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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The characters are total sadists and take particular pleasure in pouring boiling mud over a jockey\u2019s face in one particularly memorable scene.<\/p>\n
The pair are quite indelible characters, Wint with his fear of international travel and Kidd with his \u201cpretty-boy\u201d appearance. Their respective phobia and feminine appearance go against the heteronormative ideals of masculinity and this association with \u201cdeviancy\u201d is only further clarified when Bond\u2019s close ally Felix Leiter voices his conclusion that the pair are gay.<\/p>\n
Leiter even notes that \u201csome of these homos make the worst killers\u201d in a rather derogatory comment.<\/p>\n
The pair threaten to kill Bond\u2019s love interest Tiffany Case at the conclusion of the novel but Bond manages to murder them both, making them appear to have died in a murder-suicide, leaving them entwined in death too.<\/p>\n
After this, in the following novel From Russia with Love in 1957, Fleming created one of his most memorable antagonists in the form of Colonel Rosa Klebb, the head of Operations and Executions for the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>In the book, Klebb is described as \u201cthe oldest and ugliest whore in the world\u201d and is an incredibly negative representation of a Soviet woman and of a lesbian. Klebb sexually harasses her subordinate Corporal Tatiana Romanova after an interview, approaching her in a nightgown<\/p>\n
Klebb\u2019s sexuality is overt and clear and she is also one of the chief architects of a plan to humiliate MI6 and Bond personally, attaching her sexuality to danger and a threat to Western ideals.<\/p>\n
The character also almost claims the life of Bond, leaving him at death\u2019s door in the cliffhanger after stabbing him with a poisoned tipped blade attached to her shoe. Klebb was to be the person to kill Bond here too, as Fleming planned to end the series with this, but Bond was brought back.<\/p>\n
The character was dealt a throwaway fate in the following novel Dr No, where she is revealed to have died off-page.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Meanwhile, the most siginificant and only vaguely positive representation on offer in the novels is in the 1959 novel Goldfinger, which features the prominent but problematic representations of lesbians.<\/p>\n
The most notable lesbian character is Pussy Galore \u2013 the innuendo-branded leading lady who first serves the villainous Auric Goldfinger with her gang of cat burglars.<\/p>\n
Ostensibly a villain to start with, the roguish Pussy and her team are referred to by Goldfinger as \u201ca lesbian organisation\u201d and the book goes on to address her backstory.<\/p>\n
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Pussy reveals that she was sexually abused at the age of 12 by her own uncle and this is described as prompting her lesbianism and as avoiding sexual contact with men.<\/p>\n
Rather offensively, over the course of the story, Pussy\u2019s morals shifting towards Bond and the side of \u201cgood\u201d also comes with his managing to seduce her, giving him the ability to \u201cfix\u201d and to \u201cturn\u201d her with his sexual magnetism, leading to Galore aiding Bond in defeating Goldfinger.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Tania Mallet as Tilly Masterson in Goldfinger.<\/span><\/figcaption> Silver Screen Collection\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n The character is therefore someone to be \u201cfixed\u201d due to her past as an abuse victim \u2013 not the first time Bond has done this either (see Honeychile Ryder in Dr No) \u2013 but also to mend her \u201cdeviancy\u201d in criminality and in her sexuality.<\/p>\n
In addition to Pussy and her cat burglars, Bond is also joined by Tilly Masterton in avenging her sister Jill who was murdered by Goldfinger. Tilly shows no interest in Bond but her Queerness is evident when her attraction to Pussy is made clear, leading Bond to assume she is a lesbian.<\/p>\n
In the climax of the book, Tilly turns to Pussy for protection instead of Bond amid a violent battle between the CIA and Goldfinger\u2019s forces \u2013 a symbolic rejection of heterosexuality for homosexuality. However, this decision to run to Pussy only results in her death at the hands of Goldfinger\u2019s bodyguard Oddjob when he throws his razor-edged hat at her.<\/p>\n
As such, any lesbian women in the book are either \u2018redeemed\u2019 of their deviancy or are met with punishment.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Christopher Lee as Francisco Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun.<\/span><\/figcaption> Sunset Boulevard\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n Finally, in Fleming\u2019s final Bond novel The Man with the Golden Gun, which was released in 1965, the villain is also implied to be gay.<\/p>\n
