KillerGremlin
09-04-2009, 10:15 PM
So, my mind tends to wander. I was thinking quite randomly about Casino Royale, the first Bond movie featuring Daniel Craig. I was thinking about a scene in particular: the scene where Le Chiffre tortures Bond. I couldn't help but recall a particular line Le Chiffre says to the nude Bond: "You've taken good care of your body. Such a waste."
To which I began to wonder....is Le Chiffre gay? Homosexuality is all over the Bond franchise, starting with the very obvious Goldfinger. Anyway, I decided to throw my question in Google and bam:
http://keywords.oxus.net/archives/2006/12/09/bond-gay-bond/
The latest addition to the Bond franchise has one of the best beginnings and one of the worst endings of any Bond film. Fortunately the film doesn’t jump the shark till about three quarters of the way through, so it still offers plenty of bang for your buck.
What really struck me, however, were the opening credits by Daniel Kleinman, who is mostly known for making music videos. For the first time in history (I haven’t had time to re-watch all of the Bond opening credit sequences, but you can do so yourself here), naked silhouttes of women’s bodies aren’t used in the credits. Instead, we have animated sequences of men fighting with images of cards and roulette wheels. It is very effectively done, but I immediately thought: this is going to be a very gay movie, in a sadistic homo-erotic way. And I was right.
[Warning: Spoilers after the jump.]
Writing in Slate, Dana Stevens describes one of the most sadistic and homo-erotic scene:
"In a torture scene, Casino Royale’s blood-weeping villain Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) visits great indignity upon James Bond’s manhood (though to judge from subsequent love scenes in the film, no lasting harm is done). As he readies his instruments, Le Chiffre compliments the naked and bound superspy on the physique he’s about to harm: “You’ve taken good care of your body. Such a waste.” The screening audience laughed aloud at this line, because Daniel Craig’s body is truly something to behold. He’s ripped without being the least bit muscle-bound and possessed of a coiled, catlike grace that’s atypical for an action star. Like Uma Thurman, he’s somehow athletic and delicate at the same time. Craig’s naked body, which is partly, if not fully, on view in virtually every movie he’s made, puts me in mind of a great couplet from Ogden Nash: “Should you behold a panther crouch/ Prepare to say ouch.”
Normally Bond films have a strictly male gaze, with plenty of time spent dwelling on the bodies of scantily clad women. There is some of that here, but it seems to be an afterthought. Queer Beacon (who carefully distinguishes between “gay” content and “homo-erotic” content, putting the film in the latter category) comments on one of the publicity stills for the film:
"On a lot of Bond movies we do get to see James Bond shirtless, but the sexytime has always been clearly about the Bond girls, about objectifying them; this time, even though we have two hot Bond girls, the attention is clearly on Craig. And it should be. Seriously, you will get a boner with this one."
I think the film was meant for such an audience, although it is possible that there is emerging a new female gaze that is indistinguishable from the male gaze except for the subject, but somehow I doubt that women were the intended audience for such scenes. Which isn’t to say that there isn’t a fair amount put in for the ladies, especially a degree of psychological weakness and vulnerability, coupled with a certain infantilization and impetuousness. But in one of the best such scenes, when Bond is given a tailor-made suit, the woman’s gaze seems only to exist to assuage any uncomfortable male viewers as they watch Bond preening himself in the mirror.
It is also interesting that while most films include high-tech killing machines, the most high-tech gadget in this film is a self-applied defibrillator which Bond is unable to activate without the help of the female lead. (Of course, only the white woman is allowed to hold her own against Bond, the exotic Mediterranean woman is too sexual to be allowed any power. Hell, she doesn’t even get her sexual cravings satisfied … )
Male gaze and female gaze are of course the way the camera portrays someone in film....
Of course there are other moments where Le Chiffre flaunts what I would suggest to be "homosexual" behavior. We could start with the looks at the Poker table between him and Bond...or the dynamic relationship or lack thereof between Le Chiffre and his lady friend early on in the film.
