masculinity is the visual representation of the male body, in
this case Bonds body. Focus is placed on Bond as both the holder and the object of the
eroticising gaze and how these aspects contribute to constructing his masculinity.
Chapter 3.1.2, on the other hand, concentrates on the actor behind the character and how
his physical appearance has an influence on Bonds masculinity.

3.1.1 The Gaze

In her much debated article Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, published in 1973,
Laura Mulvey (1993: 123) states that cinematic codes create a gaze, a world and an
object, thereby producing an illusion cut to the measure of desire. According to her,
this gaze is male, because the pleasure of looking at another person as an erotic object is
divided between active and passive, in other words male and female. The woman in the
narrative is usually looked at and placed in the position of a spectacle, whereas the man
 30

is always the spectator and bearer of the gaze. In films, the woman is displayed as an
erotic object not only to the characters within the story but also to the spectator in the
auditorium. The power of looking which the male protagonist has over the events and
other characters is transferred onto the spectators when they identify with the hero.
Therefore, the audience also objectifies and overpowers the woman along with the male
character. (Mulvey 1993: 116)

Because the male protagonist, in this case Bond, drives the narration forward with his
active role, the camera concentrates on him and captures his point of view. There are
many examples of this in Goldfinger (1964). When Bond (Sean Connery) opens the
door onto the veranda in Goldfingers hotel suite, Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) is seen
for the first time, and the point of view is Bonds. Wearing a black bikini, she is lying
face down on a deck chair looking downward through mounted binoculars at
Goldfingers card game by the pool and giving him advice through a microphone. There
are three gazes within the cinema; that of the camera, the character in the narrative and
the spectator in the audience (Mulvey 1993: 123), and here the cameras gaze is merged
with Bonds eroticising gaze making him in control of what the audience sees. Bonds
eroticising gaze is crucial when it comes to constructing his hegemonic masculinity,
because the gaze of a man has power, something what the female gaze does not have
(Kaplan 1983: 31). Being capable of objectifying female characters in the film is to
have power and control which is strongly connected to being masculine.

In another scene, after being shot with a tranquilizer gun, Bond passes out, and soon
there is a close-up of him waking up. From his point of view, Pussy Galore (Honor
Blackman), a name that already reduces the female character into a body part, is seen in
the next close-up, first out-of-focus but then coming into focus with Bonds clearing
eyesight. Bonds masculinity is represented in relation to the power linked to his
eroticising gaze with Jill and Pussy as the objects. In addition, when the camera
becomes one with Bonds gaze, he briefly gains absolute control of the narrative, thus
reinforcing his masculinity.
 31

Another example where the camera merges with Bonds gaze occurs later in the film,
when Bond goes to get some chilled champagne from the fridge but is knocked out.
When he wakes up and turns the lights on in the bedroom, viewers see Jill from his
point of view, lying face down on the bed naked and coated in gold paint with a pillow
of a chair closer to Bond covering her behind. There is a reaction shot2 of Bond
followed by another shot of Jill again, and his gaze is established through consecutive
shots of Bond and what he is looking at. He sits next to her and takes a better look at
her, which is indicated with a close-up of her legs. Some camera angles, close-ups in
particular, enforce womens lack of power. Eroticising the woman by fragmenting her
body into shots of certain parts, e.g. legs or lips, makes her the object of desire and at
the same time weakens the chances for her character to be equal with the man in the
narrative (Mulvey 1993: 117). Not only is Bonds gaze openly established by merging it
with the cameras gaze but the close-up further emphasises the woman being objectified
and Bond holding the male position of power. This scene also has quite shocking
nuances, because the object of the eroticised gaze is actually dead, and for a while,
desire is combined with necrophilia. This demonstrates how a woman can be objectified
even after her death, as if there were no boundaries to sexualising the female body.

Since there are women who look, there is also naturally a female gaze (MacKinnon
1997: 19), but the gaze of the female characters in the narrative might not be
acknowledged at all. The first shot of Bond before he wakes up in the scene with Pussy
Galore is, in fact, seen through Pussys eyes. However, her point of view is not made as
explicit as Bonds gaze, which the camera literally imitates. In another scene when
Bond is on the phone, Jill teases him with a strand of her hair until he pushes her back
on the bed with his free hand. After finishing the call, he looks at Jill, whom we see in a
close-up merging with Bonds gaze lying on her back on the bed looking very seductive
with open hair and parted lips. Bond, on the other hand, is not shown from Jills point of
view but he is sideways to the camera looking at her on the bed. These examples show
how a part of constructing Bonds hegemonic masculinity is to ignore the female gaze

2
A reaction shot is a quick shot recording someones reaction to an event or action seen on-screen (Film
Terms Glossary Dictionary: http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms15.html).
 32

completely or to diminish its existence by accentuating the male gaze, thus making the
woman less powerful.

A similar example occurs at the veranda, when Bond sits on the chair next to Jill and
leans over to see through the binoculars. During the beginning of their conversation
there are a few close-ups3 of both of them. Jill is resting her head on the back of the
chair with a sensual shot of her face filling nearly the whole frame. She looks almost
straight at the camera which strongly invites the eroticising gaze, whereas the close-ups
of Bonds face are shown more from the side. Bond looks at her or at Goldfinger
through the binoculars, which makes Jills gaze non-existent and his viewpoint more
obvious. A close-up of her is used even though Bond is not looking at her in the next
shot, in which case she is objectified by the cameras gaze and not Bonds. The gaze of
the camera might be considered rather neutral on technical terms but it can,
nevertheless, be male if the director is a man (Kaplan 1983: 30), because his
eroticising gaze can be transferred onto the camera. Bonds masculinity might seem to
be weakened, since he is not the one who holds the gaze here, but in relation to women,
he is still more powerful because she is the one who is objectified by the camera and
through the audience.

The male body is not treated in a similar way as the female body when it comes to the
objectifying gaze. Masculinity is strongly defined as tough and active, whereas
femininity, while regarded as its opposite, is seen as weak and passive. If the male body
is the object of the gaze and desire, it becomes feminine and loses its masculine power.
(van Zoonen 1994: 98) Showing weakness in any way makes a man less powerful and
hence less of a man. Though there are a few close-ups of Bond, the situations where
they occur are different in that they involve distress or trouble often on Bonds part, and
they are not sensual as the close-ups of women. Scenes where close-ups of him are used
also often ignore the other characters gaze completely. Bond is shown without his shirt
on in a few scenes in Goldfinger, such as in bed with Jill or at the pool talking to Felix
Leiter. Naturally, audience members have different ways of enjoying the film and

3
In a close-up a persons head is seen in the frame from the shoulders or neck up (Film Terms Glossary
Dictionary: http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms6.html).
 33

relating to the characters. They pay attention to different things, and thus scenes with
Bond without his shirt or a close-up of his face can be sexual to some viewers.
However, in this case the camera does not display Bond as a spectacle in the ways it
does with the women in the narrative. Furthermore, Bond is not placed in the position of
the object of any characters eroticising gaze. By not being subjected to the gaze Bond
retains his hegemonic masculinity which equals power through holding the gaze.

Bonds gaze works in another way in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), in which
Bond (Roger Moore) sneaks into the hotel room, and eventually the bathroom, of a
woman, Andrea (Maud Adams), who is delivering the specially manufactured golden
bullets to Scaramanga, the main villain of the film. After discovering that she is not
alone in the bathroom, Andrea slides the shower door open revealing a gun pointed at
Bond and asking him to hand her the robe. He brings it to her and takes a good look at
her body before she covers herself. The audience does not see what Bond sees, because
in the shot Andrea is still standing inside the shower stall almost completely covered by
the rippled door. She tells Bond to turn around and steps outside the stall with Bond
walking in front of her. The camera moves from a close-up from the chest up of both of
them into Bond, whose expression shows that he is seeing something pleasurable. The
following shot is of a small round mirror in which Andrea is seen finishing putting on
her robe implying that Bond has seen her the whole time through that mirror. Here,
Bonds gaze is not constructed by combining it with the cameras gaze but by clearly
distinguishing these two from each other. Bonds masculinity is linked in general with
the power of seeing, and he has more power than the viewers and the camera because he
can see the woman and others do not.

Earlier in the same scene, when Bond goes into the bathroom, there is a medium shot4
of Andrea from the knees up in the shower seen through the rippled glass shower door.
In the following shot, Bond walks into the room and notices her, after which there is
another medium shot of Andrea, indicating the merging of Bonds gaze with the
cameras view point. Bond is enjoying the situation tremendously, which becomes

4
In a medium shot a person is shot from the waist or knees up (Film Terms Glossary Dictionary: http://
www.filmsite.org/filmterms12.html).
 34

apparent in the next shot where he is smirking. The camera goes back to Andrea but this
time we see a close-up of her from the back another example of the fragmented female
body inside the shower stall where Bond cannot see at this point. Here, Bonds gaze is
separated from that of the camera again, but interestingly, in contrast to the previous
example the audience is shown something he does not see. Now Bond has less power
than the audience and the camera, but even though he is not in control of the narration
or of the gaze, the woman is still eroticised through the cameras gaze.

A scene where Bonds gaze is clearly established and the female gaze ignored in The
Man with the Golden Gun occurs when Bond breaks into the estate of a villain called
Hai Fat (Richard Loo) by climbing over a wall. He walks in the garden but suddenly
stops when his attention is caught by something interesting. After a close-up from the
chest up of Bond, we see a naked girl swimming in a pool, raising her head in the
middle of a stroke when Bond talks to her. The camera cuts back to Bond and then back
to the girl showing her figure underneath the water surface. The next three shots of her
are close-ups but a little farther away, because they still reveal her naked upper body
which is blurred by the water. During their conversation, Bond is seen in medium shots
from the knees and waist up as well as in close-ups. The shots of Bond can be seen as
the camera taking the girls point of view thus making him the object, but her gaze is
still weakened by the fact that she is naked and openly eroticised and therefore weaker
in relation to Bond.

In the same scene, Bond takes off his shirt in order to reveal Hai Fat his fake third
nipple for which Scaramanga is known. The camera zooms in from a close-up of his
face to his chest taking Hai Fats point of view, but there is nothing sexual in this gaze.
According to Steve Neale (1993: 17), men in films can be subjected to the voyeuristic
gaze of the spectator and other male characters, and this position is most evident in
scenes of fighting where male struggle becomes pure spectacle. A good example of
this kind of male spectacle is the shoot-outs in Westerns with their repetitive close-ups
that freeze the narration for a moment just like close-ups of the faces of beautiful
actresses. Though the purpose of these spectacles appears to be the same, the gaze is
still different. Spectators do not look at the male bodies displayed directly but through
 35

the other characters eyes. Because of this, the gaze is marked by what the character is
feeling, such as fear or hatred, and not by desire on the spectators part. Thus, the man is
not being eroticised and feminised. (Neale 1993: 18) Here, Hai Fats gaze is marked by
surprise and shock, so Bond is not directly subjected to the eroticising gaze and his
masculinity is not threatened. Bond being naked from the chest up is also crucial to the
storyline and does not freeze the narration as the fragmented body of a woman would do
and as it, in fact, does earlier in the scene with the girl in the pool.

