Gold Finger

As I discussed in the previous blog, James Bond was seen as a Cold War hero, and viewed upon as a man that can conquer any obstacle that came in his path.  After watching a few clips from “Goldfinger,” the third bond movie that came out in 1964, starring Sean Connery as James Bond, I really began to understand the way women and other cultures were viewed in that time period. When it came to orientalism however, I did not know whether certain scenes were put in the movie to be funny, or if in fact what was displayed was thought of as true. Because of the whole eastern and western separation as I discussed in the last blog, I am curious to know if at that time those types of stereotypes were really perceived. The character known in the movies as Oddjob, is the most obvious representation of orientalism. His name alone indicates a stereotype, that foreigners at that time from the east were seen as odd, or in some ways dumb. Oddjob was Goldfingers assistant and assassin. The fact that he came second to a better, richer, and more educated white male displays the notion that the western way of thinking was far superior. Oddjob also does not speak, yet he understands all of his orders. He uses his hat as a weapon, and in one scene he even beheaded a statue with it. I believe that this idea came from a stereotypical demeanor; and again was inputted in order to display the differentiation between eastern and western cultures. There was another clip we watched, where Bond was on a plane after being kidnapped by Goldfinger; where one of the flight attendant’s happened to be Asian. When Bond went into the restroom, the flight attendant was asked to keep an eye on him. From the outside of the restroom there were hidden peek holes that the attendant looked through, yet Bond figured this out almost instantly. To me, this displays another example of how the western culture viewed the eastern culture as inferior. The movie also displayed the dominance of males over women. Bond was able to charm his way through anything with women. It shows that at that time women came in second. The “Bond girl” in Goldfinger was named Pussy Galore. Once again, the name speaks for itself. When Bond first meets her, one of the first things she says to him is that she is immune to his charm. In the end however, he manages to conquer her as well. This clearly indicates the idea that women were not equal to men. Throughout the movie bond was able to sleep with any of the women he went after. There are scenes of him pushing them and being very aggressive towards them, while at the same time charming them. Some were even killed after he had sex with them. It clearly shows the depiction of women in that era; for me came as a surprise because most movies today, do not put women down this way. It points out the dominance of males in that era.