Representation of Sex and Gender in the Film Goldfinger

“My Name is Bond, James Bond. ” A film franchise that has spanned for a better part of this century has been engrained to generations, young, old, men and women. Bond’s suave outlook, dominating presence, and alluring sex appeal has engrained among generations how a man should conduct himself – a man’s man, and has also engrained the stereotype of how women are in this world. What are their roles, their functions and how should they be treated. In the years of the Bond movies, Bond has either pushed or represented the present times’ view on gender issues and relationships.

When taken a closer look, it can be surmised that one can see the chronological progression of sex and gender issues and relationships when watching the entire 007 film franchise – how it has been in the past and how it has progressed. This paper aims to examine the existing on screen relationships within gender relations as depicted in James Bond movies. In particular, focus is given towards the women of James Bond in the various films of James Bond, especially those that are represented in the movie Goldfinger.

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On the other hand, focus will also be given on the variety of women shown in other James Bond movies and how they depict women and how they are able to represent the current culture towards interactions between women and men, and the roles they play in society. In addition, the paper also dips into how women represent the typical ‘Bond Girls’ and what role do they take in the plot of Bond movies.

The study develops its arguments via a comprehensive discussion on the subject matter, utilizing cited references and integrating them with each other in order to churn out an effective analysis of the points of the study.

Studies acquired for this research will be primarily acquired from UK sources but is not limited to and can acquire US/other sources as need be. There is no particular limit to the age of the publication, just as long as it is written based on the James Bond, the interpretation of women in these films, gender theory, and other studies that may be deemed necessary for the study. As a last point, a conclusion will be presented summarizing the key points of the paper. The methodology of acquiring the desired results will utilize qualitative analysis.

The qualitative analysis presents an advantage as it adheres to the concept of individuality in terms that each person or group is expected to have varying interpretations of the situation that person or the group is immersed in. This provides for a more in-depth analysis for the study as the qualitative portion of the study focuses more on the inner psyche of the individual/group and acknowledges the point that individuals and groups have different opinions on the issue/topic.

It is the responsibility then of the researcher to merge these existing thoughts into a cohesive interpretation that is representative of the entire subject base. James Bond and his counterparts My name is Bond, James Bond On hindsight, the variety of 007 films that was released over the years represent how majority of society (i. e. American and British society) sees masculinity and femininity and how it has progressed throughout the decades. Bond’s representation in Goldfinger presents the deepest and most innate desires of how men see themselves and how women want their men to see, act and feel.

In addition to this, the personas portrayed by women acting in Goldfinger had presented the different variations of women in their time. Their On screen relationships with the secret agent project deep-seated cultural conventions that involves mainly romance and sexual interaction between men and women that add how bond films are able to provide a mirror image of cultural fantasies and realities of modern man and woman in film and in society. It can be said that the bond movie series has taken society by storm because of the reason that they have a similarity to human fantasies and wishful thinking.

The movies in a way, has defined the dreams and paranoia a particular group of 007 fanatics and within a given timeline in history (Lindner, 2003). The characters played in 007 films feed on human fantasy components desired by humans on earth such as fast cars, hard alcoholic beverages, high stakes gambling, and powerful weaponry at a moment’s notice, handsome secret agents and beautiful women at their side. When the movies were first released at 1962 onwards, 007 had appeared on the silver screen with an average of two years per interval.

Sean Connery filled up the role as James Bond in the movie Goldfinger, keeping in mind how Ian Fleming had envisioned James Bond in real life. His suave attire and commanding look, although was totally different as that of a real-life spy, tapped into the imagination and perception of people at that time on how a spy or a secret should look and feel. On the other hand, following Dalton’s depiction, there was a gap of six years while Bond’s representation was re-developed and reconstructed for the 1990s post Cold War political climate in Britain and the U. S.

In mid 1994, the actor Pierce Brosnan was identified to take over the role of 007 (Brosnan, 1995). But even with these changes occurring, the secret agent that is James Bond has essentially remained unswerving all throughout the movies series history (more than 40 years). The secret agent has never aged, never gotten seriously injured, never stopped drinking and more importantly has never stopped chasing the opportunity to be intimate with a sexiest and coincidentally the most intelligent women around.

James Bond has become the quintessential suave secret agent, completely opposite as that of real-life secret agents, dry wit and capable intelligence officer serving for king and country. On the other hand, categorization of James Bond has naturally varied from actor to actor during the entire 40 year history and has mainly been coupled with the current social and political climates and values of the times (Lindner, 2003).