What Would The Reaction To A Female Bond (007, that is) Be?

[RJ 17]

The name's Bond...Jane Bond.

A question that popped up into my mind while at work today (I do criminal background searches for hiring purposes) as I came across a lady who had the last name of Bond was "Hmmm...I wonder what the reaction would be if Bond was gender-swapped."

Now I have no doubt they could have a female Bond pulling off all the sneaky-sneaky infiltration/espionage/sabotage stuff...but what about that other aspect of Bond? The fact that he ends up fucking pretty much every woman he meets? How well would that be received if Bond was gender-flipped? What would the reaction be to a female agent jet-setting around the world and bumpin' uglies with every handsome man she comes across?

 

[Nathaniel Grey]

It would be interesting. The reaction would be luke warm. I believe some wouldn't necessarily be ecstatic for a female Bond but, not against. Others would probably feel that this infringes on the franchises. Personally, I think we should at least get a black Bond first. If they did green light a female Bond they would have to completely revamp Bond's personality. She can not portray the same character as in other Bond films.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

If they did green light a female Bond they would have to completely revamp Bond's personality. She can not portray the same character as in other Bond films.

Why not? How do you imagine a gender swapped bond to act?

I think it might be kind of cool if they didn't attempt to change the personality, as in, you get a suave, business formal dressing, female 007 who sleeps with every handsome man she finds.

Also I'd be very interested to see the general reaction for about a day.

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OT: As for how I think the reaction would go. I feel there'd be flames no doubt, but what direction those flames burn in I'm not exactly sure. I imagine it would be a similar situation to Bayonetta, where you have people saying she's great and other people saying she's horrible.

-There might be some who don't want people messing with their favorite franchise.
-Some people would blame SJWs and PC gone mad.
-Some people would call it pandering [footnote]especially if they made her an attractive lesbian[/footnote]
-If they didn't change much about her personality to add "femininity", some might say she's just a man with boobs [footnote]See Lightning[/footnote]
-If they added too much "femininity" or if they through in a guy, we might end up with an Other M type situation.
-Some would say she's too promiscuous while others would celebrate it.

He's handsome, looks good in a suit, flirts with danger, interacts with high society, can shoot people whenever he wants without repercussions, has access to cool high tech toys, stops the bad guy, saves the world, and gets with a new hot girl in every adventure.

I honestly don't know how much of this women are into, if gender swapped.

I don't see anything unappealing by having all of those aspects in a female character. I don't get it, why do female characters get so much scrutiny? I've heard the saying "to write a good female character, just write a good character who happens to be female." I like to think there's some truth in that.

 

[Casual Shinji]

About the same as a gender swapped Indiana Jones, I'd think... Poorly.

James Bond is a male power fantasy; He's handsome, looks good in a suit, flirts with danger, interacts with high society, can shoot people whenever he wants without repercussions, has access to cool high tech toys, stops the bad guy, saves the world, and gets with a new hot girl in every adventure.

I honestly don't know how much of this women are into, if gender swapped. And guys generally wanna watch James Bond because they can then envision themselves being awesome and getting laid through male James' eyes.

 

[Aerosteam]

What Would The Reaction To-

Stop right there. Bad.

 

[Phasmal]

If they did green light a female Bond they would have to completely revamp Bond's personality. She can not portray the same character as in other Bond films.

Why not? How do you imagine a gender swapped bond to act?

I think it might be kind of cool if they didn't attempt to change the personality, as in, you get a suave, business formal dressing, female 007 who sleeps with every handsome man she finds.

Also I'd be very interested to see the general reaction for about a day.

----------------------------------------------

OT: As for how I think the reaction would go. I feel there'd be flames no doubt, but what direction those flames burn in I'm not exactly sure. I imagine it would be a similar situation to Bayonetta, where you have people saying she's great and other people saying she's horrible.

-There might be some who don't want people messing with their favorite franchise.
-Some people would blame SJWs and PC gone mad.
-Some people would call it pandering [footnote]especially if they made her an attractive lesbian[/footnote]
-If they didn't change much about her personality to add "femininity", some might say she's just a man with boobs [footnote]See Lightning[/footnote]
-If they added too much "femininity" or if they through in a guy, we might end up with an Other M type situation.
-Some would say she's too promiscuous while others would celebrate it.

He's handsome, looks good in a suit, flirts with danger, interacts with high society, can shoot people whenever he wants without repercussions, has access to cool high tech toys, stops the bad guy, saves the world, and gets with a new hot girl in every adventure.

I honestly don't know how much of this women are into, if gender swapped.

I don't see anything unappealing by having all of those aspects in a female character. I don't get it, why do female characters get so much scrutiny? I've heard the saying "to write a good female character, just write a good character who happens to be female." I like to think there's some truth in that.

Yeah pretty much all of this, there would definitely be the usual b'awwwing about how SJW's are looking to get their evil hands on anything that is rightly straight white and male. I mean, remember when people suggested Idris Elba for Bond?