A clear change in Bonds eroticising gaze has occurred in The Living Daylights (1987).
The approach is less biased as compared with the previous two films, and the gaze is
mostly held by the camera which remains rather neutral. There are considerably fewer
instances where the camera merges with Bonds gaze. The clearest example of the
camera taking Bonds point of view and showing a female character as the object of his
eroticising gaze occurs when he sees Kara (Maryam dAbo) playing the cello at a
concert through his binoculars. The camera mimics Bonds (Timothy Dalton) eyes as it
first moves past the stage with Kara seen among the other players and then goes back to
her as Bond notices her. As typically happens with the female body, the scene freezes
the narration for a moment, since Bond pays attention to the girl and comments on her
beauty. However, the scene is not meant to merely objectify the woman but is actually
relevant for the plot because it introduces this significant character to the audience,
though quite briefly. In general, over-the-shoulder shots5 or medium shots with both
Bond and Kara in the frame are mainly used in this film, and no characters gaze is
adopted in general. There are no sensual close-ups or otherwise abundant objectification
of the female characters. Bonds masculinity is not constructed as strongly through the
eroticising gaze as before. This might make him less powerful as a man but he still is
not objectified himself.

There is only one clear example where the woman is objectified in this same film. This
occurs when Bond rips off the nightgown of Pushkins mistress (Virginia Hey) in order
to distract one of Pushkins henchmen about to enter the room. The henchman opens the

5
In an over-the-shoulder shot the camera films behind the other characters shoulder and/or head (Film
Terms Glossary Dictionary: http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms14.html).
 36

door and is surprised to see the woman topless in her underpants. After a medium shot
of him, there is a close-up of the woman shot above her breasts from the henchmans
point of view as the camera briefly merges with his gaze. Though Bond is involved in
the scene, it is not actually he who holds the gaze but another minor character. This
shows another noticeable change regarding power in that Bond does not always hold the
gaze but another character can take this position. Instead of Bond, the male protagonist,
the camera is also more often the holder of the gaze. Bond can be seen to be less
masculine, because he is not solely in control of the narrative or the eroticising gaze.

The unbiased approach to the eroticising gaze is continued in Tomorrow Never Dies
(1997), and most of the time, the camera captures the events without taking any
characters point of view and usually with a two-shot6. In one scene, however, Bonds
gaze is established in a way reminiscent to The Man with the Golden Gun. Paris Carver
(Teri Hatcher) comes to meet Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in his hotel room, and eventually
they kiss. This is followed by an over-the-shoulder shot where Paris is seen from the
chest up facing the camera sideways with Bonds left shoulder and cheek visible. The
camera zooms slightly in on Paris so that the audience does not see her breasts when
Bond removes the top of her dress. His gaze is separated from that of the camera, so that
the audience does not see what Bond sees, thus making him have more power. But it
must be noted that this happens only in one scene.

Allowing the audience to see something Bond does not occurs more often in this film.
Bond and Paris are standing next to the bed embracing each other in a full-shot7 with
Pariss back to the camera and Bond behind her. He removes the rest of her dress, which
falls on the ground revealing her underpants and stockings. A similar situation takes
place when Bond is seen in a full-shot lying in bed with a Danish professor (Cecilie
Thomsen). She is closer to the camera with her back to it, and Bond is positioned
behind her. The woman starts kissing him and eventually almost lies on top of Bond
with the sheet covering her behind leaving her legs, thighs and back visible, whereas his

6
A two-shot is a shot with two people in it (Film Terms Glossary Dictionary: http://www.filmsite.org/
filmterms20.html).
7
A full-shot includes the persons entire body from head to feet (Film Terms Glossary Dictionary:
http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms12.html).
 37

upper body is seen. In both these scenes, the eroticising gaze is not held by Bond but by
the camera, which also shows the woman to the audience from an angle Bond himself
cannot see, thus weakening his position of masculine power. But yet again the womans
body is more explicitly fragmented, and therefore makes her weaker in relation to the
camera, audience and even Bond.

In contrast to the previous films analysed, Bond is quite openly the object of the gaze in
this film. After he and Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) manage to escape from Carvers men,
they clean up under a water shower on a street in Saigon. Wai Lin is wearing a white t-
shirt, and Bond has no shirt at all. In a full-shot they are seen standing facing each other
with the water running down on them. The camera lingers on them by slowly zooming
in and eventually changes into a few close-ups of their faces. As Wai Lin handcuffs
Bond on to a water pipe, he is directly under the showering water seen in a medium shot
from the waist up. In addition to Wai Lin, also Bond is being subjected to the eroticising
gaze of the camera and through it the audience. Here, the situation is similar to the scene
with the professor; there is no other character present whose feelings would mark the
cameras gaze and thus prevent the man from being objectified directly (Neale 1993:
18). Bond becomes feminised and less powerful by becoming the object of the
eroticised gaze. However, the fact that the gaze is held by the camera and not by a
female or male character makes Bond still have power over other characters in the
narrative. Also, since there is a woman who is being eroticised in the shot instead of
Bond alone, his masculinity is somewhat redeemed because they both are looked at by
the audience.

In Casino Royale (2006) Bonds gaze is established in ways similar to the other films
analysed. There are many instances where the camera merges with Bonds point of
view. Vesper (Eva Green), wearing a revealing dress, is seen walking into the game
room through Bonds (Daniel Craig) eyes and the next shot reveals his reaction. A little
later, she walks away from him and the card table in a full-shot, and the following shot
shows Bond looking at her direction. In another scene, shot from the waist up Bond is in
bed with Vesper who gets up holding the sheet to cover her breasts until she walks out
of the frame. The camera stays on Bond looking at Vesper who is out of the frame and
 38

beyond the gaze of the camera. The following shot is positioned on the other side of the
bed with Bond lying on it and Vesper standing next to it. She has her back to the camera
and is finishing buttoning her long red dress in the front indicating that Bond has
watched her put in on. The same technique is applied in The Man with the Golden Gun
and Tomorrow Never Dies: Bonds gaze is not merged directly with the camera by
showing what he sees but is constructed by showing him looking at a woman hidden
from both the audience and the camera. This also strongly demonstrates his masculine
power.

Bond is subjected to the eroticising gaze in shots where there is a woman present in
Casino Royale as well. When kissing Solange (Caterina Murino), a villains girlfriend,
on the floor of his hotel room, Bonds shirt is open and in bed with Vesper, he is bare-
chested. However, a drastic change occurs when Bond himself actually takes the
position of the spectacle. At one point, in Casino Royale Bond is swimming in the sea
in the Bahamas and emerges from the water near the beach in swimming trunks. First,
there is a close-up of his face when he surfaces, and when he fully stands up the camera
stays close to the surface of the water briefly capturing his bare muscular chest and abs.
This is followed by a medium shot from the waist up of him walking towards the beach
and stopping when noticing something. The camera and through it the audience hold the
eroticising gaze because no other characters are involved in the scene at that moment.
There is no female character in the shot to be looked at, and there is really no reason to
focus on his body for that long plot-wise. These shots of Bond freeze the narration
briefly exactly like the body of a woman often does, so the typical techniques usually
applied to women are now used with Bond. He then becomes less masculine and his
power is lost when he is subjected to the desiring gaze of the audience.

Bond is also looked at by a female character which has not occurred this openly before.
Bond has put on the tuxedo Vesper had tailored for him and is admiring it in the
bathroom mirror visibly impressed with how well it suits him. He is seen adjusting his
bow-tie through Vespers eyes when she is secretly standing in the doorway looking at
him. Vesper is the holder of the gaze in another scene at the beach as well. In a medium
shot from the knees up Bond walks towards the camera wearing swimming trunks.
 39

When the camera moves down, we see Vesper sitting on the ground with her back to the
audience and Bond walking to her and sitting down next to her. Here, the eroticised
gaze of the camera is merged with Vespers gaze. It seems that Bond can be objectified
openly through the eyes of a female character and through her the audience thus making
him less powerful. However, in this case the camera does not stay on Bonds body
particularly long, and it seems that Vesper is, in fact, the only female character who can
hold the eroticising gaze. So even though a clear change has occurred with Bond being
the object of the gaze, certain restrictions exist.

Bonds character has gone through a gradual change over the years regarding the gaze.
Eroticising women through the male gaze is strongly hegemonic, as is the power linked
to controlling the narrative by merging the protagonists gaze with that of the camera. In
the 1960s, Bonds hegemony was strongly established through these techniques; in
Goldfinger, women are objectified and the female gaze is ignored completely which
reinforces Bonds masculine dominance. In The Man with the Golden Gun, made in
1974, his hegemonic position is somewhat weakened when the viewers are occasionally
able to see more than him, but still it is only the women who are eroticised.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Bond moved further away from the type of hegemonic
masculinity established in Goldfinger. In The Living Daylights (1987), the gaze is
noticeably less biased as the audience is the holder of the gaze more frequently than
Bond and female characters are not eroticised so blatantly. Women became more and
more equal in society in the 1980s which is reflected in the cameras neutral treatment
of both women and men, since Bond is not the object of the gaze either. Because Bond
is not in control of the cameras gaze, the audience has more power than him which
causes a fracture in Bonds hegemonic masculinity. In Tomorrow Never Dies (1997),
Bond is the object of the desiring gaze of the audience but only if there is a woman
present in the same shot. Bond being in the position of a spectacle, although within
certain limitations, is quite the opposite of what is regarded characteristic for hegemonic
masculinity.
 40

It was not until 2006 that Bond himself was eroticised in ways typically used to
objectify women, i.e. not only by the camera and the audience but also by a character in
the film, in this case a woman. Even though Bonds gaze is established in traditional
ways in Casino Royale, by being the object of the eroticising gaze he becomes the
passive party and thus less powerful, which does not correspond to the values of
hegemonic masculinity. One reason for this drastic change is that Bond films are not
targeted primarily at men anymore, and in order to reach the women who have become
a significant part of the audience, the female gaze has to be acknowledged.

3.1.2 The Actors

The actor playing Bond has great importance on how the representation of Bond is
constructed because he illustrates the masculinity trends and thus the ideal male body of
the time. The choice of the actors in Bond films ranges from a normal to a muscular
action hero. The actors have in general always been slim, quite tall and relatively good
looking because of credibility and pleasure of looking. A clear change in the body ideal
from slender towards muscular in the new films has occurred. The ideal male body has
become more muscular which emphasises hardness, strength and male prowess.

Sean Connery was the actor who set the model for Bond since he was the first actor to
portray the character in the series. Connery has black hair, brown eyes and suntanned
skin causing him to look strikingly dark and thus quite dangerous. He is quite tall with
189 cm (IMDb) and particularly well-known for his hairy chest and legs which strongly
signify masculinity. Physically, Connery is lean rather than muscular, and he actually
took part in Mr. Universe competition in 1953 (Cork & Stutz 2008: 24). Obviously,
bodybuilding back then was not taken quite to the same proportions as today but this
background can be seen on Connerys trim physique. Since Bonds body reflects the
masculinity trends of the time, it can be concluded from Connerys appearance that in
the 1960s the favoured male body was hairy, tanned and noticeably trim.

