Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Reader Response Criticism and the Feminist Perspective
I think the reader response criticism according to the feminist perspective very interesting. According to reader oriented feminists like Patrocinio Schwickart who argue, " that literature written by men tends to immasculate women" , some authors can immasculate women by not giving them a voice by having only male characters in their stories. I correlated this thought to James Bond, where our main character, Bond, is obviously male, as well as most of the major characters. Vesper is not given a significant voice and is condescended to by James Bond. It is evident that the book has a male, slightly chauvanistic perspective. This is illustrated in the scene in which he hears that his new partner will be a woman in the lines: "Women were for recreation. On a job, they got in the way and fogged things up with sex and hurt feelings..." (Flemming, P. 55) Obviously, Bond does not hold women in high regard in a professional sense.
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4 comments:
The work done by Ian Fleming in Casino Royale certainly emasculates women. In the novel there are several instances that Bond is annoyed at Vesper’s feminine nature. Where on several occasions he curses her for being a woman, and constantly refers to her as a “bitch” even when he had the desire to sleep with her. You certainly see that Fleming has a certain opinion about women and he does not hide it. As someone who has seen her share of Bond films, you really see the sexist nature of Bond. I totally get that it’s because of Vesper that Bond is such a womanizer, but he seems to have a love/hate relationship with her. He loves her because she is a beautiful sexy woman, but hates her because as a woman she is trying to “play” in a man’s world unsuccessfully. It really annoyed me. And I kind of think he deserved what he got.
I hate to use this terminology but Vesper really is "shitted" on. She fits the cliche role of the hysterical women in desparate need of a savior. She is made to be portrayed as an emotional wreck. I find it interesting how Bond is just as emotional as she is but Fleming somehow persuades the reader that it's not the case.
Reader response criticism would also leave open the idea that the reason that Fleming seems to be sexist is because he is blatantly pointing out the chauvanistic attitude that flourishes in the environments of the military and para-military forces like the CIA. These professions have remained stuck with 17th century views on the role of woman in society in which they have no place having a profession, let alone something as dangerous as being a spy. It is extremely ironic then that Vesper has been a spy for both sides all along.
I agree with you that there is a 'slightly chauvanistic'appeal to the book and fleming shows this in many areas like the hospital scene about the flowers when Bond points out that "he disliked having feminine things around him"(Casino Royale, 21).Only time women should be around and seen is for 'recreational' purposes as you pointed out like the movies do with whose the new bond girl, how much skin should she bare and what sexual reference should their name imply.
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