As a new actor prepares to take over the role of James Bond, fans are reckoning with the franchise’s problematic legacy (Picture: Getty Images)
When you decide to rewatch old James Bond movies, you know you aren’t signing up for a particularly politically correct cinematic experience.
It’s a franchise known for smarmy one-liners, gorgeous women with names like Pussy Galore, bad guys with Russian or German accents, and very short shorts – but many viewers don’t realise just how problematic the movies are until they rewatch them in the modern era.
Now, people are once again reckoning with the cultural legacy of the movies as rumours swirl about the next actor set to play the iconic role.
There has been intense speculation about the untitled 26th film, with Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, and James Norton among those discussed as candidates to take on the role.
At one point, it was falsely reported that Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been cast, with more recent suggestions that Taron Egerton is now the favourite.
But some have wondered whether the franchise needs to be continued at all, given its deeply problematic legacy.
James Bond’s treatment of women leaves much to be desired (Picture: Getty Images)
Given the shockingly sexist, racist, and generally offensive moments that have featured throughout the films, everyone can agree that the role of 007 in modern culture needs to be heavily reevaluated.
The time James Bond assaulted a spa attendant
In Thunderball (1965) Bond pulls a spa attendant into a sauna as she screams in protest. Eventually, he talks her into sleeping with him with the threat of blackmail.
As with all of the sexual moments in early James Bond films, the moment is presented as a woman being so overcome with 007’s natural charisma she can’t help but submit to him.
When he pins Pussy Galore to a pile of hay
Another deeply troubling moment comes along in Gold Finger (1964) when Bond pins down Pussy Galore as she repeatedly protests and struggles to get away from him.
Ultimately, she sexually submits to him, but the scene is anything but romantic and through a modern lens, it’s undeniably a brutal assault – perhaps even a rape.
The shower scene in Skyfall
In 2012’s Skyfall, when Daniel Craig had taken over as the iconic spy, Bond joins a woman in the shower uninvited mere moments after he learns that she’s been a victim of human trafficking and statutory rape.
While the scene is arguably consensual, it’s certainly pushing the boundary.
The constant racism throughout the early Bond movies
Given that James Bond films were known for taking audiences to previously unseen corners of the world, it was inevitable that racism was also often prominently featured in the franchise.
There’s the moment in You Only Live Twice when Bond disguises himself as an Asian person, and that’s not even to note the constant Asian stereotypes throughout the movie.
Octopussy (already notable for its explicit name) also features several instances of unfortunate racial stereotyping, including the almost instantaneous appearance of a snake charmer the moment Bond arrives in India.
James Bond hitting women
In From Russia with Love, Bond discovers that one of the female characters is a spy, so he responds as any gentleman spy might: He immediately slaps her across the face.
Bond is often violent and dismissive towards women throughout the films, but the explicit hitting in this moment really highlights the hypocrisy of his gentleman persona.
And even more racism…
In 1979’s Moon Raker, Bond once again displays his flagrant racism. In a moment in which he throws a Japanese man into a piano, he remarks ‘Play it again, San.’ Yikes.
Now, as Bond fans prepare to welcome a new actor into the iconic role, we can only hope that the franchise learns from its past mistakes and presents us with a less problematic spy.
Maybe, if we’re lucky, the new bond will leave his chauvinistic, racist ways behind entirely and redefine the kind of masculinity that Bond films have always put on a pedestal.
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