Roger Moore has brown hair and blue eyes, thus he is not as dark as Connery. However,
he is also tanned and quite tall with 185 cm (IMDb). His body type is not as lean as
 41

Connerys, and instead of being muscular or slender, he rather resembles the man in the
street. Moore, in general, is not very agile but portrays Bond as more of a gentleman
spy. He has no chest hair or any other similar noticeable physical feature which would
function as visible proof of his manliness. Judging by Moores looks, Bonds body has
changed: the favoured male body in the 1970s was still tanned as in the 1960s but
physically more normal rather than trim and not hairy.

Timothy Dalton is 188 cm tall (IMDb) and has dark brown hair and green eyes. He is
not that muscular or trim and has much paler skin compared to both Moore and
Connery. Bonds body build remains the same as in the 1970s, even though the 1980s
introduced a different kind of ideal male body type. New action film heroes, such as
Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, represented masculinity through
barbaric violence and bulging muscles. Although Bond is an action hero as well, his
role is completely different and changing his appearance would have not coincided with
the image of a sophisticated spy. In the 1980s, Bond films favoured a more ordinary
male body type which was also fair skinned and not hairy. Pierce Brosnan resembles
Dalton in many ways; he is tall and physically not different from everyman. He is not
tanned either but Brosnan has, however, a hairy chest, although not as obvious as
Connerys. There is no great change in the body ideal since Bonds body in the 1990s
does not differ dramatically from that of the 1980s.

Compared to previous Bonds, Daniel Craig is a little shorter than all the other actors
with 178 cm (IMDb). He is not tanned or hairy either but the most noticeable difference
to the others is his body type. Craig has a very muscular build with big upper arms and
neck muscles and looks, in fact, like a bodybuilder and more like the typical action hero
of the 1980s. The hyper-muscular male body already as such symbolises power (Brown
1999: 103), but Bond becoming smooth and more muscular is connected to him
becoming the object of the desiring female gaze. The muscular male body that has little
fat appears hard, and the skin surface functions as armour preventing any leakages
between the inner and outer worlds (Easthope 1992: 52). The fear of the real body, that
shows weakness by being the object of the gaze, has led to Bond becoming physically
harder, almost like a machine, a concept often associated with the disciplined male body
 42

(Easthope 1992: 52). In addition to looking hard, Bonds skin is visibly a smooth
surface without any fractures, which would signify vulnerability and weakness. Bonds
muscular body seems to compensate for being less masculine on other areas, for
instance the gaze, but it also enables him to hold the eroticising gaze without fractures.
The favoured male body in the 2000s is relatively tall, not tanned, hairless and very
muscular.

Since the 1980s, being tanned has not been a favourable characteristic of Bond. He has
become a little shorter quite recently, and his hairiness can be seen to derive from the
actor rather than from the era in question. For many decades, Bonds physique remained
relatively similar even though some trends were more popular in the media and society.
In the 1960s, a little more slender body type was appreciated, but for the next three
decades, Bond was physically like any normal man in the audience. Only in the
2000s, he became more of a bodybuilder with a hard and smooth surface, which
allowed him to become the object of the desiring female gaze.

3.2 Action

Aggressive behaviour and the violence that usually ensues are considered to be more
innate to men than women. Men use violence against women in order to maintain their
dominant position within the patriarchal society and against men to establish certain
boundaries. (Connell 1995: 45, 83) Violence is an essential part of the Bond genre, as it
is of all action adventure films. Furthermore, the binary relationship between the good
hero and the evil antagonist(s) legitimises violence which becomes a sign of decency
when one fights for the right cause. Violent behaviour is then justified and seen as an
acceptable, and even desirable, way to be a man.

Bond, in all the films of the series, fights with numerous henchmen, so his hegemony is
strongly constructed through violence and the power linked to it. The villains helpers
are usually defeated with one punch or kick, but Bond also kills his antagonists.
Homicides in real life occur more often between men (Connell 1995: 83), hence killing
 43

someone can be regarded as a masculine act. Although Bond kills men, a certain
distance remains between him and the actual act of killing. Often, humorous one-liners
are used to lighten the aftermath of the violent scene, but sometimes Bond kills the
antagonist so that he does not directly become physically involved in the death of the
person. In Goldfinger, at one point during a fight, a thug falls into a bathtub full of
water in Bonds suite. As he tries to reach for Bonds gun in its holster on a chair
nearby, Bond tosses a fan into the bathtub electrocuting him. In Tomorrow Never Dies,
a man, after a fight, falls into a printing press and is crushed to death making the
machine spit out blood-stained newspapers. The death of the antagonist occurs often at
the end of a struggle in which Bond has to fight for his life. The ability to survive and
improvise during a fight is a hegemonic quality.

When shooting someone, Bond still maintains a distance to the killing because he does
it through an object. The final battle between Bond and Scaramanga in The Man with
the Golden Gun becomes a game of cat-and-mouse when the villain all of a sudden
disappears in the middle of a duel. The servant Nick Nack (Herve Villechaize) leads
Bond into the villains training area where there are mannequins and mirrors set to
confuse the opponent. In the end, Bond surprises Scaramanga by taking the position of a
mannequin modelled after him and kills the villain with one shot, demonstrating
resourcefulness. After murdering Paris Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies, the assassin,
Dr. Kaufman (Vincent Schiavelli) holds Bond at gun point. Bond tricks Kaufman to
stun and paralyse himself with his mobile phone and then forcefully turns the assassins
gun towards him. Kaufman tries to reason with Bond saying Im just a professional
doing a job to which Bond replies Me too, and shoots him. Being a pro who does
what he has to do is another aspect of his hegemony. Kaufmans profession and the fact
that Bond is avenging the death of Paris make this killing somewhat more justified. A
certain sense of righteousness and readiness to exercise vigilante law are characteristics
of a hegemonic masculine man.

Bond rarely kills antagonists with his bare hands but this does happen in Casino Royale.
Two thugs passing by notice a transmitter in Bonds ear and begin shooting at him and
Vesper. After a brutal fight, one of the thugs falls into his death in a staircase and the
 44

other is strangled by hand by Bond. His masculinity is constructed through his

capability to defend not only himself but the woman, Vesper, as well, which is
consistent with the notion of hegemony. The violence in this film, in general, is much
more realistic compared with the previous films; it is bloody and messy, and Bond is
physically more involved in the fights. Violent acts and deaths do not merely happen,
but they are always committed by someone. Bond also shoots two men although they
are unarmed and one man in the back. The line between the good guy and the bad guy is
somewhat blurred when Bond acts in a way we expect a villain to do. This makes Bond
a more complex and realistic character, but, yet again, also demonstrates his
professionalism when in order to complete his mission, he is prepared to do anything.
His motive to defeat the evil villain remains the same, but his methods are more drastic
than before.

There is a certain degree of inequality in patriarchal society; women are at a

disadvantage when it comes to income for instance. In order to maintain their
dominance, men use violence and intimidation, both physical and verbal, against
women. (Connell 1995: 8283) Bond uses violence on a woman in The Man with the
Golden Gun, when Scaramangas mistress Andrea holds a gun at him. Bond unarms her
and then twists her arm behind her back until she reveals to whom she is delivering the
golden bullets. When he asks her where Scaramanga is, she says she does not know, at
which point Bond slaps her face with an open hand and grabs her by the front of her
robe. This is the most brutal example of Bond using violence against women in the five
films analysed. Men who are violent to women do not necessarily see anything wrong
with their behaviour but consider it as their right as the superior male sex (Connell
1995: 83). Slapping a woman, which proves the man is more powerful because he is
physically stronger, was considered a more acceptable way of being a hegemonic man
in the 1970s than it is today. The violence Bond uses against Andrea is still quite
moderate because even though she is on the villains side, she does not present a real
threat to Bond. Action heroines in 1974 were not yet common in film, and unlike men,
women were regarded as unworthy antagonists.
 45

The violence Bond uses against women is not similar to how he fights with men, thus
women are not antagonists in the same way as men. In Goldfinger, Bond uses some
Judo moves on Pussy Galore who then retaliates with similar tosses but the scene
functions as a prelude to Bond seducing her so it is not really an actual fight. Some
violent acts are also moderate and committed without the intention of actually hurting
the woman. In The Living Daylights, Bond holds Karas arm and rips her sleeve to
reveal the shot wound she has, not to hurt her. In Casino Royale, he vents his anger on
Vesper after losing all of his money in the poker game and grabs her arm when she is
about to leave. Dominating women through violence is not seen as a positive quality for
a hegemonic man nowadays, although it might have been more tolerated in the 1970s.
Bond is decent and a gentleman because he does not hit women at all or at least not in
the same way as he hits men. He does not kill any women in these five films either, but
it is usually the villain who does it or gives the order. This accentuates the villains
evilness and separates him from Bonds character when he has no scruples about
hurting the less powerful, i.e. killing women.

In addition to violence, Bonds physical strength is expressed through endurance. A

hero in Western culture is a relentless warrior who does not break down or give up but
keeps on pushing no matter how tired he is or how difficult things get (Robinson qtd in
Kleiber & Hutchinson 1999: 138). This notion applies also to Bond who is a hard action
hero. At the beginning of Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond steals a fighter plane with
nuclear missiles. Once up in the air, he is attacked by a henchman sitting in the
backseat. As he is being strangled with a steel wire, Bond manoeuvres the plane by
moving the stick with his legs and swerves away from missiles shot at him. In Casino
Royale, Le Chiffre wants Bond to be eliminated from the poker game by any means, so
his girlfriend slips poison into Bonds drink. When Bond realises that something is
wrong, he leaves the table taking a salt shaker with him from a nearby table. In the
bathroom, he tries to vomit the poison out by drinking salted water, but eventually, he
has to scramble to his car and contact the Secret Service. He follows the doctors
instructions, although he is on the verge of collapsing and manages to attach the leads of
the defibrillator onto his chest and inject himself in the neck with a shot of lidocaine.
 46

Bond is a man who does not give up in situations which other men would find difficult
or even impossible to overcome.

In Casino Royale, in particular, Bonds physical stamina is accentuated more compared

with the other films. There are long on-foot chases, and during one of them, Bond
climbs up a crane and runs through a wall among other things. When jumping off the
crane, he lands heavily onto a hard roof and careens off to the roof of a lift shaft. This is
clearly painful, but Bond, lying on the ground, barely shakes his head, gets up and
continues the chase by kicking in a door next to him. When he finally has the chance to
stop for a minute at the back of a van going the same way as the bomber he is chasing,
he does not seem out of breath at all. However, instead of presenting Bond as a man
with superhuman stamina, the film gives the impression that he is capable of doing
these things because he is in good shape and trained for the job. He gets cuts and bruises
just like any other person and is, in fact, hospitalised at one point. There is still
something more to Bond that distinguishes him from other men and establishes his
hegemonic position which he deserves because of his toughness.

