James Bond, Hero or Psychopath?

 When I was just 10, the first of the James Bond films appeared.  Doctor No, a simmering mess of a film that was really all about establishing a franchise.   It was followed the next year by From Russia, With Love.  Neither film made much of an impact on me, to be honest.

Then came the third film, Goldfinger.  I loved it.  A convoluted plot!  Good dialogue!  A villain who was more interesting than the hero!  And a guy who could cut off the head of a statue with his hat!

Not to mention one of the great exchanges in spy film history:

Bond:  Do you expect me to talk?

Goldfinger:  No, Mr. Bond!  I expect you to die!


This, by golly, is a great film for 13-year-old boys.  A noble hero who is witty, macho, and, uh....a rapist.

Are there any rape scenes in Bond's first two outings?  i don't think so.  But in his later appearances, it's virtually a sacrement.  look, a hot girl!  Rape her!  She'll appreciate it afterwards!

The most iconic of these, the brutal rape of "Pussy Galore" in Goldfinger is particularly disgusting.  Basically, Bond beats her up, forces her into a kiss as he forces her legs apart.  And she's a lesbian.  Until Bond "fixes" that with the rape.  

I mean, seriously?  Even in 1965, seriously?   And that's not even the first rape in the film

It's a remarkably silly film in many other ways.  Goldfinger uses various hoodlums to put his plan together.  Then he has them all come to his ranch, where he tells them all the elements of his plan to rob Fort Knox.  Then, having gone to all that trouble to explain himself, he gasses them all.  Yep, that's right:  "Here's my plan. I have no reason to tell it to you.  Especially because you'll all be dead in an hour."

But Bond as a rapist is a trope in half the films.  This guy makes Harvey Weinstein look like a gentleman.  Compared to him, Bill Cosby is at least subtle.  In later films, he forces himself on a spa attendent,   A dancer.  A woman who just happens to be in a hotel room.  Pretty much anyone pretty.  And a remarkable number of his (ahem) "love interests" end up dead.  As does anyone else who annoys him.

I mean "a license to kill?"  The British are allowed to give someone a license to kill people?  Half the time in other countries with which Britain isn't at war?  

The moral of our story is this: never stop and think about the stuff you liked as a kid

     --AlextheKay, abandoning the joys of youth

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