The eponymous Francisco Scaramanga, the notorious assassin, is revealed to be unable to whistle.<\/p>\n
Almost laughably, Bond\u2019s superior M notes a \u201cpopular theory that a man who cannot whistle has homosexual tendencies\u201d \u2013\u00a0<\/span>a surefire test of sexuality if ever you heard one.<\/p>\n
The suggestion is therefore that another of Bond\u2019s enemies is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, even though realistically there is no substantial evidence to suggest he is.<\/p>\n
Evidently, the original Bond novels are not the place to find strong and positive representation of the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n
- Read more about Bond At 70<\/a>:<\/strong>\n
- How to choose the next James Bond, with casting boss Debbie McWilliams<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- 70 years of James Bond \u2013 the past, present and future of the 007 novels<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Casino Royale holds the secret to the next James Bond movie<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/li>\n<\/ul>
James Bond films<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Bond films have naturally had a lot longer to develop and improve their LGBTQ+ representation over 60 years but the most positive steps have only occurred in the last few films.<\/p>\n
Like the novel, the 1963 film From Russia with Love featured Colonel Rosa Klebb (played by Lotte Lenya) and her lesbianism remained intact, displayed in her recoiling at the touch of SPECTRE trainer Morzeny (Walter Gotell) but most visibly in her interview with Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), during which she caresses Tatiana while referring to the \u201clabour of love\u201d that Romanova is being enlisted for.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb puts hand on the shoulder of Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana in From Russia with Love.<\/span><\/figcaption> Screen Archives\/Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n Similarly to the novels, Klebb ultimately attempts to kill Bond but is shot dead instead by Romanova \u2013 the victim of her lustful harassment killing her instead here and later joining Bond for some passion on the canals of Venice.<\/p>\n
However, the lesbianism present in the Goldfinger novel is mostly absent in the 1964 film adaptation. Honor Blackman\u2019s Pussy Galore remains a henchman of Goldfinger\u2019s who turns to Bond\u2019s side after he seduces her. The closest hint to her perhaps not being heterosexual is her claim that she is \u201cimmune\u201d to Bond\u2019s charms, but this remains threadbare.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, no reference is made to Tilly\u2019s lesbianism either, apart from an absence of interest in Bond. The character is also killed off by Oddjob earlier in the narrative and she never crosses paths with Pussy Galore as she does in the novel.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.<\/span><\/figcaption> Screen Archives\/Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n The next film to hint at a gay character comes in the 1969 film adaptation of On Her Majesty\u2019s Secret Service, where Sir Hilary Bray (played by George Baker) is subtly hinted to be gay.<\/p>\n
When Bond impersonates Bray, the ladies in an alpine health spa are shocked when \u201cBray\u201d shows an interest in the ladies present, while Blofeld also notes that Bray would have never seduced the women in the spa when having a stand-off with Bond.<\/p>\n
Beyond these comments, however, Bray is not explicitly identified as being gay and his book counterpart is not even hinted to be.<\/p>\n
The following film, 1971\u2019s Diamonds Are Forever, has to be the most overtly Queer offering in the film series but is once again associated with villainy.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Bruce Glover and Putter Smith as Mr Wint and Mr Kidd in Diamonds Are Forever.<\/span><\/figcaption> United Artist\/Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n The characters of Wint and Kidd are adapted here, with the two characters being overtly displayed as a gay couple.<\/p>\n
In one scene, the two assassins are seen holding hands, referring to each other affectionately by their surnames, and Mr Kidd notes the attractiveness of Tiffany Case with the caveat \u201cfor a lady\u201d, to the chagrin of Mr Wint.<\/p>\n
The pair remain as sadistic as their book counterparts and Mr Wint\u2019s love for women\u2019s perfume is also present in both.<\/p>\n
Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz commented in the audio commentary of the film: \u201cIt was a very risky kind of deal \u2013 the relationship between Mr Wint and Mr Kidd \u2013 we wouldn\u2019t get away with it today.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThey were clearly two gentlemen who kept company with each other. Even though they\u2019re vicious, they\u2019re funny-vicious.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple is portrayed as villainous but also comical \u2013 the butt of a joke.<\/p>\n
This is evident when they are dispatched by Bond in the final scenes of the film, as Bond throws Mr Wint overboard a cruise ship with a bomb between his legs before he explodes, with Bond drolly commenting that \u201che certainly left with his tails between his legs\u201d.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Bruce Glover and Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever in 1971.<\/span><\/figcaption> RDB\/ullstein bild via Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n The same film also features an all-female assassin duo named Bambi and Thumper, but there is less suggestion of a Queer relationship here other than displaying them as two scantily clad women who take sadistic pleasure in beating Bond together.<\/p>\n
In the same film, Bond\u2019s arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (here played by Charles Gray) appears in a disguise at one point and surprises Tiffany Case by appearing in drag \u2013 an intertextual reference to Gray\u2019s work in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but another attaching of queerness to villainy.<\/p>\n
Further LGBTQ+ representation is absent until the Daniel Craig era of Bond, where representation finally gets more positive or at least a bit more fun.<\/p>\n
In Craig\u2019s debut film Casino Royale in 2006, fans were treated to a darkly comic and incredibly homoerotic torture sequence where a naked Bond is tied to a chair with its bottom removed as the villainous Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) swings a knotted rope against Bond\u2019s genitals. Bond responds with jokes, asking Le Chiffre to scratch an \u201citch\u201d down there and to swing the rope in different places. It brims with sado-masochism despite the sinister implications of the scene.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale.<\/span><\/figcaption> United Artists Corporation<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n The scene is taken directly from the novel Casino Royale but here it carries some rather different undertones.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that this is one of the first instances of the films so overtly taking on an objectifying gaze of Bond as well as the women \u2013 with Craig having his own Ursula Andress moment, emerging from the waters of the Caribbean in incredibly tight trunks, with the camera lingering on his figure.<\/p>\n
Following on from this, the villainous Raoul Silva (played by Javier Bardem) captures Bond in a sequence of 2012\u2019s Skyfall and questions the captive 007. During the homoerotic scene, Silva caresses Bond\u2019s bare chest, neck and face and then places his hands on Bond\u2019s thighs, noting amid his questioning that \u201cthere\u2019s a first time for everything\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bond then teasingly responds: \u201cWhat makes you think this is my first time?\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Daniel Craig as James Bond with Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva in Skyfall.<\/span><\/figcaption> Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures\/Columbia Pictures\/EON Productions<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n The moment is surely meant to be provocative to the audience but also is the slightest hint that Bond himself could be bisexual or has experienced same-sex sexual activity. The moment is not further expanded upon beyond this scene which is played more for laughs than as any serious character revelation. Regardless, the moment is a sign that the idea of a Bond who engages in queer behaviour is not unthinkable and the films are now happy to make such a suggestion.<\/p>\n
In the same film, Skyfall introduces the openly gay actor Ben Whishaw as the staple Bond character Q, but the character is not depicted as gay until the most recent 2021 Bond film No Time to Die, where the character is shown preparing for a date with another man.<\/p>\n
The detail is depicted in a matter-of-fact fashion and is quite minor, but is a landmark moment in a franchise with little positive representation thus far.<\/p>\n
- 70 years of James Bond \u2013 the past, present and future of the 007 novels<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- How to choose the next James Bond, with casting boss Debbie McWilliams<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Read more about Bond At 70<\/a>:<\/strong>\n
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