Within the site of action, Bonds masculinity is constructed through various

characteristics that correspond to the notion of hegemony. In addition to being able to
defend oneself, protect others and improvise in fights, a sense of morality, being a
professional and having physical endurance are ideal qualities of a man who represents
hegemonic masculinity. The nature of Bonds violent behaviour is different depending
on the sex and motive of the antagonist. Whereas in the 1970s slapping a woman might
have been considered acceptable male behaviour that supports his hegemony, this is no
longer the case, and has not been for the last three decades. Bond can still be
hegemonic, even though he does not dominate women through violence because the
definition of hegemony in this case has changed.

The violence in Bond films is more realistic in the 2000s because films, in general, have
become much more violent and the computer technology available sets no boundaries to
colouring fight scenes. The character of Bond has become more real as well and thus
more fascinating. During the Cold War (19451989), when the three first films studied
 47

were made, it was important to choose ones side and differentiate the villains from the
heroes. Now the situation has changed: Bond is on our side but behaves occasionally
like a bad guy making him a more complex character. Todays audience is capable of
accepting the changed Bond because the world is not divided in two so radically
anymore, and it is, in fact, a contemporary trend to construct a more complicated
representations of heroes in popular culture.

3.3 The External World

A characters interaction with the fictional world and other characters reveals a great
deal about the character himself/herself. Therefore, within the external world, I analyse
Bonds interaction with both men and women and his relation to institutions, e.g. M.
(Bonds interaction with the female M is studied in chapter 3.3.3.) It is also essential to
take into consideration how other characters react and relate to Bond and his behaviour

3.3.1 Interaction with Friends

Overpowering the villains by angering or outwitting them is essential to Bonds

character but he must maintain certain superiority even in relation to his male fellow
agents and team members in order to retain his hegemonic position. One of them is
Major Boothroyd, also known as Q, who appears in altogether 18 Bond films8. He and
the scientists working at the Q division invent and build the gadgets which the agents
use on their missions. The scenes with Bond and Q consist of sarcastic chit-chat with
Bond intentionally trying to vex the inventor often successfully. In these situations,
Bonds character is created in contrast to an older man who has a special role within the
Secret Service, a role that is completely different from that of Bond. Other colleagues
that Bond works with contribute to constructing Bonds masculinity for example
through showing incompetence and lack of knowledge.

8
The character of Q does not appear in Live and Let Die (1973), Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of
Solace (2008).
 48

The way in which Bond teases Q and Qs reaction to it establish the difference in their
personalities. In Goldfinger, when Q (Desmond Llewelyn) shows Bond the tracker on
the dashboard of his Aston Martin, Bond comments on how it allows him to have a
quick drink while following someone. To this Q responds rather upset: It has not been
perfected after years of patient research and time for that purpose, 007. In The Living
Daylights, Q shows him a key-ring finder that has an explosive in it and that also omits
stun gas when whistling a certain tune. After a demonstration of the gas, Bond attaches
the finder onto Qs gas mask hanging on his neck. When he is about to whistle the tune
as if to test the explosive, Q shouts him to stop, worried that Bond might actually carry
on. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Q, posing as a car rental service worker, meets Bond at an
airport. As he lists out various choices for insurance such as collision and fire coverage,
Bond says yes to all of them. Hearing this, Qs facial expressions indicate that he is not
pleased with Bonds answers. Bonds boyishness and playful attitude are accentuated
because Q is more serious and does not care for Bonds remarks and teasing behaviour.
Bond is somewhat hedonistic and care-free but still takes things seriously when the
situation calls for it.

Bonds behaviour when interacting with Q brings forth the different roles these
characters have within the Service; Bond is the active agent whereas Q stays mainly in
London and does not participate in actual missions. In Goldfinger, Q tells that it should
take about an hour for him to introduce all the new gadgets to Bond. When hearing this,
Bond looks very bored signifying that he is not interested in the tedious details but
wants to start his mission as soon as possible. In The Man with the Golden Gun, Q and
another scientist examine the bullet that killed a double-0 agent. They discuss the
workmanship commenting on the material to each other and mention the name Lazar.
After listening to their conversation for a while and not hearing anything useful that he
could investigate, Bond impatiently asks Well, what the hell is Lazar? to which Q
answers sighing that he obviously is the man who made the bullet. Bond behaves in a
quite childish manner by being so impatient, and sometimes Q in response treats him as
one. As well as accentuating Bonds role as the active hegemonic man, Bonds younger
age becomes quite obvious in their relationship.
 49

Although Q is the intelligent inventor and scientist, Bond can still dominate him in his
area of expertise. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Q takes Bond to his new car, a BMW that
one can steer remotely with a cell phone. He tries to demonstrate this and drives the car
with the phone, but it moves in a jerky manner. When it is Bonds turn, the car moves
smoothly around the hangar as if someone were inside the car driving it. Bond
overpowers Q because he is skilled by nature and does not require any practice in order
to control new gadgets. Technology is an important area of identity construction for
men. It is encoded as male, as Judy Wajcman (1991: 137) points out: the very
definition of technology has a male bias. Being handy with machines and technical
devices is also a crucial aspect of Bonds hegemony. Overall, Bonds relationship with
Q follows the same pattern throughout the series, and Bond visiting the Q branch is
actually a crucial element of the formula of the Bond film.

The agents Bond works with and their actions emphasise some of Bonds hegemonic
qualities and especially his individuality. Bonds character is strongly constructed in
relation to his male helpers who often complicate things and leave Bond to deal with the
situation alone. Some helpers are incompetent like in Goldfinger, where Bond is held
captive at the villains ranch but manages to escape. However, he is soon caught and
escorted back to Goldfinger. At the same time, Felix Leiter (Cec Linder) and another
agent are spying on the ranch from further away. Goldfinger sees them and realises they
might be there because of Bond. Therefore, when Bond is brought back, he treats him as
a guest so that Leiter and the other agent would be convinced Bond has everything in
control. His plan succeeds because Leiter, after seeing Bond walk into a barn with
Pussy, decides that he does not need any help and they leave. He and the other agent fail
to understand what is really going on, thus showing their incompetence and leaving
Bond to take care of everything by himself. He is naturally capable of doing that which
demonstrates his skills and individuality.

A similar example of a helpers lack of skill occurs at the beginning of Casino Royale,
when Bond and another agent, Carter (Joseph Millson), are keeping an eye on a bomber
who is watching an organised fight between a cobra and a mongoose amidst a huge
crowd of people. When the bomber receives a text message, he leaves pushing himself
 50

through the crowd in Carters direction. He informs Bond through a transmitter that the
target is moving and touches his earpiece to hear Bonds response better. Bond tells him
not to touch his ear so visibly but, at the same time, the bomber notices Carter and starts
to run. Carter follows him drawing his gun which Bond angrily tells to put away. When
Carter jumps into the pool where the fight takes place, he trips and accidentally fires his
gun into the air causing panic among the people. Bond then goes after the bomber
himself and eventually catches him obtaining crucial information from him. Bond is
more competent and experienced compared with some of his co-workers, and his
capability to cope by himself becomes accentuated. He fits the image of a hard, heroic
man as the lone ranger or lonely wolf who does not need anyones help.

When other agents follow rules faithfully, Bond often trusts his own instincts which
further emphasises his individuality. In The Living Daylights, a colleague called
Saunders (Thomas Wheatley) tells Bond to shoot when they see a sniper trying to kill
General Koskov who is going to defect to the West. The sniper is, in fact, the cellist
they saw playing earlier. Bond shoots at the gun deliberately missing the girl though
Ms orders are to kill the sniper. Saunders is angry about this and brings it up later
threatening to inform M. Bond is not worried about M because, as he tells Saunders, he
only kills professionals and the girl obviously was not a real sniper. Moreover, since
Bond is the good hero and a decent man, he does not kill women. If it had not been for
Bond, an innocent girl would have been killed. Emphasising his capability of making
independent decisions constructs him further as a hegemonic character.

Some characters behaviour draws attention to Bonds self-confidence and

courageousness. In The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond wants to meet a millionaire
called Hai Fat because he is suspected of hiring Scaramanga to kill an important solar-
energy expert. Bond is in liaison with Lieutenant Hip who tells that Hai Fats house is
heavily guarded and meeting him is impossible. Hip is still convinced of this when they
arrive there and tells Bond to take a look himself. He climbs on Hips shoulders to see
over the wall surrounding Hai Fats house and continues climbing over it much to Hips
surprise. Whereas Hip is hesitant to take action, Bond boldly leaps in. Bond is
represented as confident and capable of doing things that other agents would not do or
 51

even dare to try. Bonds strength and his manliness compared with other agents
emphasise his extraordinariness and his hegemonic position.

The ignorance of his colleague can illustrate Bonds competence on areas such as
technology and cultural issues. In The Living Daylights, when Saunders and Bond are
waiting on the balcony of the opposite building for the Russian sniper to appear,
Saunders puts on night vision binoculars but does not see anything through them. Bond,
sitting next to him, reaches out and turns them on. On another occasion, Bond mentions
that Koskov has bought a cello called the Lady Rose for Kara. Saunders is surprised that
a cello would have a name to which Bond replies that all Stradivarius cellos have
names. By being technologically more skilled and having more cultural knowledge than
the other agent construct Bonds hegemonic masculinity.

Bonds masculinity is strongly created in comparison with other men. Certain qualities
found in Bond, such as being boyish, technologically skilled, self-confident, courageous
and individualistic become emphasised through his interaction with other male
characters and are all in line with the idea of hegemony. The way in which Bond
dominates and outperforms other men in the narrative usually in more than one way
has not changed over the years.

3.3.2 Interaction with Villains

Bonds masculinity is constructed in his relationship with the villain in three different
areas: physical combat, smartness and sex. Bond defeats the villain in physical
confrontation by usually killing him in the end. He often outwits the villain by
intentionally provoking him until he loses his temper or by being smarter and fooling
him somehow. Sleeping with the villains wife, mistress or employee is another typical
way for Bond to disempower the antagonist. Furthermore, the villains in Bond films are
often physically deformed or have otherwise peculiar appearance and/or behaviour. This
is a familiar concept from old traditional fairy tales; visible physical deformation is a
sign of an evil character whereas the hero is usually perfect.
 52

The ultimate way for Bond to disempower the villain and establish his own superiority
is to kill him at the end of the film. In The Living Daylights, Bond is faced with an
American arms dealer Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker) who has a machine gun with a
bullet proof glass to protect the shooter. Bond shoots at him and runs out of ammo, but
eventually kills Whitaker by causing a column to fall on him with an explosive key-ring
finder. In Goldfinger, Bond encounters Goldfinger in the plane which is supposed to
take him to Washington. After a struggle for the gun, Goldfinger accidently shoots at
the window and is sucked through it. Bond is a hero who by killing his main antagonist
makes sure that the villain does not hurt anyone anymore in the future. Warriors are
selfless (Beynon 2002: 67), and Bond, if anyone, works relentlessly to protect Britain
and the whole world without much worrying about his own fate.

