Male Fantasy or Female Empowerment? The Femme Fatale in Bond
From the Desk of Lucy GouldThe femme fatale is a character archetype that has existed for centuries. She is often “a seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising situations [or] a woman who attracts men by an aura of charm and mystery” (Merriam-Webster). The term is 19th-century French for “fatal woman” but the archetype was still present in literature centuries earlier like The Odyssey and The Tragedy of Macbeth. Around the 20th century, the femme fatale “became a principal character in the hard-boiled detective novels and classic film noir” (Ostberg). While many films include the femme fatale, this essay will strictly focus on the femme fatale in the Bond Cinematic Universe. The James Bond franchise has spanned seven decades with twenty-five films and seven actors playing Bond. The films follow secret agent James Bond, or 007 as he is also known, as he completes dangerous missions for the Secret Intelligence Service (or MI6). In almost all, if not all, the films Bond encounters a femme fatale on his journey. This woman, sometimes a civilian and sometimes an agent or spy, is someone Bond finds sexually attractive. However, in the Bond Cinematic Universe, the principal femme fatale is referred to as the “Bond Girl” which signals her importance as his love interest. It has been argued that the femme fatale can be an empowering archetype, showing a woman’s wits for using her body to get what she wants. In this essay, I will argue that the femme fatale archetype, as portrayed in the Bond Cinematic Universe as “Bond Girls”, is a sexist portrayal of women as a desirable object to fulfill men’s fantasies rather than an empowering feminist character.
To understand the femme fatale in the Bond Cinematic Universe, one must first identify the characteristics of a “Bond Girl” compared to the other female characters. The name “Bond Girl” directly connects the film's femme fatale to the character James Bond. This connection defines the female character as second to Bond and only existing to further Bond’s narrative. But what exactly is a “Bond Girl”? They often “play independent, highly intelligent roles as heroes, villains, other agents, or professionals” (Neuendorf). In my viewing of Dr. No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021), I have noticed some more characteristics of “Bond Girls”. Like the femme fatale, she is sexually appealing while maintaining a mystery. What separates the “Bond Girl” from the other women Bond attaches himself to is her initial unwillingness to view Bond as a potential partner. The other female characters either immediately throw themselves at Bond or resist him without ending up with him. The “Bond Girl” initially resists Bond’s charm but it isn’t until they are forced into a dangerous situation that forces her to see Bond’s bravery and dedication to his job. No matter how “autonomous as these characters are initially depicted, they are often identified as an adjunct to… or in terms of their relationship to other male characters” (Neuendorf). But ultimately, the “Bond Girls” “are framed as objects of sex or violence, or considered easily dispensable” (Neuendorf). Each Bond movie, except No Time to Die (2021), has a new femme fatale, proving that the “Bond Girls” are considered easily dispensable. Once they enter a sexual relationship with Bond, they surrender that mystery and allure that makes them so interesting as femme fatales and “Bond Girls”. They become as disposable as the other women Bond entertains.
But how does that relate to the femme fatale? It is important to note that not all the “Bond Girls” are femme fatales and not all the femme fatales are “Bond Girls”. In this essay, I will only discuss the femme fatales that function as “Bond Girls”. There are two distinct categories for “Bond Girls”: the damsel in distress and the femme fatale. The damsel in distress is a girl whose life is in danger and is saved by Bond. In Dr. No (1962), Honey Ryder is the “Bond Girl” and the damsel-in-distress. She is stranded on an island where Spectre, the villain organization, is working from and is thrust into a dangerous situation where Bond is portrayed as her hero. She spends much of her screen time emotionally clinging to him and lacking her agency. The femme fatale is similarly presented to Bond because he has a weakness for damsels but unlike the traditional damsel in distress, the femme fatale is working against him. In From Russia With Love (1963), Tatiana Romanova is the “Bond Girl” and while she is presented as a damsel in distress, a deflected Russian agent whose life is in danger, she is actually a Russian agent tasked with seducing Bond and retrieving a special decoder. She is an example of a classic femme fatale, a mysterious woman who uses her sensuality to manipulate Bond. However, in the film’s final moments, she betrays her organization to save Bond, choosing to protect a man instead of herself and the interests of her country. After her sexual relationship with Bond she loses what has been motivating her the entire film, she loses what makes her a femme fatale. She also fails to return for a second movie even though they were shown to fall in love and Romanova sacrificed her means of living to save Bond’s life. By losing her mystery through their sexual relationship she also loses her status as a Bond girl, perpetrating the concept of virginity being what keeps a man interested. Bond only chased her until she allowed him to catch her, after that she was disposable. This is misogynistic because it has strong implications of women only being valued for their bodies as opposed to their other skills. Romanova is a highly skilled military operative but Bond did not care about any of that, he did not care about her strength, only her body. Even though it is shown that they fall in love, she fails to return for a second movie meaning that she is no longer a “Bond Girl” because she is no longer interesting to Bond.
