Why James Bond should not be a woman.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I saw the announcement that the new James Bond is going to be played by a woman of color and instantly I was irritated. This rant has the bones of what I want to say, but will have to be fleshed out later.
I believe in Empowerment and Representation. I believe in Equality. I believe we need to make an effort to create a world where color and gender and identity are descriptors, not dividers.
However.
James Bond is based on a literary character create by Ian Fleming. He created this character in a time when men were spies and random sexual conquests were acceptable. He created the Gentleman Spy. And you know what? That’s awesome! It’s an action-adventure story, geared toward men.
The problem I’m having is this: why don’t they create a NEW CHARACTER? According to “Casino Royale,” the reason he’s know as 007 is because he’s the 7th person to obtain his double-0 status, i.e. he killed a guy. That means there are 6 other people with double-0 status they could make movies about. Statistically, at least half of those people should be women. Instead of taking an icon and flipping it, MAKE SOMETHING NEW!!!!! You can say “based on the character of James Bond” or something like that if you need to, or you just go out and write something new and different n the same universe and see what happens.
What we really need are new stories, not revamps of old ideas. This is what women have been dealing with for centuries. We are not made to fit into a mold made for me. We are made to fight and stand up for what we believe in and make a difference in the world in ways that only woman can do.
The thing is, not only are perceptions of femininity and masculinity different, so are men and women. Biologically and psychologically, women experience the world in different ways, and that is something that should be celebrated. Shoving a woman into a role created for a man is diminishing her. Is it fair that a man is applauded for having anonymous sex with lots of women while a woman is called a whore? No, not in the least. So any woman put in the character of James Bond is instantly going to lose credibility for that one fact alone.
We’re not going to be able to fix the inequalities between genders or races by constantly taking traditionally white male roles and casting women of color into them. The only way we’re going to disassemble inequality is by creating our own characters with our own strengths and skill-sets and abilities that showcase the differences and makes them beautiful and exciting and sought-after. Make your characters strong on their own, not fake-strong pretending to be something they are not.
Just to be clear, men and woman are not better or worse. They are just different. As are people of difference colors, creeds, and abilities. And the sooner we embrace those differences and learn to celebrate them in each other, the sooner we’ll be able to move beyond hate and resentment.