Bond is not always the one who kills the villain. In The Living Daylights, the death of
General Koskov is not shown at all but is strongly hinted at when his superior Pushkin
promises to fly him back to Moscow in a diplomatic bag, in other words, a body bag.
Bond does, however, kill the other villain, the arms dealer Whitaker who had been
working with Koskov, so defeating the villain by killing him is a part of his hegemony.
In Casino Royale, after being tortured by Le Chiffre, Bond struggles to stay conscious
lying on the floor, and just before he passes out, he sees Le Chiffre being shot by
someone. Although Bond can be seen to indirectly cause his death by winning the game
and making him penniless, this, nevertheless, differs greatly from the familiar formula
of a Bond story and creates a fracture in Bonds hegemonic masculinity.

Not showing emotions is an important part of masculinity. Women are emotional, men
act rationally. An emotional man loses his credibility as an antagonist because emotions
are a wound in the hard surface of masculinity. When Bond provokes the villain
somehow so that he loses control over his emotions, he succeeds in making him less
manly. In Goldfinger, after finding the girl who tells Goldfinger his opponents cards
through an earpiece, Bond turns the microphone off. When he turns it back on, he taps it
a few times making Goldfinger quake from the noise. Bond tells him to lose 15 000
dollars or he will go to the police. Goldfinger obeys and after losing the hand, he snaps
a pencil in two in anger. Similarly, in Tomorrow Never Dies, the villain Elliot Carver is
 53

suspected of being involved with the sinking of a British warship and framing the
Chinese for it. At a party celebrating Carvers satellite network, Bond cuts off the
broadcast in the middle of Carvers speech making him yell angrily at his employees.
Another example of irritating the villain occurs in Casino Royale, when after losing a
hand to Le Chiffre in the poker game, Bond orders a dry martini and gives the barman
exact instructions on how to make it. This wakes the curiosity of three other players
who order the same drink. Annoyed by the delay in the game, Le Chiffre impatiently
asks if anyone is interested in playing poker. Bond sets out to annoy him, in which he
succeeds. Bond is stronger in relation to the villain who is incapable of controlling his
emotions.

Outsmarting the villain by fooling or surprising him is another way to establish Bonds
hegemony. In The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond goes to a boxing match to meet
Scaramangas mistress who has stolen a solar cell called Solex from her lover. After
finding her dead with a bullet hole in her chest, he takes her bag looking for the item,
when suddenly Scaramanga sits next to him. Bond is clearly taken by surprise but still
participates in light conversation while Scaramangas servant Nick Nack holds a gun at
him. As the villain tells about his background and why he actually became an assassin,
Bond sees the Solex lying on the floor nearby. He smoothly picks it up and without
Scaramanga noticing slips it to Lieutenant Hip who walks by disguised as a peanut
seller. The same happens in Tomorrow Never Dies, where Bond has seized Carvers
computer expert and tries to exchange him for Wai Lin who has been captured by
Carver. When the expert tells everything is ready on his part, Carver himself shoots the
man. Bond is not left completely helpless but detonates the bombs he had placed earlier
close to some fuel tanks. He surprises Carver and takes control by causing mayhem.
Although the villain appears to be one step ahead and in control of the situation, Bond,
nevertheless, manages to outsmart him and prove his superiority.

Another way to overpower the villain is to reveal his ignorance of some matter which
accentuates Bonds vast knowledge of various things. In The Man with the Golden Gun,
Bond flies to Scaramangas private island where the host shows him the room with
generators that convert solar energy into electricity. Scaramanga tells Bond that he does
 54

not understand the process completely for science was never his strong point. Bond
informs him that the large containers are Superconductivity coils cooled by liquid
helium as if to prove how smart he is. Being smarter than the villain is a part of the
way of constructing Bond as a hegemonic character.

Homosocial rivalry between men over a womans body is a recurring theme in popular
culture (Sedgwick 1985: 1, 23), and it functions as a way to construct heroes as
hegemonic characters. The hero humiliates the villain by winning not only the body of
the villains woman but also her loyalty. This happens in the Bond films as well. Having
sex with the villains mistress, wife or employee signifies a change in power relations
because of the idea of woman being mans property. The woman often turns against the
villain and/or reveals important information about him to Bond as well. In Goldfinger,
he sleeps with two of Goldfingers employees, Jill Masterson and Pussy Galore. Both
these women, after surrendering to Bonds charm, help him work against Goldfinger.
The same occurs in The Man with the Golden Gun, where Scaramangas mistress
Andrea willingly steals the Solex from the villains safe after a night she spent with
Bond. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Paris who, in fact, has had an affair with Bond before,
tells him crucial information about Carvers secret laboratory before leaving Bonds
hotel suite. Bond obviously has something more to offer than the villain because he has
such a strong influence on the women. The ability to seduce another mans woman and
make her deceive him is a hegemonic attribute.

In Casino Royale, Bond does not have sex with Le Chiffres girlfriend Valenka (Ivana
Milicevic) and does not, in fact, even speak to her during the whole film. This creates
another fracture in Bonds masculinity in this film when it comes to his relationship
with the villain. He seduces the wife of a smaller thug but does not actually have sex
with her either because he leaves after she casually tells her husband is flying to Miami.
Not having sex with these women does, however, emphasise Bonds individuality; he
does not seem to need their help because he does not use his sexual magnetism to turn
them against their lovers.
 55

Bonds hegemony is established through the many ways in which he overpowers the
villain; he provokes him so that he loses control over his emotions, outsmarts him, has
sex with a woman close to him and eventually kills him. In Casino Royale, made in
2006, Bond does not disempower the villain by killing him or by sleeping with his
mistress but his hegemonic position is constructed mainly through smartness and
muscles. The idea of seeing women as property of men is not approved in society and
especially not by the audience of today, thus the films more equal treatment of female
characters.

3.3.3 Interaction with Women

Bonds influence on women is an essential part of his hegemonic masculinity. The type
of relationships Bond has with women can be categorised into four groups: unrecruited
love, authority, casual sex and genuine love. Miss Moneypenny, who belongs to the first
category, is smitten with Bond but their relationship never develops beyond flirting. The
female M represents authority in Bonds life, and Bonds interaction with her is not
similar to how he relates to the male M. The numerous partners of casual sex naturally
enhance Bonds manliness through sexual activity, whereas truly being in love shows a
more vulnerable side to his character.

The only recurring female character in Bond films is Miss Moneypenny, Ms secretary9.
The scenes between Bond and Moneypenny are usually rather brief but reveal the nature
of their relationship quite clearly. It is a question of unrecruited love from
Moneypennys side; a relationship that is based on flirting without ever becoming
anything more. In Goldfinger, after ending a meeting with M and stepping out of his
office, Bond asks Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) what she knows about gold. She says
that the only gold she knows is the kind you wear on the third finger of your left hand.
Bond answers teasingly Hmm. One of these days we really must look into that. after
which she suggests tonight saying she will bake him an angel cake. Bond refuses
making her think that the reason is some woman, but when she finds out he is having

9
There are only two Bond films, Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008), in which she does
not appear.
 56

dinner with M she asks So theres hope for me yet?. After kissing her on the cheek,
Bond answers Moneypenny, wont you ever believe me? and leaves the room. Their
flirting is light and quite harmless, but Moneypennys hints of marriage strongly support
the image of her as a woman with a traditional goal: marriage. While Bond travels
around the world encountering beautiful women, Moneypenny stays in London waiting
like the perfect obedient housewife of the early 1960s. This also emphasises Bonds
independence; Moneypenny would most likely marry him if he wanted to but action
heroes are lonely wolves who do not have wives and families waiting at home.

Bonds own behaviour reinforces the idea of Moneypenny as a wife. In The Man with
the Golden Gun, Bond is talking to Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) about the death of
another double-0 agent. M calls her to his office through the intercom, and before she
enters the room, Bond has another question for her:

Bond: Oh, just one moment, darling.

Miss Moneypenny: Yes, James?
Bond: Why wasnt Scaramanga confirmed as the killer?
Miss Moneypenny: Because they couldnt find the bullet! Darling!

The affectionate word darling is typically used between lovers or particularly between
a husband and a wife. Furthermore, it is quite sexist to use a word like darling when
addressing a female co-worker but it also contributes to constructing Bonds hegemonic
masculinity. She, on the other hand, clearly expected a more intimate question because
of Bonds choice of word, since she speaks her last line rather angrily and the added
darling very icily and sarcastically. Although she is somewhat disappointed, their
never-ending game of flirting is continued with her mocking reply.

The idea of Moneypenny as the sacrificing wife becomes clear in The Living Daylights
as well. Bond tells Moneypenny (Caroline Bliss) to book him a plane ticket to Tangiers
(where Pushkin is) via Bratislava though Ms orders are to assassin Pushkin as soon as
possible. Bond asks her not to tell anyone about the ticket, to which Moneypenny agrees
without questioning his intentions. Like a good wife, she is willing to do favours for her
man and is prepared to even endanger her own job by working behind Ms back. In
 57

the same film, Bond asks Moneypenny to find information on a woman cellist who
played at Bratislava the night Koskov defected. While taking off her eyeglasses in a
flirtatious manner, she replies that if he, in fact, is such a music lover, he should come
over to her place to listen to her Barry Manilow collection. Bond puts her glasses back
on crookedly, and judging by the sound, slaps her on the bum, and after he has left,
Moneypenny is shown sighing dreamingly like a school-girl. This is shockingly sexist
and degrading behaviour for a film made in 1987, and slapping a female colleagues
bottom at the workplace would definitely not be tolerated these days. Moneypenny is
first and foremost loyal to him, which demonstrates Bonds influence over her and
women in general.

In the 1990s, Moneypennys character changed noticeably. This change can be linked to
the introduction of the new M (Judi Dench) who was a woman. The relationship
between Miss Moneypenny and M altered, which becomes obvious in Tomorrow Never
Dies where they seem to join forces in teasing Bond. M gives him an assignment to
investigate Elliot Carver and the following conversation takes place:

M: Use your relationship with Mrs Carver if necessary.

Bond: I doubt if shell remember me.
M: Remind her. Then pump her for information.
Miss Moneypenny: Youll just have to decide how much pumping is
needed, James.

These two women are familiar with Bond and his usual escapades. Neither of them is
afraid to refer to Bonds methods in a rather mocking tone, not even Moneypenny
(Samantha Bond) in the presence of the female M. It would seem odd if Bonds superior
were an efficient and accomplished woman, with Moneypenny still behaving like a
school-girl with a crush on him. As she has become more independent and modern,
Bonds influence on her has weakened creating a fracture in his hegemonic masculinity.