So yeah...I'm a loser. Because this is what I do on my Friday nights. I pursue sexuality and psychology in pop culture. Anyway, as masculine as the Bond franchise is, this is a reminder from your friendly neighborhood KG that there is TONS of underlying homoeroticism. Of course you can interpret this however you want. I personally think Craig is hot...sooo ripped. He has awesome shoulders.
To which I began to wonder....is Le Chiffre gay? Homosexuality is all over the Bond franchise, starting with the very obvious Goldfinger. Anyway, I decided to throw my question in Google and bam:
http://keywords.oxus.net/archives/2006/12/09/bond-gay-bond/
The latest addition to the Bond franchise has one of the best beginnings and one of the worst endings of any Bond film. Fortunately the film doesn’t jump the shark till about three quarters of the way through, so it still offers plenty of bang for your buck.
What really struck me, however, were the opening credits by Daniel Kleinman, who is mostly known for making music videos. For the first time in history (I haven’t had time to re-watch all of the Bond opening credit sequences, but you can do so yourself here), naked silhouttes of women’s bodies aren’t used in the credits. Instead, we have animated sequences of men fighting with images of cards and roulette wheels. It is very effectively done, but I immediately thought: this is going to be a very gay movie, in a sadistic homo-erotic way. And I was right.
[Warning: Spoilers after the jump.]
Writing in Slate, Dana Stevens describes one of the most sadistic and homo-erotic scene:
"In a torture scene, Casino Royale’s blood-weeping villain Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) visits great indignity upon James Bond’s manhood (though to judge from subsequent love scenes in the film, no lasting harm is done). As he readies his instruments, Le Chiffre compliments the naked and bound superspy on the physique he’s about to harm: “You’ve taken good care of your body. Such a waste.” The screening audience laughed aloud at this line, because Daniel Craig’s body is truly something to behold. He’s ripped without being the least bit muscle-bound and possessed of a coiled, catlike grace that’s atypical for an action star. Like Uma Thurman, he’s somehow athletic and delicate at the same time. Craig’s naked body, which is partly, if not fully, on view in virtually every movie he’s made, puts me in mind of a great couplet from Ogden Nash: “Should you behold a panther crouch/ Prepare to say ouch.”
Normally Bond films have a strictly male gaze, with plenty of time spent dwelling on the bodies of scantily clad women. There is some of that here, but it seems to be an afterthought. Queer Beacon (who carefully distinguishes between “gay” content and “homo-erotic” content, putting the film in the latter category) comments on one of the publicity stills for the film:
"On a lot of Bond movies we do get to see James Bond shirtless, but the sexytime has always been clearly about the Bond girls, about objectifying them; this time, even though we have two hot Bond girls, the attention is clearly on Craig. And it should be. Seriously, you will get a boner with this one."
I think the film was meant for such an audience, although it is possible that there is emerging a new female gaze that is indistinguishable from the male gaze except for the subject, but somehow I doubt that women were the intended audience for such scenes. Which isn’t to say that there isn’t a fair amount put in for the ladies, especially a degree of psychological weakness and vulnerability, coupled with a certain infantilization and impetuousness. But in one of the best such scenes, when Bond is given a tailor-made suit, the woman’s gaze seems only to exist to assuage any uncomfortable male viewers as they watch Bond preening himself in the mirror.
It is also interesting that while most films include high-tech killing machines, the most high-tech gadget in this film is a self-applied defibrillator which Bond is unable to activate without the help of the female lead. (Of course, only the white woman is allowed to hold her own against Bond, the exotic Mediterranean woman is too sexual to be allowed any power. Hell, she doesn’t even get her sexual cravings satisfied … )
Male gaze and female gaze are of course the way the camera portrays someone in film....
Of course there are other moments where Le Chiffre flaunts what I would suggest to be "homosexual" behavior. We could start with the looks at the Poker table between him and Bond...or the dynamic relationship or lack thereof between Le Chiffre and his lady friend early on in the film.
So yeah...I'm a loser. Because this is what I do on my Friday nights. I pursue sexuality and psychology in pop culture. Anyway, as masculine as the Bond franchise is, this is a reminder from your friendly neighborhood KG that there is TONS of underlying homoeroticism. Of course you can interpret this however you want. I personally think Craig is hot...sooo ripped. He has awesome shoulders.