I think it would probably make it a little more interesting for me personally, as I've never gotten into Bond films. I just find them too unintentionally funny. James Bond is just... such a Mary Sue and it's just silly to me.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

What Would The Reaction To-

Stop right there. Bad.

I don't get it? Its a legit question.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Have you seen the reaction to the possibility that a black man might play Bond?

Yeah

Take that and amplify it by a few magnitudes

Now a black female Bond might be cool to see, if only for the holocaust that the comments section would be c:

 

[Dalek Caan]

Depends on the actress. I have no problem with a female Bond, but the person playing her has to be good. I don't want a female Bond just for the sake of a female Bond.

 

[Nathaniel Grey]

If they did green light a female Bond they would have to completely revamp Bond's personality. She can not portray the same character as in other Bond films.

Why not? How do you imagine a gender swapped bond to act?

I think it might be kind of cool if they didn't attempt to change the personality, as in, you get a suave, business formal dressing, female 007 who sleeps with every handsome man she finds.

Also I'd be very interested to see the general reaction for about a day.




I don't see anything unappealing by having all of those aspects in a female character. I don't get it, why do female characters get so much scrutiny? I've heard the saying "to write a good female character, just write a good character who happens to be female." I like to think there's some truth in that.

I find it pointless to swap the gender, or race, of a character if you're just going to keep the same personality traits. Not saying the main characteristics can't stay, but a black Bond or female Bond would be different then if he were a white male. Not only that, the people around Bond would act differently towards him also.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

"Wow, they've really done it. They've totally run out of ideas."

That's my take. I'd just see it as desperate clamoring for attention. I really don't get this current trend of gender swapping everything. "But, but representation! Female characters in media!" Well is it really a female character if you just take a formerly male character and put him in a woman's body? I think it's total bullshit. Why not try making new characters for a change? See what sticks? See if audiences would really be interested in a female action lead, as opposed to just seeing a new James Bond film because it has the name James Bond on it. This trend that women need to be given more representation through merely genderswapping older, male characters is the pop culture equivalent of gender quotas, and the death knell of creativity.

 

[Casual Shinji]

He's handsome, looks good in a suit, flirts with danger, interacts with high society, can shoot people whenever he wants without repercussions, has access to cool high tech toys, stops the bad guy, saves the world, and gets with a new hot girl in every adventure.

I honestly don't know how much of this women are into, if gender swapped.

I don't see anything unappealing by having all of those aspects in a female character. I don't get it, why do female characters get so much scrutiny? I've heard the saying "to write a good female character, just write a good character who happens to be female." I like to think there's some truth in that.

When I say 'I honestly don't know how much of this women are into', I don't mean that as 'They probably won't like it', I literally mean I don't know. I'm not a woman so I couldn't say with certainty what appeals to them. What I do know is that (again in general) different things appeal to women then they do to men. Not completely different obviously, but there's certain things that mainly draw men and things that mainly draw women. Some of which is due to our remnant instincts, others due to societal norms that are imprinted on us.

And James Bond is a character that's primarily meant to draw in the male audience. Ofcourse a good character is a good character regardless of gender, but James Bond isn't a "good" character. You take away the fact that he's a spy and a womanizer and little if anything remains. Again, he's a simple fantasy, targeted toward men specifically. So if gender swapped, I don't know if women would go for that. It'd be similar to gender swapping Kratos from God of War; A character obviously meant to appeal to teenaged boys.

So I think the question is, what would women want out of a self-insert badass female spy.

 

[thejboy88]

I've experienced traditionally male characters being given to actresses in the past, Watson from Sherlock Holmes being one example, and have been fine with it. I mean, it's the 21st century, so the question should really be why SHOULDN'T these roles be given to women?

 

[Saetha]

I'd rather have a black Bond than a female Bond, if only because it fits better with that "James Bond is just a code name" theory. James Bond is a guy's name. A black guy could use it no problem, but if a they were considering giving it a woman, they'd probably just give her the code name for a female agent instead, and then she wouldn't be James Bond. She'd be... Jenny Steel or something, I dunno, I'm not good with names.

I guess it could work if it were an AU built on the premise that James Bond's Jane Bond instead. Sort of like how you can find gender-flipped versions of Sherlock Holmes. They're obviously breaking canon and changing the main character's gender, but you'll inevitably get cries of how it doesn't count.

Personally I think a female Doctor's a better idea.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

So I think the question is, what would women want out of a self-insert badass female spy.

Fair enough about "good characters" you're right, James Bond isn't exactly a good character, so if we're talking about self-inserts here, I can't speak for everyone obviously, but I would want the same things as guys do for the most part. Badass is badass, it has no gender. Ladies want to go on adventures, get new toys, shoot things without consequence and save the day as much as guys do.

Why not try making new characters for a change? See what sticks? See if audiences would really be interested in a female action lead, as opposed to just seeing a new James Bond film because it has the name James Bond on it. This trend that women need to be given more representation through merely genderswapping older, male characters is the pop culture equivalent of gender quotas, and the death knell of creativity.