Bond does not possess control over Moneypenny in the same way as before. In
Tomorrow Never Dies, M says that Bond should use his past with Carvers wife in order
to get information on Carver. He replies that he was not aware that their relationship
 58

was public knowledge and gives Moneypenny, sitting on the front seat of the car, an
accusing and slightly hurt look. She, on the other hand, is not much affected by this and
says Queen and country, James implying that there are no secrets to be kept when
working for the government. Moneypenny of the 1990s does not blindly do what Bond
asks her to and even dares to break the bond of trust between them. Her feelings for him
do not affect her judgement, which suggests that Bond is not able to charm her over
anymore. His relationship with Moneypenny does not correspond with what is regarded
as hegemonic. Furthermore, Bond seems to become somewhat feminised in this scene
when a female superior tells him to use sex to get information something what women
have traditionally thought of doing.

The female M, played by Judi Dench, was first introduced in GoldenEye in 1995 and
has appeared in every Bond film since. As a result of this, the dynamics between M and
Bond changed noticeably; Bond does not relate similarly to her as he does to the male
M. Even though Bond has to obey her or would otherwise have to quit his job with the
Service, the fact that the authority figure in his life is a woman affects his behaviour to
some degree because taking orders from a woman can be seen to weaken his manliness.

Bond does not always take the female M seriously and occasionally seeks to provoke
her intentionally as if to belittle her position of power. In Casino Royale, the media are
reporting about some security camera footage of Bond when killing an unarmed man in
an embassy. When M goes home, she finds Bond sitting in her living room. She is angry
about the incident becoming public and scolds him for being so careless. When M asks
Bond how he found out where she lives, he replies The same way I found out your
name. When you recruited me I thought M was a randomly assigned letter, I had no idea
it stood for at which point M interrupts him irritated. Bond has a desire to rebel
against authority, i.e. the Service and M, but he does not seem to take her anger
seriously also partly because she is a woman. Bonds rather playful behaviour causes a
shift in the power balance between him and M in his favour, and overpowering women
is strongly hegemonic.
 59

Bond is quite insubordinate at times, and it is usually M who has to comply with his
decisions. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond is ordered to leave a Russian terrorist arms
bazaar at once but instead he goes after the fighter jet with nuclear missiles. When a
naval commander questions his actions, M defends him by saying that he is doing his
job. In Casino Royale, Bond breaks into Ms apartment, hangs up the phone on her, lies
to her about not telling his name to Solange (the wife of a henchman) and logs into the
website of the Secret Service using her password. He also pursues the clue he found on
the bombers cell phone, although M orders him to lay low for a while because of the
embassy incident. In the end, he is proven right when his investigations lead him to
preventing a terrorist attack. After this, Bond has a meeting with M who gives him an
assignment to continue his investigations on the matter. The way in which the female M
yields to Bonds independent decisions constructs his hegemonic masculinity by
accentuating his individuality and his more powerful position in relation to his superior.

Compared with the male M, the female M shows more affection for Bond. In Casino
Royale, after Vespers death and the revelation of her betrayal, Bond is on the phone
with M. She explains how Vespers boyfriend was kidnapped and that she was
blackmailed into stealing the money Bond won from Le Chiffre. During the
conversation, M calls Bond by his first name twice, something which the male M does
not do. She is compassionate and even suggests he should take some time off. However,
at the same time, she is pleased that Bond now knows not to trust anyone and is thus a
better agent. Although showing compassion, she still remains professional and knows
that it is her job to train Bond to become almost a machine, an effective instrument of
the Service. Bonds behaviour is different when interacting with the female M as well.
In Casino Royale, in the parking lot at a hotel, Bond walks to his Aston Martin. Once
inside the car, he opens an envelope containing a document regarding the assignment
signed by M. With a smirk on his face, Bond says out loud I love you too, M,
something which he surely would not say if M was a male character. Bonds
relationship with the female M is more intimate than with the male M, but there is,
nevertheless, a certain degree of distance and formality between them, as there should
be.
 60

The third group of the women Bond interacts with includes casual sexual partners and
other female characters. Bond encounters numerous women on his missions and often
treats them as sex-objects in order to establish his manliness and carry out his mission.
At the beginning of Goldfinger, he is having his back massaged by a woman called
Dink (Margaret Nolan) at a pool. Felix Leiter comes to find Bond, and after introducing
him to Dink, Bond asks her to leave because of man-talk, takes her by the shoulders,
turns her around and slaps her on her bottom before she walks away. The same thing
happens in The Living Daylights with Moneypenny being slapped. In Goldfinger, Bond
also has a tendency to glance at womens behinds. He does this once to Moneypenny in
her office and twice to an air hostess in Pussy Galores airplane. Bonds behaviour is
extremely sexist, and there is no attempt to hide it. Portraying women as sex-objects in
this manner would not be approved nowadays, and, in fact, there are no examples of
similar behaviour in Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale. Being sexist was a
crucial element of Bonds hegemony in the earlier films but not anymore in the 1990s
and 2000s.

Having success with women constructs Bonds masculinity as hegemonic to a great

extent. Some women surrender to his charm immediately without much resistance. In
Goldfinger, Bond discovers Jill Masterson helping the villain to cheat in his card game.
She does not resist when Bond talks to the microphone forcing her employer to start
losing money but is rather amused of Goldfingers angry reaction. She tells Bond that
she is beginning to like him more than anyone she has met in a while. He asks what they
should do about that, and they kiss. In the next scene, they are half-dressed kissing on
the bed in Bonds suite. In Casino Royale, Bond becomes better acquainted with the
wife of one of Le Chiffres henchmen, Solange. After beating her husband at a card
game and winning his Aston Martin, Bond invites her for a drink to his cabana. In the
next scene, they are kissing on the floor with Bond asking questions about her husband
and his job. Solange notices this and says she is afraid he would sleep with her just to
get to her husband. Bond asks how afraid to which she replies Not enough to stop and
starts kissing his bare chest. Solange is quite willing to commit adultery with a stranger
who is clearly after her husband. Being irresistible to women strengthens Bonds
manliness.
 61

Sometimes Bond does not have to make much of an effort at all when the woman takes
the initiative. Even though the woman is more active, Bonds sex appeal still becomes
accentuated. In The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond discovers that the golden bullet
used to kill 002 is now in the possession of a belly dancer (Carmen Sautoy). He goes to
her room after her performance and complements on her dancing. The girl replies that
he is very handsome, and after telling how she found the bullet, which is now her lucky
charm, she strokes Bonds cheek and says they should forget the past. At the beginning
of The Living Daylights, a woman (Kell Tyler) in a bikini is on a yacht telling her friend
on the phone that she hopes to meet a real man. Conveniently, after saying this, Bond
lands on the yacht with a parachute and borrows the womans phone. He calls the
Service to say he will report in an hour but when the woman, holding a glass of
champagne, flirtatiously asks him to join her, he changes the deadline into two hours.
Bonds sexual magnetism is so strong that he does not have to persuade the woman for
her to become interested.

All women do not submit to Bonds charm at once but behave quite passively and even
defiantly towards him. However, they are not able to resist him forever. In Goldfinger,
Bond meets Pussy Galore when waking up on an airplane after being shot with a
tranquilizer gun. He is suave and flirtatious as usual and hopes the flight with her will
be memorable. Pussy answers coolly You can turn off the charm. Im immune. On the
ground Bond is welcomed by Oddjob, and when he remarks to Pussy that this
Goldfingers right hand kills little girls like her, she replies Little boys too. She reacts
indifferently to Bond and does not seem to care what happens to him. On his ranch
Goldfinger asks Pussy to be polite to Bond so that the CIA men spying outside would
think everything is fine. She does as told, taking Bond for a walk, and eventually they
end up in a barn. He begins to flatter her in order to win her to his side but Pussy stays
reluctant:

Bond: What would it take for you to see things my way?

Pussy: A lot more than youve got.
Bond: How do you know?
Pussy: I dont want to know.
 62

She is not interested, and when Bond persistently grabs her arm, she hurls him with a
Judo move. Bond retaliates, and soon they are lying in the hay Bond lying on top of her
holding her down. He lowers his face and whole body gradually and kisses her. Pussy
resists at first but then yields and kisses him back flinging her arms around him10.
Winning a reluctant woman is every mans dream, and a real man, like Bond,
succeeds in it. All women, no matter how uninterested or unwilling they might seem in
the beginning, eventually surrender to Bond which supports his hegemony.

Another example of resistance on the womans part is found in Tomorrow Never Dies
where Bond collaborates with a Chinese agent Wai Lin who is very skilled at her job
and used to working alone. When they are handcuffed to each other by Carvers
henchmen, she says she hopes they will not stay like that for long. When they ride a
motorcycle still cuffed, she climbs onto Bonds lap to see the cars following them. As
she is sitting in front of Bond facing him, she tells him not to get any ideas. After the
chase, while Bond is suggesting they should work closely together, Wai Lin secretly
picks her hand free with a picklock in her earring and cuffs him on to a water pipe.
Judging by her behaviour, she does not immediately find him irresistible. They do kiss
eventually but only in the very last scene of the film. Although it takes a little longer for
Wai Lin to fall for him, sexual appeal is still an essential element of constructing
Bonds hegemonic masculinity.

Bond shows compassion for some female characters instead of merely using them for
sexual pleasure and gaining information. The woman might be an innocent bystander
and not a professional agent at all which affects Bonds attitude towards her. In The
Living Daylights, Kara Milovy is a nave cellist in love with General Koskov whom she
helps to stage his assassination attempt. At first, Bond wants to use her relationship with
Koskov to find him, but during the course of the film, he begins to care for her more.
Bond even goes back to her although his assignment is accomplished. After playing at a
concert, Kara returns to her room disappointed when hearing that Bond is on a mission
elsewhere. She notices two martinis on the table and whistles, to which the key-ring

10
In Flemings original novel Goldfinger (1959) Pussy Galore is actually lesbian but she, nevertheless,
falls for Bond in the end.
 63

finder answers. Bonds hand appears from behind a screen holding the finder, and when
Kara walks to it, Bond grabs her hand and pulls her next to him onto the sofa. They kiss
and lie down as the camera moves to the other side of the screen. It is quite unusual for
Bond to return to the Bond girl because traditionally he takes advantage of the situation
of being alone with her at the end of the film when the villain has been defeated. This
differs from the established Bond formula and brings a new element to his masculinity:
not all women are treated as mere sex objects by him some of them are represented as
having subjectivity and thus capacity to make visible the internal world of Bond.

Bond is more considerate also if the woman is an old friend of his. In Tomorrow Never
Dies, Bond has had an affair with Paris Carver in the past. During their conversation at
Elliot Carvers party, it is revealed that she is aware of Bonds real profession and
assumes from the very beginning that he is trying to use her to get information on Elliot.
Bond, however, denies this immediately and quite adamantly indicating that he does not
want to exploit their past relationship and get her involved in his investigations. When
she comes to his hotel suite later that night, Bond tells her to go back, and as she is
getting ready to leave Bonds suite, he says he can get her out of the country in four
hours. He wants to protect Paris from her husband who might find out about their affair.
Like in the previous example, Bonds behaviour concerning this woman deviates from
the formula and constructs him as less hard a character than before.

