The Bond Girl

With all of the news media this week focusing on the aftermath of the election, the legalization of marijuana in two states, the legalization of gay marriage in a few more, and the resignation of General Petraeus, I was hard-pressed to find an article that had to do with anything concerning men, women, race, or gender in the media. So instead, I decided to write about something that I noticed in the media.. more specifically, what I noticed in the latest Bond movie, Skyfall. This installment of the famous 007 series featured two beautiful Bond girls: London born Naomie Harris, and French actressBerenice Marlohe. Marlohe, a deviant yet intensely mysterious and beautiful character, had stated in an article for the Los Angeles times that she was shocked and suprised when she earned the role. She said that she had struggled to find work since she started her career as an actress, and was shocked at the different atmosphere she experienced when she traveled to Los Angeles for her audition.




http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-james-bond-berenice-marlohe-skyfall-20121110,0,2208854.story

"Their reluctance wasn't just because of her Eurasian heritage — Marlohe's father is Cambodian, her mother French. 'They would tell me you are too tall compared to the actors, which is not good for you or you have too much personality. The producers and director of a movie actually loved my work, but they told me it is not good to have too much presence compared to the main actress, so we will not hire you. I didn't agree with the system.'" - Los Angeles Times

I began to wonder how many actresses had been turned away because of their racial heritae, or even more trivial, their height. The comment that she "has too much personality" is shocking also- isn't that the point? Aren't actresses supposed to exude personality and character? Nobody can argue that Marlohe made a grade A Bond girl- she transformed a rather unimportant character into a major role. Many critics are predicting that Skyfall will be nominated for an Oscar, and some even say Marlohe may be up for best supporting actress. All of this....despite the fact that she is of mixed race and too tall. 


The Bond girls could make an easy topic for this blog post because it would be incredibly easy to say the stereotypical response: they are women, they are overly sexualized, they never have major roles, they're merely 'eye candy' and a prop for the strong, male lead to use. But that isn't true, certainly not of this film. Harris, who plays another MI6 agent assigned to help Bond, is certainly a strong woman who can hold her own. SPOILER ALERT In the beginning of the film, she shoots him! Severine, Marlohe's character, plays a major role in the film. She is certainly a damsel in distress, and while we could sit around and criticize that role, she is a strong individual, fighting for her freedom as hard as she can. Overall, I found nothing wrong with the portrayal of the Bond girls and I thought that the film producers did a fantastic job of creating real, accessible, strong characters that culminated in an exciting and fantastical James Bond movie!