With the rise in feminism in the late 20th and early 21st century, the Bond Cinematic Universe makes an empty effort to portray their “Bond Girls” as feminist characters. Taking a small detour from the four core films I have been discussing, I want to bring attention to Michelle Yeoh’s “Bond Girl”, Wai Lin, in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). She is an enemy agent working against Bond. They end up working together and throughout the film, Lin resists Bond’s sexual advances before giving in at the end. This resulting relationship perpetuates the idea that if men persist in their advances even after rejection then women will eventually give in. The persistence teaches male audiences to ignore rejection and continue pushing until consent is given. Her character is an attempt to have a powerful woman play the role of the “Bond Girl” but the language used to describe this femme fatale is anything but feminist. Words like “distaff” and “feisty” and phrases like “kick is as lethal as her kiss” are used to describe the character (Cheng). “[D]istaff” is a noun used to describe a “woman’s domain”, rising from the historical position of women’s place in the house spinning wool (Mirriam-Webster), an extremely sexist term to use to describe a supposedly feminist character. Using the word “feisty” indicates an expected weakness from the supposedly feminist character, like one is surprised that the powerful “Bond Girl” would have strength. Finally, to use the phrase “kick is as lethal as her kiss” is to sexualize Yeoh’s “Bond Girl” so that even as she fights and plays the supposedly feminist role, she is still treated as nothing more than her sex. All three of these examples go to show that even with modern feminism, the Bond Cinematic Universe still treats their “Bond Girls” as exactly that: girls who are identified “in terms of their relationship[s] to other male characters” (Neuendorf).
Yet, that is not to say the Bond Cinematic Universe is without change. No Time to Die (2021) marks the first “Bond Girl” to return a second time. Dr. Madeleine Swann’s return contrasts with much of what is accepted about the “Bond Girl”, namely that after she has sex with Bond she is discarded. Their union results in a daughter that Bond does not know about. Still, Swann is portrayed as a femme fatale when it is revealed in one of the first scenes that she has been hiding a dark secret that puts Bond in danger. Because of this, he discards her. So, her mystery has been revealed, doesn’t that mean she is no longer a femme fatale? Not exactly. The two are reunited in circumstances that mirror their initial meeting in Spectre (2015). Once again, Dr. Swann is in danger and involved in an enemy organization as if she were a new “Bond Girl”. Even though she is still in love with him, she initially resists. She is working against him because of a debt she owes to the film’s antagonist. I would argue that with her deepened characterization, she remains a femme fatale even though she breaks the tradition of “Bond Girls” only existing within a singular film. This is because the unexpected pregnancy trop is introduced, leading to Bond discovering he has a five-year-old daughter with Dr. Swann. This child reduces Swann to not just the love interest but also the mother of Bond’s child, her entire character revolving around her job as a mother rather than just keeping it as an aspect of her character. This perpetuates the sexist message of the necessity of motherhood to girls instead of simply allowing women to exist as they wish to. Had filmmakers given Dr. Swann depth beyond her role as mother, I would argue differently; however, every action she makes is motivated by that one characteristic which, like the role of love interest, reduces Dr. Swann to just her body.
Can the femme fatale archetype be feminist if her relationships with men define her? My short answer is no. One cannot have a woman whose purpose is to be feminist and still have her character tied to the men of the film and call her feminist. If the character cannot exist without the men then the character is not feminist. In an essay about feminism in the Bond Cinematic Universe, Tara Brabazon illustrates my point by stating that “the character is framed by her attachment to men” (Barbazon). As I have pointed out, the simple title of the “Bond Girl” ties the character’s identity to Bond. Even Dr. Madeleine Swann, who can be commended for breaking some of the stereotypes surrounding the “Bond Girl”, returned as a motivation for Bond to continue his character arc by being the mother of his child. The femme fatale archetype may aim to uplift strong women, but the Bond Cinematic Universe is a poor example of such feminism.
I maintain that the femme fatale archetype is a sexist portrayal of women as an object of desire rather than a feminist character that young women can look up to. As I have talked about in the paper and as I will say again, a character cannot be feminist if her existence within the narrative is attached to the existence of the male in the narrative. Bond’s counterparts would not exist without Bond, thereby making their existence misogynistic as opposed to feminist. It is misogynistic to portray women as simply love interests to a man, no matter how “strong” they may appear. Despite progress in the treatment of women as the decades passed, the femme fatale in the Bond Cinematic Universe furthers the narrative as Bond’s love interest, nothing more.
Works Cited
Brabazon, Tara. “Britain’s Last Line of Defence: Miss Moneypenny and the Desperations of Filmic Feminism.” Hecate, vol. 24, no. 1, May 1998, p. 93. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=989600&scope=site.
Cheng, Scarlet. "007's New Knockout." Far Eastern Economic Review 161.1 (1997): 104-6. ProQuest. Web. 13 Nov. 2024.
“Distaff Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/distaff. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Dr. No. Directed by Terence Young, performances by Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, and Joseph Wiseman, Eon Productions, 1963.
From Russia with Love. Directed by Terence Young, performances by Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, and Pedro Armendáriz, Eon Productions, 1963.
Neuendorf, Kimberly, et al. “Shaken and Stirred: A Content Analysis of Women’s Portrayals in James Bond Films.” Sex Roles, vol. 62, no. 11–12, June 2010, pp. 747–61. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9644-2.
No Time to Die. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, performances by Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, and Léa Seydoux, Eon Productions, 2021.
Ostberg, René. "femme fatale". Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Oct. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/femme-fatale. Accessed 13 November 2024.
Spectre. Directed by Sam Mendes, performances by Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, and Léa Seydoux, Eon Productions, 2015.
“The Films.” James Bond 007, 17 Jan. 2024, www.007.com/the-films/.
Tomorrow Never Dies. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, performances by Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, and Teri Hatcher, MGM/UA, 1997.
