PENIS SEX BOOBS ORGASM: 007’s Misogyny Laid Bare In 105-Second Video
The other day, Devin pointed out that the last few years have yielded maybe the biggest cultural sensitivity shift since the 1960s. And it’s true: as we aim to become more a inclusive and accepting world, off-color jokes about sexual orientation and gender identity that flew on network television ten years ago now stick out like sore thumbs in syndicated reruns, and new content is called to the carpet as quickly as it’s produced, as comment sections fill up with a quickness as folks race to point out the problematic elements of this new poster or that new trailer. Our pop culture climate is today constantly reminding us what's offensive to whom.
That's a good thing! When under-represented folks live in silence with the things that are hurtful to them, the odds go up that the rest of us might say or do something we don't even realize is upsetting or offensive. No one I know WANTS to do that. And for all the teasing I give to Millennials about their set-your-watch-by-it outrage, I genuinely appreciate that lesser heard voices can step to the mic and point this stuff out, and I like that they're helping me continue to learn and grow.
But I'd be lying if I said this new callout climate isn't exhausting sometimes. I'm not super into this angle being the ONLY angle from which we come at stuff lately, and folks racing to just play "problematic see it/say it" with older, "dated" films as if they're filling a bingo card aren't exactly furthering discussion. Hey, take this stuff apart all day, but have SOMETHING to say besides "uh, brownface much?"
On the other end of the spectrum (and closer to my section of the lawn), do we really need book-length dissertations to tell us what a racist/sexist/elitist asshole James Bond is? Of all the entertainment franchises to go under this new microscope, Bond is fish in a petri dish. I mean, it’s a middle-aged white man spending wantonly, fucking every woman in sight, and frequently killing non-British, often mixed-race villains who are threatening the Empire and – more importantly - the status quo. Yikes! No wonder that in this new age of cultural awareness, Bond is an exceptionally easy target. And folks are eager to take aim: there have been massive think pieces, term papers, and blog posts galore about what a misogynist dinosaur James Bond is (even though M herself handily pointed that out in 1995).
But it’s a busy world, and taking the piss out of the patriarchy needn’t require three-thousand-word takedowns. That’s where “Annotated James Bond Titles” comes in. Of all the things I love about this perfect, simple little video by Andrew Clarke (a dear friend and one of the individuals behind the Nine Worlds Festival), what I love most is that it takes the air out of not only the Bond franchise, but the idea that we need to bloviate all day about the series’ regressive elements. Mr. Clarke cuts right to the heart (or dick, one supposes) of the matter, and it cracked me up enough to share here. Enjoy.
