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Daniel Craig wants you to know that James Bond is an uninspiring misogynist

Daniel Craig wants you to know that James Bond is an uninspiring misogynist

By James Vincent, a senior reporter who has covered AI, robotics, and more for eight years at The Verge.

Source The Red Bulletin

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Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images

Daniel Craig has already said he'd rather "slash his wrists" than do another James Bond movie, but before he bows out of the role it seems he's setting a few things straight. When prompted to talk about Bond's "way with the ladies" during an interview with The Red Bulletin, Craig replies: "Let's not forget that he’s actually a misogynist," adding that: "A lot of women are drawn to him chiefly because he embodies a certain kind of danger and never sticks around for too long."

It's not a new observation, of course. Despite his popularity in the box office, Bond has always been a thoroughly atrocious human being, with the franchise as a whole steeped in sexism and racism. And while some may laugh off "old-fashioned" scenes from early movies (i.e. Bond's surprise at meeting a female doctor in 1979's Moonraker), the recent movies have a mixed record too. There have been some female characters who are Bond's equals, but also plenty of women whose only role is look pretty and die. In Skyfall, there was also one scene in which 007 rescues an implied victim of sexual abuse and then proceeds to creep up on her when she's naked in the shower. It's psychotic.

"We’ve surrounded him with very strong women who have no problem putting him in his place."

So, when Craig is asked if the character is more "chivalrous" in recent movies it's with good reason that he replies: "That's because we’ve surrounded him with very strong women who have no problem putting him in his place." He also pours scorn on the notion that the film shows 007 "succumbing to the charms" of an older woman. "I think you mean the charms of a woman his own age," says Craig. "We’re talking about Monica Bellucci, for heaven’s sake. When someone like that wants to be a Bond girl, you just count yourself lucky!"

There's no reason to think that Spectre will improve on the franchise's treatment of women, but it's nice at least that those involved with the films are being honest about what sort of shitbag Bond is. As Craig himself puts it:

THE RED BULLETIN: What could we learn from James Bond that would help us in our day-to-day lives?

DANIEL CRAIG: [Thinks for a short while.] Nothing.

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