The Soviet Woman in Bond Films
From Blofeld to Moneypenny: Gender in James Bond
ISBN: 978-1-83867-163-1, eISBN: 978-1-83867-165-5
Publication date: 26 March 2020
Abstract
The chapter explores the image of the Soviet female spy in a variety of Bond films. Representations of Soviet women in these films are as intense as they are stereotypical. Tatiana Romanova (From Russia With Love, 1963), Anya Amasova (The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977), Pola Ivanova (A View to a Kill, 1985), the murderous dominatrix Xenia Onatopp (GoldenEye, 1995) and Natalya Simonova (GoldenEye) embody a combination of contradictory qualities. They are tough, strong, intellectual, successful and dangerous yet also feminine, sexual, beautiful and exotic. The presence of the dangerous communist seductress in Bond films petered out after the end of the Soviet Union.
This chapter also examines the origins of each of the stereotypes which seem to be a curious mixture of fantasy and reality of the fear and desire of the Western male gaze yet combined with elements of the Soviet ideology (for instance, the war on gender stereotypes in the Soviet Union and the heavy ideological emphasis on gender equality).
Keywords
Citation
Bassil-Morozow, H. (2020), "The Soviet Woman in Bond Films", Gerrard, S. (Ed.) From Blofeld to Moneypenny: Gender in James Bond (Emerald Studies in Popular Culture and Gender), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 91-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83867-165-520201010
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020 Helena Bassil-Morozow