We’ve all watched at least one James Bond film and marvelled at the action-packed scenes and found ourselves silently (or not so silently) rooting for Ian Fleming’s famous British Secret Service agent, but what about the women in the films? Do they get the credit they deserve?
More: Daniel Craig shuts down reporter in embarrassing TV interview (WATCH)
Known as the Bond Girls, these women are beautiful, glamorous and (more often than not), at some point in the film, scantily clad. But are these women just placed in the movie so that men have something to drool over? Or is there much more to their characters? The fact is, Bond Girls are not just pretty faces and killer bodies. They are actually powerful representations of strong, fearless women. Not only are they badass, they’re also intelligent, charming and, yes, gorgeous. But this only goes to show how multifaceted these characters really are.
Perhaps that’s why Honor Blackman, who starred as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger alongside Sean Connery in 1964, doesn’t want to simply be referred to as a “Bond Girl”, because she is so much more.
More:Why casting Monica Bellucci as the new Bond Girl is brilliant marketing
In a guest column for the Daily Mirror, Blackman drove home this point when she wrote, “Stop calling us Bond girls, we are women and actresses!”
She also made another observation about society’s obsession with age and the gross double standards that exist for men and women.
“In 1964 I didn’t just become the Bond girl with the most sensational name. At the age of 38 I also became the oldest Bond girl — and, boy, did people bang on about it”, Blackman wrote before noting that in the new film, Spectre, at 51 years old, Monica Bellucci is now taking that title from her, “even if it did take more than half a century”.
She continued, “I just don’t understand why we are still obsessed with age. Or rather, I don’t understand why MEN are still so obsessed with the age of women. Because that’s really what we’re talking about”.
More: The real reason why Idris Elba can’t be James Bond
Blackman goes on to point out the injustices by comparing Bellucci and James Bond star Daniel Craig’s ages.
“Monica is only four years older than 47-year-old Daniel Craig. I was five years older than Connery when I played Pussy Galore, and that caused just as much fuss back then. So why haven’t we moved on?” she questioned.
“What many people still fail to realise is that women don’t necessarily see their looks fade when they reach their 40s and 50s. And there’s no reason why they can’t go on looking great into their 60s, 70s and beyond”, she wrote. She later pointed out that men continue to get jobs despite their changing appearances.
“Ageing men constantly appear on television with their ‘destroyed’ craggy faces and pot bellies, with their belts closer to their crutch than their waist, getting series after series. Whilst older women are never afforded the same opportunity.”
While Blackman notes that there has been some progress, we still have a long way to go. She writes, “Our looks, really, are SO unimportant in the grand scheme of things and when we realise that it will be a sign that we’ve finally progressed”.
Leave a Comment