The Representation of the ‘Bond Girl' Essay

Along with chiaroscuro, lighting a dark weather, the femme fatale is one of the main traits of film noir. It is the femme fatale that excites and draws in the audience.

These representations of women most often cause society to believe it is ok to perceive and treat women as lesser citizens only used for stereotypical tasks and sexual pleasure. My strongest opinion on visual images such as these is that they can cause men to have offensive and unethical attitudes towards women, and can even influence sexual assault.

Vesper Lynd herself, in a departure from the usual Bond love-interest, shows herself to be so much more than just the typical air-headed, glamorous Bond blonde. She is devious and cunning, proving to be more than a match for him in planning and plotting, illustrating that she is so much more than the window-dressing Bond girls of yore. One of my favourite scenes, she unexpectedly joins Bond for dinner whilst he is travelling to Montenegro by train. Bond quickly susses out Vesper as being insecure about her beauty and thus over compensating with masculine clothing giving her a prickly demeanour. She is also quick to size-up Bond and the pair enjoy a bit of flirtatious banter before retiring to their respective quarters.

the opening sequence, in The world is not enough he got his hands on a

In Hollywood film women 's roles have varied quiet considerably between genres, geographical placement, and period settings. These factors contribute to the different representations of women 's roles in the film they are present in. The roles are diverse going from the traditional maternal role to that of manipulative murderer. Women 's roles in movies can be almost equal to the male roles, and the co-stars are not given the majority of the acclaims just because they are male. Society has set certain standards that women are supposed to follow. The most common image of women is that they are very passive and try to avoid conflict in any situation. More and more in society women are breaking down the social barriers that confine them to their specific roles. The films Rear Window and Resident Evil show women in roles that are untraditional for our society. These two movies help to show how women are rebelling against social norms and that they are taking more active and aggressive roles. In film noir’s we can see women represented as the femme fatale, a woman whose mysterious and seductive charms leads men into compromising or dangerous situations. In action movies we see the heroine who is strong both physically and mentally, and has the ability to use weapons. Women seem to be more trapped than men because they are supposed to live up to society’s standards dealing with beauty and size, which are more physical characteristics. These specific guidelines have been set by

James Bond has been a popular icon since the release of Casino Royale by Ian Fleming in 1953, with many wanting to be him or to be with him (SOURCE). The franchise has created characters which encompasses the stereotypical and culturally defined characteristics that each gender should possess; with men displaying masculine features such as assertiveness and aggressiveness, while females are portrayed as secondary characters who are submissive. The latest reboot of Bond has attempted to bring the storyline into the modern age. By doing so, the films have attempted to align the depiction of each character to be inclusive of how western societies now define each gender and their characteristics.

Daisy is a symbol of wealth herself and normally attracts and is attracted to men of similar status. Daisy Buchanan was born into wealth and lived among money for her entire life. With this wealth came enormous privilege when it came to everyday life. When Gatsby first met Daisy he was in the army and was stationed in Louisville, Kentucky as an

The movie included only one women superhero- the black widow, compared to most all male cast. In fact, in this entire film, only 3 women were given some type of speaking role, all which had really minor importance to the film. Most of these women were shown helping the male characters, helping them enhance their powers or providing a moral reasoning. While Black Widow’s combat skill were credential, she was essentially a superhero due to her manipulation skills. I find this super power not worthy of breaking gender barriers. This power plays with the mind and carries a feminine aspect to it considering that many regard women as highly emotional. Furthermore, the Black Widow was not given enough screen time to develop her character. In one of her scenes where she is found alone with uncontrollable Hulk, she was the only one that was shown defenseless where the fights between other superheroes are shown to be equally matched. The construction of the cast of this movie supports the opinion where the society fails to see women super hero to be empowering. Many of the fans consider the females presence in the action series to only be aiding the main masculine hero and providing romantic

Although, I do not agree with this. I feel that there are many films today in which women play the biggest roles and are the main character. For example, Julia Roberts plays a huge role in all of her movies, being a very strong, independent women. Many people may agree that all 'chick-flicks' are women film based as well. Not only 'chick-flicks' have women that play important roles though. Angelina Jolie plays in plenty action packed, adrenaline rushing movies. For examples; Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Tomb-Raider, Wanted, and Changeling are all movies Jolie has played major roles in and been successful. She represents a very strong and independent women in each role she plays in all her movies, showing that she doesn't need a man to accompany her in her films to make them better.

offending. An example of when he hits a woman is when he is talking to

The male gaze puts his fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled, in a unique sort of way. In this traditional exhibitionist, role women are continuously being looked at and their appearance is delivered to the male gaze in such a way as a strong visual and erotic impact and provides male desire. The presence of a woman in a normal narrative film is the key of the movie. However, the key of the narrative film works against the development of the story-line and stops the action due to the erotic gaze. Butt Boetticher said: “What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance”.

To be feminine is to be pretty, sexualized, and passive. “Marked Women” by Deborah Tannen, “Sexism in English: Embodiment and Language” by Alleen Nilsen, and “A Woman’s Beauty: Put Down or Power Source?” by Susan Sontag are three essays that show these negative connotations of femininity. Together, they exemplify that females are “marked” as pretty, sexualized, and passive.

The presentation of women on screen is another highlighted issue in many of the gathered sources. Because men were ultimately in control of what went on the screen much of what the audience perceived were women from the male imagination or fantasy. Bernard Beck elaborates in his article Where the Boys Are: The Contender and other Movies about Women in a Man’s World that, “…women have been used to dress up a male story or motivate a male character” (Beck 15). Women were often insignificant and trivial characters. Although, Kathe Davis disagrees to a point. In her article, Davis offers a dissonant opinion to the fore-mentioned insignificance of the female character. She instead describes many female characters as “predators,” and analyzes the roles of lead women in three prominent films of the nineteenth century. In each film, she finds parallels and similarities of cases of “female emasculation” and instances where “women are turned into objects of male desire” (Davis 47-48). Davis does not perceive female characters as being insignificant, just stripped of their power and misrepresented. She discusses how females of power are often portrayed as crazy

"according to her bond" (p.4).  She is saying that she loves him as much as any

on society and culture. But since the beginning, there has been trend of male dominance in entertainment. This has contributed to gender inequality by not giving young girls strong role models in movies. It has also created ideal gender images that young children and adults feel obligated to follow. In more recent years, with the rise of feminism and gender equality, many have begun to push for changes in movies and Hollywood. Gender inequality in film can be reduced by creating more roles for women, avoiding gender stereotypes such as the damsel in distress, and avoiding oversexualizing women.