Yahoo News Eva Green says James Bond should be male – and she’s right
Eva Green is "for women". She wants you to know that, but it doesn’t extend to campaigning for Daniel Craig’s James Bond successor to be female.
Speaking at the premiere of the Dumbo live-action remake (via Vanity Fair) in which she plays French trapeze artist Colette Marchant, she said: "I really think James Bond should remain a man. It doesn’t make sense for him to be a woman.
"Women can play different types of characters, be in action movies and be superheroes, but James Bond should always be a man and not be Jane Bond. There is history with the character that should continue. He should be played by a man."
Green is right.
Jane or [insert other female name here] Bond would feel like a consolation prize rather than a victory – it's taken more than 56 years but finally, you're ready.
Rather than a radical, progressive move, it would feel like tokenist pandering to the current feminist wave which has birthed a wealth of great projects both led by and starring women. It certainly wouldn't be part of that movement, or motivated by the same ambition.
James Bond is so intrinsically male, both in print and on-screen, that the transformation required would be so mammoth, it would make more sense to create an entirely new female character – and surely that's what Jane Bond would look like anyway, so why not dive headfirst into constructing just that?
Women don't need sloppy seconds. They don't need all-female reboots or marketing ploys. What they do need is more varied women on their screens, like Black Panther's Shuri or Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag, all with voices of their own and stories to tell.
That's not to say that James Bond movies can't include those fresh female perspectives, lacing them into the narrative rather than using them as props and nothing more.
That's something that has already started to crop up in the franchise, a shift which Green herself both acknowledged and praised.
"I love the fact that the Bond girls have evolved," she said. "I originally had reservations about being a Bond girl. I didn’t want to be a bimbo. The women are now perceived differently. They are intelligent and sassy and fascinating.
"I loved playing Vesper. She’s the only one to get to Bond’s heart and has a big impact on his life."
Ditching James in favour of Jane is a move that would also result in a barrage of criticism, (though that's by no means a reason not to do something). Change can be painful and difficult to stomach, particularly when it comes to long-standing traditions. But there are times when it's necessary.
This change, however, would draw all of the analysis away from the protagonist's performance and focus on the fact that the typically male lead looks somewhat different these days.
It's about picking the right battles and channeling our energy into the most worthwhile causes so that we don't dilute the meaningful change that is currently under way.
Jane Bond really isn't worth our time – but there are myriad other stories out there that are.
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