Good evening,
This survey will discuss whether the cinematographic world of James Bond is sexist or not. First lets get the obvious examples to make an informed judgement:
In the earlier bond movies James hits women (f.e. goldfinger), this is to be considered sexist since it perpetuates a victim role for the female and oppressor role for the male. It can be considered sexist since:
- It teaches that women are weaker than men
- It teaches that it is normal behaviour for a lover to hit his Love.
Prima facie it might not be abundantly clear why the second reason reinforces sexist paradigms. But perhaps merely asking whether a franchise is sexist or not does not ultimately contribute to increased attention for femicide.
A better approach might be to ask if the world which is promogated through James Bond is the world in which we want to live. Then James Bond can be sexist merely if enough women deem it sexist. Nothwithstanding the obvious first example (supra) if the conversation moves to “do we want to live in this world” instead of scrutinizing definitions it becomes clear right away that the world of James Bond is sexist.
The later movies attempt to solve this ethical vacuum by introducing a female James Bond but in my opinion also the last installments do not convincingly answer the “do we want to live in this world” question.
Thank you for your attention.