As Amazon MGM Studios takes full control of the iconic James Bond franchise with a reported additional $1 billion payment to longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, fans worldwide are questioning what direction the spy series might take under its new corporate ownership. The deal, which comes on top of Amazon’s initial $8.5 ... Read more
  • CameronDev
    131·
    19 hours ago

    Very strong “I’m not racist, I have a black friend” vibes from this article. One actress 50 years ago is hardly progress.

    Rather than trying to redeem/rewrite 007, why not spin off a new character instead. Might take some effort and skilled writing, but Amazon have money right?

    • GraniteM@lemmy.world
      3·
      4 hours ago

      Modesty Blaise

      Grew up in a refugee camp. Takes over a criminal gang, then turns it into an international mercenary syndicate that is employed by the British Secret Service. Is plenty good at killing, but prefers non-lethal weapons and martial arts. Has a long-time platonic male sidekick with whom she is emphatically not in a will-they-won’t-they relationship; they’re just best action friends.

      Modesty Blaise is just dying for a modern day franchise of her own, and she could just be Modesty Blaise, international woman of ass-kicking, not “the time they cast a woman as James Bond,” or even a Bond spin-off. It’s madness that it hasn’t happened already.

      • Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        91·
        2 hours ago

        I appreciate the Bond series as legend, but my partner and I couldn’t face any more movies portraying the same icky encounters as in the first Casino Royale Dr. No. We just felt incredibly uncomfortable for the woman being taken advantage of by Bond, in a beach hut

        We loved the Daniel Craig films, though. Suitably modern.

    • dunidane@lemmy.sdf.org
      8·
      18 hours ago

      And calling her a “Bond girl” is a bit of a stretch. Great that she was included but she’s not quite on the level of Melina Havelock or Countess Lisl von Schlaf in the movie.

      • Hildegarde@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        9·
        16 hours ago

        She was included because she was stealth and no one knew. It only came out after the fact.

        Most trans people were invisible at the time. You either did all the surgeries, fully passed, and cut off everyone who knew you pre-transition, or you didn’t get get to live a normal life.

        She wasn’t there because the filmmakers wanted to be progressive.

    • thefartographer@lemm.ee
      2·
      18 hours ago

      I could see that, but to me, it reads more like “you say you’re worried I’m going to put spinach on your plate, but you ate spinach 50 years ago.”

      • CameronDev
        1·
        18 hours ago

        That might be what they were aiming for, but it seems more of a “May contain traces of spinach” kinda thing. 1 actress in 50+ years, is basically a rounding error. Any movie with a large crowd scene would statistically have some trans people in the background, doesn’t make them progressive.

        And in some ways it gives the anti-woke knuckle draggers something to point at and say: “I’m not transphobic, I was perfectly okay with that one”.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
      2·
      18 hours ago

      You mean just make a spy movie? I don’t think they need to own the rights to the Bond franchise to do that.