Actor Daniel Craig announced before the release of No Time To Die that his fifth Bond film would also be his last. His departure was the subject of rumours beforehand, though – with Craig stating on several occasions that he planned on retiring after Spectre was made.
With his exit, as the hunt for a new James Bond continues, netizens debated whether or not we, as an audience, would rather want to watch a female spy/agent as the lead protagonist of a film franchise and become a part of a revolutionary approach towards filmmaking.
Reacting to the discussions, a Twitter user wrote, “People make such a big deal over bond being portrayed by a woman or a black guy that if they actually do it, it will be largely to appease these maniacs who have nothing better to do. Instead of making bond female, why not create a new female spy/agent and not turn Bond into a woke fantasy where all that matters is that it satisfies a load of weirdos online. he can be black, that's fine but it still radiates "we had to do this because twitter was angry" energy. Bond is still a legit film series, focusing on how good and enjoyable they are, not whether the casting infuriates your obsessive need to police the exact number of men and women in a film like it matters. If you can't sit through a film without foaming at the mouth over the gender of one character, maybe film isn't for you and you'd have much more fun getting into things like art or being sectioned.”
A Los Angeles based artist is even running a thread on Twitter, sketching one Bond woman at a time, using the #WomenofBond. But it wouldn’t be a crime to ponder over the fact that the idea of women of bond could potentially be an independent series where a woman is Bond, not a leading man’s sidekick or love interest. Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, GC, also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, was a British spy in World War II who served in the Special Operations Executive. When we can have the ‘Bond series’, why can’t we have a ‘Noor’?
Sunday Times bestselling author whose books include Spy Princess and Victoria & Abdul (made into a major film) and Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer, Shrabani Basu told Asian Voice, “Yes, I definitely think that a real-life secret agent like Noor Inayat Khan can be the lead character in a drama series/film. In fact, my biography of Noor -- Spy Princess -- has already been optioned for a television drama series. However, her story is limited to her life. She cannot be a fifty-year franchise like Bond, as he is a fictional creation. But stories based on women agents can be fictionalised and developed further to become drama series.
Keir Starmer said that James Bond should be played by a woman next. He told ITV: "I don't have a favourite Bond, but I do think it's time for a female bond." A user countered Starmer’s statement, saying, “Just let women have their own « Bond-type » series. Create a new tradition rather than just « pink washing » an old and fairly misogynistic one!”
What is your opinion on this debate? Write to Asian Voice at [email protected]. We’d be happy to publish your thoughts.
