Thus ends the first week of new-blogdom, and it’s been so much fun! (If distracting. Must. Write. Book.) I revealed the Very Impressive List of guest bloggers; Ruthie Knox talked about writing *that* scene; and Rose Lerner explained that particular creative quality known as fannishness.
The posts are in for next week, and there’s so much fab stuff coming up, from the early female novelists to romance reading as ego-reading – and a massive fangirl moment when KA Mitchell steps up to the plate.
Thank you so much to everyone who visited the accidental housewife this week. I’ve gotten some great feedback on the new design, and I’ve had some useful suggestions for how I can still tweak it a bit to make it as user friendly as possible. All the input is greatly appreciated!
As promised, every comment put your name in the hat to win a hand-made e-reader cover. Special k will be picking the winner shortly, but first, here are some places I’ve enjoyed visiting this past week:
Every writer has to decide how much of themselves they’re going to share online. As the Personhood debate heats up in the US, Victoria Dahl wrote a fierce, deeply personal defence of birth control. It was one of those rare instances of baring the person behind the profession and I, along with so many others, appreciated it.
I’m coming really late to this party, but I’ve just discovered Dave Gaider has a lot of articulate stuff to say about the gaming industry, the collaborative process of creating games, and the way it engages with gender and sexuality. I particularly enjoyed his response to a Straight Male Gamer who felt his preferences weren’t being met in Dragon Age 2.
I love this critical review of Skyfall. You can tell the writer’s having an absolute ball breaking the film down in this really wanky, LitCrit way. Lots of interesting stuff, for all that.
And lastly – I look forward to the day when beauty isn’t the defining characteristic for women. But in the meantime, this woman’s approach moved and inspired me, and is going to make a huge difference in her daughter’s lives.
And now for the prizes! Take it away, special k:
Congratulations Catherine!!! A gorgeous new e-reader cover will be winging its way to you in the new year.
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Yay! I shall look forward to it!
Wow! I saw Skyfall on the weekend and maybe I didn’t get most of what that reviewer got from it! I didn’t think Eve Moneypenny was a bit thick at all. I think the movie set up the sexy banter between her and James quite well. I do agree they didn’t have sex though!
It never occurred to me that Silva was some kind of Julian Assange type character. (I did wonder why Javier had to be blond when he is so yummy naturally, but then I thought that is maybe why – the villain can’t be too good looking can he?). I loved that homo-erotic scene though. I said to hubs on the way home that James has totally sucked cock for England and he agreed! LOL!
The thing about Bond, in the books, he is a right bastard. He’s mean and vicious when he needs to be – he’s an assassin. He’s on the side of “good” – he’s still an assassin though. I haven’t read them, but hubs tells me that he slaps around the womenfolk and is generally a pig. So if there’s mysogyny in the movies, I guess it’s at least true to the books!
I thought the actress playing Severine did a great job of acting terrified-while-trying-desperately-to-hide-that-she’s-scared-and-pretending-to-be-amused. I think that must be pretty hard to pull off. I will say that I was a bit troubled at her demise, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that Bond was “drinking scotch” at the time. He had drank it earlier. Immediately after her death, he attacked and killed most of the bad guys. I think he was saddened by her death, but it wasn’t really shown so I might have made that up for my own sense of satisfaction. Also, he didn’t promise her he could save her. In fact, in a harbinger of what would actually happen, he told her “someone usually dies”. Still, she took a great risk and was poorly rewarded and it would have been nice if, in the movie, we could have at least seen Bond being sad about her death.
Is Bond a mysogynist? Sure. But he doesn’t like men any better I think. He doesn’t really have friends. He’s very much alone and MI6 wants him that way. No next of kin, no family, no significant other, no ties other than to dear old England. M says something to the effect that it’s always easier to use orphans as agents. He’s a product of his training. And, given when the books were written, also partially, his time.
Let’s face it, Bond has always been an asshole. He’s charming and sexy, but he’s an asshole. Great movie though 😀
I think in a way, “misogynist” isn’t even a pejorative when it comes to Bond. Bond wouldn’t be Bond without it. (Though now that I’ve just typed that, I’m thinking a radically feminist Bond film would be all sorts of amazing.)
I totally agree about the actress who played Severine! At first I was just like, “Here we go, some ‘evil’ bimbo, *yawn*” – but from that scene she totally had me. I felt a bit more like the reviewer about her death. Bond made some smarmy remark right after she was killed, and he didn’t seem to be moved by her death for a second. In fact, he very particularly let it happen. Right afterwards he takes all the guys down – so why couldn’t he have done it before she was killed? I said this to the husband after watching, because it stuck out to me as a plot fail, but he said, “I thought that too, and then I realised he just didn’t give a shit about her.” Which is chilling, but felt right.
And OMG – “What makes you think it’s my first time?” – BEST LINE!!
Agree about that best line LOL!
I thought Bond did try to save Severine but he just wasn’t an accurate enough shot. I can’t remember much about the next bit other than that he went all ninja on the bad guys but I totally agree there wasn’t much “Bond sadness” shown at her death.
The other thing I thought about Severine was that her dress at the casino was awful and didn’t fit her properly. Also, amazing eyeliner work!
Yes, Bond is a dick. Which is why we love him. There’s probably something in there about dickish romance heroes too – you know those books which are coming out at present where the “hero” is just an asshole? There was a big debate over at DA recently about whether or not they were romance books or not.
And last: M-I-S-O-G-Y-N-I-S-T. M-I-S-O… must learn to spell this word properly! 😀
Hubs and I have just been talking. He said Bond was “total cad” in the books and is way nicer in the movies! The other thing he pointed out (and I think it’s valid) is how ruthless M is. She sacrificed Silva. Was prepared to sacrifice Bond. But she’s a woman so she gets a pass? If Mallory did that would he be a misogynist? Hubs says that the ruthlessness is the nature of the game. Bond, M, etc. will use any means necessary to do the job at hand. If Severine had been a man he may or may not sleep with him but would still have used him to get to Silva and bugger the consequences. Severine was collateral damage: a means to an end. (oh, great name for next Bond file: A Means To An End).
Hubs also says that Bond loved Vesper and he’s colder since he lost her. Quantum of Solace (which I didn’t really like) was all about him getting revenge for her death because he took it so personally.
I really am overthinking this way too much now LOL!
I found M in this film utterly compelling. (Until she kind of stopped being M. That was disappointing.) There was definitely a theme running through the film about expendability, and how that fits morally. I don’t think it’s because M’s a woman that she gets a pass – I think it’s because she’s at the top of the power structure. Actually, I think in a way she only came across as so ruthless because she’s a woman, so we expect mercy or sympathy from her. (i.e. if a man had done the same it would have come across as ruthless, but met our expectations rather than denied them. Maybe. Husband doesn’t agree.)
Why as I am reading comments am I thinking of Anne Stuart’s Ice books, I wonder?
The asshole hero has been around a while! 🙂
I’ve not read the Ice books, but if they’re anything like the House of Rohan books, I’m pretty sure I know why ;-). I found her voice compulsively readable, but her heroes skimmed the wrong side of the “No means yes” line for me.
@Anna Nah, I think if Mallory had done those things everyone would have thought he was a complete bastard and if Silva had’ve been a woman? Imagine the outcry.
I didn’t have a problem with M in the movie. I thought she acted according to her role as MI6 chief. But now there is a man in the role again and if he acts as ruthlessly as female M will he get the same pass?
I was a bit disappointed to see the M-baton passed back to a man, but I thought they did an excellent job of setting up Mallory’s character. Loved how conservative and upright he was, but then seeing Bond come to re-evaluate him. Will be interesting to see where they take him!