A love interest is introduced to the Bond formula in Casino Royale. The category of
genuine love includes only Vesper Lynd, since Bonds feelings for her are much
stronger than for Kara or Paris. The love affair between Vesper Lynd, an accountant for
the Treasury, and Bond in this film is more serious than one is used to seeing in Bond
films. She makes an impression on Bond already on their first meeting when she
concludes many things about his personality and childhood which are true. She gives
quite a speech assessing Bond and stating where she herself stands:

Now, just having met you I wouldnt go as far as calling you a cold-
hearted bastard but it wouldnt be a stretch to imagine that you think of
women as disposable pleasures rather than meaningful pursuits, so as
 64

charming as you are, Mr. Bond, I will be keeping my eye on our

governments money and off your perfectly formed ass.

In addition to actually saying this to Bond, her behaviour indicates that she dislikes him.
On their way to the hotel in Montenegro, Bond tells Vesper that they are staying in a
shared suite because of their cover story as a couple very much in love. She quickly
comes up with an explanation for the suite to be changed into one with two bedrooms.
Bond brings a dress for Vesper to wear for the poker game that evening and asks her to
walk into the room so that all the other players see her. However, she enters the room
from another direction so that Bond is the only one who is distracted by her beauty. As
a show for Le Chiffre, at one point during the game, Bond walks to Vesper and kisses
her but as he is about to kiss her again, she turns her head away. Vesper, at first, plays
hard to get but eventually falls in love with Bond. Even when she betrays him by
stealing the money Bond won, she does it because of a deal she had made to spare his
life which proves she truly loves him. Yet again, Bonds influence on women is
established.

Bonds attitude towards Vesper in the beginning is quite sexist. When she sits opposite
to him on the train introducing herself by stating Im the money, Bond replies Every
penny of it taking a look at her from head to toe. He jokingly tells her that the name of
her alias is Stephanie Broadchest, but whether this is true is never revealed. Bond
kissing Vesper in the middle of the game with everyone watching is meant to distract Le
Chiffre but Bond wants to deliberately annoy Vesper as well. His behaviour changes
after Vesper helps him to kill a thug. When returning to the suite, he finds her sitting in
the shower with her dress on under running water crying and clearly shocked about the
incident. Bond sits next to her and comforts her but they do not have sex. He falls in
love with Vesper and even leaves his notice of resignation to start a life with her. This
kind of behaviour causes a fracture in Bonds hegemonic masculinity. However, she
deceives him by transferring the money to another account and is eventually killed by
drowning. Bond is a lonely action hero who cannot have a happy ending with the
woman he loves. Being sexually active is such a crucial element of Bonds hegemonic
 65

masculinity, thus he cannot remain monogamous. There will always be other women to
be charmed in the next film.

Having success with women and overpowering them is an essential part of Bonds
hegemony. In the 1960s and 1970s, Bonds masculinity was strongly constructed
through casual sex and the degrading treatment of women. In the 1980s and 1990s,
Bonds hegemonic position was weakened when, in addition to becoming less sexist
and showing more compassion for some female characters, Miss Moneypennys blind
devotion for him disappeared. In 2006, he became vulnerable by truly falling in love,
something which is not in line with what is considered constitutive of hegemonic
masculinity. Even though Bonds masculinity is not so strongly constructed through his
influence on women, he still establishes his hegemony often by belittling the authority
of the female M who remains professional while simultaneously showing more
compassion for him.

3.3.4 Relation to Institutions

The original M is often said to be a father figure to Bond who in the novels is strict and
demanding but occasionally caring towards Bond as well (Bennett & Woollacott 1987:
129). Furthermore, M differs from other male characters in Bond films in that he
represents the Secret Service. He is the personification of the organisation that gives
Bond the orders and is able to take away his double-0 status. At times, Bond rebels
against M and through him the whole Service by embarrassing his superior and/or by
being insubordinate. Although his rebellion is mostly verbal or otherwise moderate, it
still emphasises Bonds individuality and functions as means to shift the power balance
between Bond and M. Overpowering ones superior, even if only momentarily, is a
hegemonic quality.

In order to gain the power in their relationship, Bond often outsmarts M in the presence
of others as if to deliberately humiliate him by exposing his ignorance on some matter.
In Goldfinger, Bond is having dinner with M (Bernard Lee) and Colonel Smithers
(Richard Vernon) who tells them about Goldfinger and his background. When Smithers
 66

offers Bond some brandy saying that it is rather disappointing, M asks what is wrong
with it. After sniffing the brandy, Bond replies Id say it was a thirty-year-old fiend
indifferently blended, sir, with an overdose of Bon Bois to which Smithers says he is
correct. Later, while Smithers is talking with Bond, there is a shot of M smelling the
brandy decanter and glancing at Bond with an expression indicating he does not notice
anything peculiar with it. A similar situation occurs in The Man with the Golden Gun in
a meeting with M (Bernard Lee) and other department chiefs. When M asks Bond what
he knows about the assassin Francisco Scaramanga, he lists several facts about his
background and mentions that he has a superfluous papilla. M asks A what?, to
which Bond replies that it means a third nipple. Outsmarting and thus revealing a
weakness in M is one aspect of Bonds hegemony.

Bond only briefly overpowers M who usually re-establishes the power balance. For
instance, at the end of the meeting in Goldfinger, Smithers sets a bar of gold on the table
intended for Bond to use as bait to awaken Goldfingers interest. As he touches the bar
to pick it up, M, with a smug grin on his face, stops him by saying that he can retrieve it
in the morning with the rest of his equipment. It seems that by not allowing him to take
the gold right away M gets even with Bond for embarrassing him by knowing so much
about the quality of the brandy. Similarly, in The Man with the Golden Gun, a while
after Bond tells M what a third nipple is called, M shows Bond a golden bullet with the
number 007 engraved on it suggesting that someone has hired Scaramanga to assassin
him. When Bond wonders who would pay a million dollars for his death, M is quick to
offer different choices: Jealous husbands, outraged chefs, humiliated tailors. The list is
endless. Here, as well, this sharp remark is a response to Bond outsmarting him only a
moment earlier. This creates a fracture in Bonds hegemonic masculinity. However,
since M represents the Service and Bond is the employee, the power balance has to be
restored. Bond cannot be hegemonic in relation to the organisation but can be to M on a
personal level, although even then only momentarily.

Bonds defiant behaviour is usually verbal and quite moderate which establishes Ms
superiority. In Goldfinger, M (Bernard Lee) scolds Bond for purposely provoking
Goldfinger instead of merely observing him, as was assigned. Bond becomes annoyed
 67

for not being told why Goldfinger is under surveillance in the first place and says quite
bitterly I am prepared to continue this assignment in the spirit you suggest if I knew
what it was about and then adds a dry sir when M looks at him disapprovingly.
Because of Ms authoritative position, Bond quickly notices he is out of line and adjusts
his behaviour. In The Man with the Golden Gun, M wants Bond to disappear for a while
because having Scaramanga on his tail would jeopardise his assignments. He is not
pleased with this decision, but instead of going after Scaramanga all by himself, before
leaving his office, he says to M that the situation would be different if he found
Scaramanga first to which M agrees. Bond does not want to work behind Ms back but
consults him about his idea showing great loyalty to the Service and respect for Ms
position of authority. A part of being a warrior is to obey orders (Beynon 2002: 67), and
being an efficient and loyal spy is essential to Bonds character.

There are instances when Bonds insubordinate behaviour does not remain merely on a
verbal level. In The Man with the Golden Gun, while in bed with Mary Goodnight,
Bond receives a phone call from M wanting to congratulate them on their successful
mission. He asks to speak with Goodnight, but instead of giving her the phone Bond
places it on the bed next to them and continues kissing her. M waits on the other end of
the line and says Goodnights name a few times. After a while, Bond picks up the
phone, wishes Good night, sir and hangs up. Bonds power is emphasised when he
with his daringly defying behaviour humiliates M who does not this time respond with a
witty comment. However, since Bond has accomplished the mission successfully and is
most likely to have a few days off, his rebellion is not that serious and does not lead to
drastic consequences. He is still the obedient and loyal warrior (cf. Ambjrnsson 2001:
3033).

Defiant behaviour on Bonds part during the mission does occur as well but within
certain limits; he does things behind Ms back which makes his rebellion still relatively
moderate. In The Living Daylights, the Secret Service has received information on a
Russian General Pushkins plan to kill double-0 agents which M (Robert Brown)
believes is true. Bond is assigned to assassin him but he tells M he knows Pushkin (John
Rhys-Davies) and is not convinced he could be involved with such a plan. Furthermore,
 68

M is not pleased with Bond only wounding and not killing the female sniper earlier, so
he threatens to give Bond a fortnights leave and send 008 to do the job because he
follows orders. Bond protests adding that if Pushkin has to be killed, he would rather be
the one to do it. However, he trusts his own instincts more and, in spite of Ms orders,
flies first to meet the sniper, Kara, before going to Tangiers where Pushkin is. Even
then, rather than killing him immediately, Bond gives Pushkin a chance to defend
himself and decides to stage his assassination in order to mislead the real culprits. Bond
is not loyal to M and the Service in the same way as before; he has become less of a
warrior and more of a man who behaves in line with hegemonic male values. In the
1980s, individuality is then a more ideal quality in a man than following rules blindly.
Nevertheless, Bond works in secret because if he rebelled more openly against the
organisation, he could lose his license to kill or be dismissed altogether. Bond has
become powerful in relation to M but with certain restrictions.

Bond has a desire to rebel against the Service in order to prove his individuality. In the
films made in the 1960s and 1970s, he overpowers M by embarrassing him and/or by
being insubordinate but his rebellion is still quite moderate since it is mostly verbal or
otherwise subdued. Bond gains the hegemonic position only momentarily, because
following orders and being loyal to the Service is considered ideal for a warrior and not
for a man who represents hegemonic masculinity. Bonds defiant and individualistic
behaviour in the 1980s, on the other hand, corresponds with hegemonic values. One
explanation for Bonds behaviour is the atmosphere of the late 1980s when the Cold
War was coming to its end, and people were ready for a change. Bond, who ignores his
orders and eventually collaborates with Pushkin, mirrors the weakening political and
ideological dichotomy in the world. The East and the West were able to work together
successfully if there was a common enemy to defeat.

3.4 The Internal World

In cinema, dialogue and the characters facial expressions and actions reveal her or his
feelings (unless there is a voiceover telling their thoughts). Showing emotions is
 69

generally considered feminine and therefore something what a masculine man does not
do. Hard, heroic men, in particular, must be tough and have control over their emotions
(Beynon 2002: 67). In order to hold onto his hegemonic character, Bond has to remain
unemotional and be able to control his feelings.