You're asking Hollywood to make something original, rather than accomplishing it in the most lazy and risk free way possible. I fear you may be asking too much.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Why not try making new characters for a change? See what sticks? See if audiences would really be interested in a female action lead, as opposed to just seeing a new James Bond film because it has the name James Bond on it. This trend that women need to be given more representation through merely genderswapping older, male characters is the pop culture equivalent of gender quotas, and the death knell of creativity.

You're asking Hollywood to make something original, rather than accomplishing it in the most lazy way possible. I fear you may be asking too much.

Thing is, they kinda already did do this kind of thing with Haywire http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1506999/?ref_=nv_sr_1. And it wasn't exactly a small indie production either: just look at that cast. Okay, so it's more of a straight up action movie than Bond, but not too far from it either. I haven't seen the film so I won't speculate on why it seems to have faded into history, but the point still stands: Hollywood can make action movies with female leads.

 

[Jamash]

Why?

That would be my reaction, because what is the point?

If they (whoever this hypothetical they may be) want to make a film with a female super-spy, why don't they just do that, instead of gender swapping an existing and established character (irrespective of the notion that "James Bond" and 007 are just code names not attached to any one individual or any race or gender)?

They could even set it in the same universe and have cross-over (which would probably work better anyway with Bond having a female equal to co-exist and interact with), but why destroy and replace instead of create and supplement?

If anyone was serious about this idea, they should test the waters by making her another 00# with her own motives, agendas and case to pursue (perhaps with a cameo from Bond at the beginning to establish it's in the same universe and they work for the same agency), then if she's well received and popular, they could make another film in with the both of them working together, and if she's really well received and beloved by all, then perhaps in that film James Bond could get killed or retired and she gets a field promotion to 007 and becomes the current Bond officially.

Still, my gut reaction is that it's a terrible idea because straight gender swapping without changing anything else would seem like a parody (Jane Bond the bitchy, chain-smoking, binge drinking, mentally unstable, alcoholic cougar super-slut), but changing other aspects of Bond's personality, character and lifestyle to something that would be more appropriate for a female would strip away that which makes Bond Bond.

 

[Saetha]

"Wow, they've really done it. They've totally run out of ideas."

That's my take. I'd just see it as desperate clamoring for attention. I really don't get this current trend of gender swapping everything. "But, but representation! Female characters in media!" Well is it really a female character if you just take a formerly male character and put him in a woman's body? I think it's total bullshit. Why not try making new characters for a change? See what sticks? See if audiences would really be interested in a female action lead, as opposed to just seeing a new James Bond film because it has the name James Bond on it. This trend that women need to be given more representation through merely genderswapping older, male characters is the pop culture equivalent of gender quotas, and the death knell of creativity.

That's a good point. I'd rather see people bring new characters to the table than simply rehash the old ones in a new body. Race-bending and gender-flipping for it's own sake is somewhat creatively bankrupt - it's basically a reboot, same plot, same characters, with the only "hook" being some arbitrary gender or race flag that, really, should have little-to-no effect on the actual material of the work. It'd be like inverting the colors on Superman's costume and claiming he's brand-new. It changes nothing, really.

So a spin-off featuring another MI6 agent who happens to be female would be cool, I guess. And it wouldn't just be a "break from the routine" for Bond, it'd be a whole new routine on it's own. If it's good enough, it might even start it's own legacy franchise. Wouldn't that ultimately be better than just making Bond a chick?

 

[Phasmal]

I find it pointless to swap the gender, or race, of a character if you're just going to keep the same personality traits. Not saying the main characteristics can't stay, but a black Bond or female Bond would be different then if he were a white male. Not only that, the people around Bond would act differently towards him also.

Eh, two things.

1- You can have the character's personality traits be the same and have other characters react to them differently, as in how people would react to a female Bond that's always got a different man on her arm as opposed to the classic Bond.

2- If it changes nothing, fuck it, it's visually different, why not change it.

But personally, that's just my opinion, I don't have much reason to care what they do with Bond. I don't see what's special about Bond in the first place, and I don't just think that's because he's a manly man for men character- as I normally have no problems liking those.

 

[Saetha]

So I think the question is, what would women want out of a self-insert badass female spy.

I dunno about other girls, but when people ask me my definition of a female power fantasy, my immediate answer is FemShep.

She was just - God, she was such a bad ass. Respected, powerful, maybe even a little feared. She never freaked out, or or lost her head, she always managed to do the impossible - Shepard was an absolute joy to play as. The only issue here is that Mass Effect's a video game, and it's way easier to slip into the power fantasy in a video game. On a screen, I'd rather have an interesting character over a Mary Sue escapist fantasy, but maybe that's just me.

Also, I'd probably prefer a mainstay love interest over a string of disposable boyfriends, but again, might just be personal taste.