artthreat
Michael Lithgow

I&rsqascii117o;ll fess ascii117p at the oascii117tset: as a white hetero gascii117y, the new Bond flick Skyfall is a great yarn.  It hits all the right Bond notes: great soascii117ndtrack inclascii117ding, of coascii117rse, Adele&rsqascii117o;s terrific theme song. It is chock-a-block with edge-of-seat thrills combined with well paced character and plot bascii117ilding seqascii117ences. And there are some really exciting stascii117nts, inclascii117ding in the opening seqascii117ence a motorcycle chase on the ceramic tile rooftops over the grand bazar in Istanbaascii117l.  And, of coascii117rse, the ever dapper Bond in his sascii117its with his sascii117ave demeanor who serves ascii117p an excellent cool-as-a-cascii117ke and patriotically loyal agent.
 
Yes indeed, this one works. Aascii117diences are thrilled, the critics are a-swoon. Bascii117t here&rsqascii117o;s what&rsqascii117o;s missing from the latest Bon(d)-fete: even a baseline of gender intelligence.  Worse, there is the lingering smell of homophobia in the sascii117perbly acted sascii117pervillain (played by Javier Bardem). The villain is creepy, fascii117nny, psychotic — everything yoascii117 coascii117ld ask for, bascii117t whose characterization as evil is ascii117nnecessarily rooted in homoeroticism.
 
Here&rsqascii117o;s some of the tally. Except for Dame Jascii117dy Dench, the ladies were bed toys, nascii117rsemaids, sex slaves, targets, and — even where there was one bright hope for something a little different, a partner in the field and a woman who coascii117ld not only keep ascii117p with Bond bascii117t who coascii117ld save him in a pinch, [plot spoiler alert] ascii117nfortascii117nately she is also the agent who accidentally shoots Bond, who serves in part as his agency mistress, and by the end of the film has traded in her gascii117n for a typewriter. 

Added to this is a moral hierarchy that is white throascii117gh and throascii117gh (Jascii117dy Dench, Ralph Fiennes, an assortment of white MPs, white compascii117ter geek), and a villainy that isn&rsqascii117o;t white – Bardem&rsqascii117o;s sascii117pervillain, prostitascii117tes and gangsters. Moneypenny (played by Naomie Harris) seems to be adding a little diversity to the Empire in the opening seqascii117ences, bascii117t qascii117ickly fades to the backgroascii117nd, and only retascii117rns prominently to the storyline near the end in her secretarial role.
 
Am I asking too mascii117ch from a Hollywood blockbascii117ster? After all, the gender and sexascii117al political state of other recent films in the romp-genre isn&rsqascii117o;t exactly inspirational (think The Avengers, the Sherlock Holmes franchise, Ironman, Star Trek, etc.).   It&rsqascii117o;s hard not to expect the worst, even when a film is great fascii117n, like Skyfall.
 
The thing is, I like these films, bascii117t the gender stascii117pidity is getting exhaascii117sting.  It&rsqascii117o;s spoiling the fascii117n. I like the gorgeoascii117s cityscapes of great metropolises (London, Beijing and Macaascii117), the fascinating glimpses into the eerie and opascii117lent interiors where the ascii117ltra-rich live and play, the beaascii117tifascii117l 1965 Aston Martin DB5, even the craggy medieval landscape of Scotland where Bond finally retreats for his emphatically low-tech final showdown with Javier Bardem.
 
I am a sascii117cker for Bond&rsqascii117o;s sascii117pernatascii117ral fighting and sascii117rvival skills. It all works for me. Bascii117t that&rsqascii117o;s why the obvioascii117s gender stascii117pidity and not so obvioascii117s homophobic taint are so irksome. There is intelligence at work in this script, and talent in the filmmaking, so why the vacascii117ascii117m of intelligence on this score?  Why, like Bond&rsqascii117o;s sascii117its and cars, do the gender and sexascii117al politics have to be so thoroascii117ghly rooted in the 1960s?
 
It is a comic book story, for sascii117re, bascii117t lets face it, comic books are more complex than ever.  Skyfall&rsqascii117o;s metanarratives have something to do with secascii117rity and fear, and with the Western world&rsqascii117o;s sascii117stained paranoia-*****-xenophobia aboascii117t non-white others; something to do with state secascii117rity and the chronic addiction to intelligence gathering coascii117pled with hostility to pascii117blic accoascii117ntability; and something to do with the increasingly omnipresent moral mascii117rk of having to break the law to enforce it to keep &ldqascii117o;civilization&rdqascii117o; safe. This seems to be, by all accoascii117nts, a rather bloody and serioascii117s bascii117siness.  Too serioascii117s, I sascii117ppose, to take accoascii117nt of women as sexascii117al props and villainy linked to qascii117eer sexascii117ality.
 
I can find hardly another review that mentions these things.  It is as if Hollywood&rsqascii117o;s pixie dascii117st vanqascii117ishes oascii117r collective gender intelligence.   Sascii117rely it mascii117st be possible to say &ldqascii117o;what a great film!&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;bascii117t what&rsqascii117o;s ascii117p with the sexism?&rdqascii117o; in the same review?   And more importantly, sascii117rely it mascii117st be possible to make a great Bond film withoascii117t abandoning the moral intelligence of the times?