Bond often manages to keep his emotions under control in various situations. Appearing
nervous or anxious is a sign of weakness which would give the antagonist the
advantage. In Goldfinger, during their golf game, Bond shows Goldfinger the gold bar
given to him by the Bank of England. When at the next hole it is Bonds turn to hit,
Goldfinger suggests they should play for the bar which is worth 5 000 pounds. Bond
looks a little nervously down and bites his lower lip before getting ready to swing
because he is expected to return the bar to the bank after the mission. However, his ball
lands perfectly, whereas Goldfingers ball ends up in the rough. Visibly most anxious
Bond is when he is threatened to be cut in half by Goldfingers laser. Lying on his back
on a table with the beam getting closer and closer to his crotch Bond licks his lips, has a
little sweat on his forehead and keeps looking somewhat worriedly from the beam to
Goldfinger while trying to convince him that he knows about his grand plan. When the
laser is finally shut off, he is clearly relieved. These feelings of fear and concern are
extremely subdued, and because Bond exhibits such control over his emotions in the
presence of others, his tough masculinity is emphasised. This toughness constructs him
as a hegemonic character who has power over other people.

There are other instances where Bond, although being distraught, remains calm. In
Casino Royale, his first reaction to seeing Solange murdered is silence. While he and M
are standing next to her body on the beach, the camera zooms onto him. After
answering no to Ms question whether she knew anything that could compromise Bond,
he gulps and glances to the side, away from Solange. He seems unaffected, but there is
some indication of him being slightly upset. In the same film, Bond strangles a man to
death at the end of a long and brutal fist fight. Afterwards in the bathroom of his suite,
he takes off his shirt and washes away the blood his and the other mans. He takes a
drink of whiskey and after keeping his eyes closed for a while, stares at himself in the
mirror breathing deeply and looking rather upset. He seems to use those few seconds to
 70

gather himself and, at the same time, to come into terms with having killed a person
brutally only a moment earlier. Exhibiting this kind of self-control clearly constructs
him in terms of hegemony.

Bond does not always succeed in controlling his feelings. When an acquaintance or a
closer friend of his dies, he does not, however, express grief by crying but through
anger. Aggression is considered natural to the male sex (Connell 1995: 45), so it is an
acceptable emotion for a man to express. In Goldfinger, while Bond lies unconscious on
the floor, Jill, the girl he had just slept with, is killed. After waking up, he walks to the
bedroom and turns on the light. His reaction to seeing her dead covered in gold paint
lying face down on the bed is quite controlled and only in his eyes can one detect a mild
shock. Bond goes to the body and sits next to it, and as he calls Felix Leiter, his facial
expression and tone of voice is angry because he knows Goldfinger is the culprit and is
now more determined to catch the villain. Instead of showing weakness by grieving her
death, his masculinity is established through aggression.

Another similar example occurs in The Living Daylights where Bond meets Saunders at
a caf in an amusement park in order to collect new passports for him and Kara. He
leaves the caf before Bond, and when reaching the doorway, the automatic glass
sliding door closes too early and hits Saunders killing him. Bond rushes to him and
finds next to the body a balloon with the words Smiert Spionom indicating that
Saunders was on General Pushkins list of Western agents to be assassinated. Bond
squeezes the balloon in anger until it pops. His immediate reaction is aggression,
through which he vents his other possible emotions. A little later, his anger is turned
against Kara whom Bond treats quite icily after all, she is in love with Koskov who is
also involved in killing double-0 agents. When she asks if they could stay longer in
Vienna, he sharply replies that they are leaving immediately and takes her by the arm
pulling her with him. Grief turned into aggression is a tough mans way to avoid
appearing weak.

In addition to being emotionless and having self-control over ones feelings, another
attribute of the kind of warrior masculinity that Bond represents is to value revenge over
 71

personal grieving (Beynon 2002: 68). In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond tricks Dr.
Kaufman to paralyse himself with Bonds cell phone, and with anger in his eyes, he
revenges Paris death by shooting the assassin with his own gun. Bonds feelings of
sorrow are transformed into anger and then vented through vengeance. This is another
example of typical behaviour for a warrior and a hard, heroic man and is consistent with
the idea of hegemony.

Anger does not always replace Bonds feelings of grief. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Elliot
Carver calls Bond and tells him that he has two items that belong to him; an encoder he
just stole from his laboratory and Paris in his hotel room. Bond enters the suite and goes
into the bedroom. He walks to the bed where Paris is dead lying face down, crouches
next to her, says her name rather desperately and almost whispering and places his
mouth on her hair clearly shocked. His mourning, however, is interrupted by the
realisation that the assassin, Dr. Kaufman, is still in the room. At one point during their
conversation, Bond, now sitting next to Paris on the bed, looks at her and caresses her
hair after which he speaks to the assassin with an ever so slightly broken voice.
Although he does not cry, he is visibly upset. Bond still manages to keep his emotions
in control but this, nevertheless, shows a fracture in his hard warrior masculinity.

Another example of genuine grief can be found in Casino Royale. At the end of the
film, Bond fails to save Vesper from drowning when he does not manage to open on
time the locked door of the lift where she is trapped. He gets her dead body on dry land
and tries to resuscitate her but finally his mouth-to-mouth technique turns into desperate
kissing. He steps away from her panting and stares at her looking quite devastated and
shocked. In the next shot, which is from further away, he kneels next to her and takes
her into his arms. The audience does not actually see if he is really crying because of the
distance, but it is strongly hinted at. Vespers death causes a fracture to appear in
Bonds hard masculinity by showing his vulnerability. However, it also makes him
human and a more realistic character, which is a general trend with heroes in the cinema
these days.
 72

Emotions can make a warrior weak because they might cloud his judgement (Beynon
2002: 68). This happens to Bond when in The Living Daylights, after finding the
balloon next to Saunders body, he suddenly sees a small bunch of balloons behind a
hedge nearby. Thinking it is the killer with the balloons, he runs towards them, jumps in
front of the person holding them with his gun drawn out only to discover that it is a
young boy with his mother. Bond seems surprised and a little shocked. The death of a
colleague has an effect on his ability to make good decisions and leads to him behaving
in a quite unprofessional manner when he almost endangers the lives of innocent
people. In addition to being disappointed with himself for not being able to prevent
Saunders death, Bond is also worried he might be the next on the list of agents to be
assassinated. Even though he exhibits self-control by not expressing these feelings
clearly, they still have an influence on his thinking and behaviour.

As a spy, it is essential for Bond to be able to control his feelings and appear unmoved.
This kind of behaviour does not occur merely in the presence of villains and other
antagonists but also when Bond is with someone closer to him. For example, in Casino
Royale, although Bond has admitted his love for Vesper and resigned the Service, he
does not smile or laugh any more freely when being alone with her. Bond, in general,
has a tendency to smirk rather than smile in all the films which is in line with the image
of a composed spy. When he does express true joy openly, often it is not because he
enjoys the company of a person but because of an inanimate object. In Tomorrow Never
Dies, during a chase in a parking house where he steers his car from the backseat with a
cell phone, he smiles when he fills a flat tire on his car with just one push of a button. A
little later, he jumps out of the car, drives it off the roof of the building and watches it
land into a display window on the street with a wide smile on his face. After this he
coughs, his expression becomes serious and he leaves the place. Bond seems to get
great satisfaction from his car with all the gadgets like a little boy does from a toy. This
accentuates the boyish nature of Bond but also the fact that he is a lonely action hero
who does not get emotionally too attached to other people on a personal level.

An important part of Bonds masculinity is his ability to control his feelings of concern,
fear, shock and sadness which corresponds with hegemonic values. Emotions can have
 73

an effect on Bonds judgement but only on rare occasions. Bonds grief is often vented
through anger which is acceptable for a tough man. In the 1990s and 2000s, Bond
expressed sorrow more freely which caused fractures in his hegemonic masculinity.
Although this revealed a more vulnerable and realistic side to him, James Bond still
cannot be shown to cry. Changes in society in this case are reflected only partly in Bond
films; even if a man of the 21st century can cry more freely than before, it does not mean
that 007 is one of those men.
 74

4 CONCLUSIONS

The way in which Bonds physical strength is portrayed and his masculinity is
constructed in relation to other male characters in the films has not changed over the
years. In other areas, his hegemonic masculinity has been weakened by the numerous
fractures caused by behaviour not corresponding to what is regarded as hegemonic; he
defeats the villain only through smartness, his influence on women has weakened and
he shows his grief more openly. Some of these changes have occurred in the 1980s and
1990s but the definition of Bonds masculinity has been modified the most only quite
recently, in Casino Royale, made in 2006. Bond has also become the object of the
eroticising female gaze but this is made possible because of his more muscular and
harder body that can bear the eroticising gaze.

Social and political changes in society have clearly had an influence on Bonds
character. Bond is not a sexist, misogynist dinosaur anymore and has not been since
the 1990s. His treatment of women is more equal mirroring womens position in
society. Although the eroticising female gaze was not clearly established until the
2000s, it is still a reaction to the growing number of female viewers. Bonds violent
behaviour is more brutal and questionable now than for example in the 1960s which
reflects modern warfare where techniques do not necessarily have to be acceptable as
long as the motive and end result are. In addition to violence being more realistic, Bond
himself has become more human which corresponds with the trend of depicting heroes.
The last restless years of the Cold War affected Bonds attitude towards his superior and
willingness to work together with the Russians. This is not surprising because when the
whole world changed, it was reflected in societies and eventually the cinema and the
representations it offered.

There is a certain pattern to the changes in the way in which Bonds masculinity is
represented. When some characteristics or actions seem to weaken Bonds masculinity
in some area, other qualities are emphasised more as if to compensate for the lack.
For example, in Casino Royale, Bond can be seen as less masculine because he is
subjected to the objectifying gaze of a female character, he shows vulnerability by
 75

falling in love and does not defeat the villain by killing him. These flaws are
compensated by making him brutally violent and look almost like a bodybuilder with a
hard surface. This way, Bond is always clearly hegemonic in some area although the
areas may differ from decade to decade. This practise of compensation can be
distinguished in all the films analysed in this thesis except for Goldfinger where Bond is
represented as the hyper-masculine alpha male who does not have any weak points and
thus there is no need for compensation. Changing times and opinions have resulted in a
different approach to Bonds character over the years but, nevertheless, showing
weakness in him still cannot be done without resorting to accentuating his other
hegemonic qualities.

By applying the idea of compensation to different Bond films than the five used in this
thesis, one would discover whether it applies to them as well. Another intriguing angle
for future studies would be why Bonds hypermasculinity came to its end; was it so
strongly associated with Sean Connery so that when he quit the role, Bond became
automatically less masculine on some areas or did the trends of the following decades
have a greater impact on this change? The 22 Bond films and 14 Bond books made
provide a comprehensive source of material for different studies, for example on
masculinity, femininity, technology and various ideologies, and it seems there is no end
to the career of James Bond as a movie legend or an objective of academic study.
 76

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Tomorrow Never Dies. Dir. Roger Spottiswoode. (1999). [Video] Warner Home Video
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