Bond, James Bond: A Man For All Times
The
world today has unique definitions of gender roles in society. Recently, there
has been much discussion on topics such as gay marriage, the breakup of the
family system, and the overall definition of what a man is in the 21st
century. Many of these issues can be traced back to the social movements and
changes that happened during the 1960’s and onward. Because of the women’s
rights movement many women today have equal opportunities in the workplace and
have surpassed men in graduating college. These changes have brought a lot of
benefits to our society because now the female voice has a say in many of the
decisions that go on at home, at the workplace, and in the world. However, while
women have risen to new prominence in their roles today, men have diminished in
theirs. Men today are more self-centered, less masculine, and have lost their
sense of responsibility. Men of our grandparent’s generation were dependable,
took action, and they defined what it is to be manly. Popular characters of
their generation like James Bond personified this idea of the alpha male and
masculine traits. Actually, Bond was so masculine and direct in his demeanor
that when the Bond novels first came out they were considered edgy by many and
even downright misogynistic by some. Still, today he remains the man that men
want to be, and the man that women want to be with. Although James Bond is a
flawed and sometimes overtly sexist character, he does represent a kind of
masculinity that men in our society desperately need right now.
