We think of the big, beautiful, Chris Hemsworth with his manly muscles and flowing blond hair when we think of Thor; one of the most popular MCU characters. We now hear that Natalie Portman, (who played his human love interest in the first two Thor films) is confirmed to play Mighty Thor in the fourth edition of the franchise; Thor: Love and Thunder. There are also reports of a female 007 to be played by Lashana Lynch, a woman of African descent. Needless to say, there have been mixed reactions to the news.
It is a complex storyline according to comics say MCU experts: Valkyrie (Marvel’s first LGBT superhero, according to reports) is the new king of Asgard and she needs a new queen. Enter Mighty Thor, who will be played by Natalie Portman (who, in the comics, has cancer). It is she who will wield Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir – which was symbolically handed over to Portman at an event when the announcement was made.
In the 25th instalment of the franchise, James Bond leaves the MI6 and this iconic secret agent number is passed on to another spy. This new spy is to be played by British actor Lashana Lynch. It is clarified that James Bond will remain James Bond – Daniel Craig’s character is in retirement in Jamaica but is to be recalled to fight some global crisis by spymaster M played by Ralph Fiennes. Reports suggest that all this will still not prevent Bond from hitting on the woman who replaced him.
As predicted, the idea of a female 007 didn’t go down well with people. Those who like the James Bond films for the gadgets, the suave, martini-slugging, womanising spy, this is just too much. Some simply don’t like change. They are OK with Bond being Bond; don’t fix what ain’t broke is their lament. All this shouldn’t change simply because the writer is a bloody feminist is the view that militates against the idea of a female 007.
There is also the strongly held view that this is taking the whole diversity and representation thing too far. Why must filmmakers tinker with beloved or iconic characters to join the diversity/representation bandwagon! What is the need to depict racial diversity or alternative sexuality everywhere? Why this need to make characters gender neutral? Why force characters into the narrative – gay characters, trans characters, non-English speakers, handicapped persons… some feel that this is all unnecessary.
At the other end of the spectrum are those who feel that this is just pandering – it is tokenism meant to placate people who demand the same sort of representation and diversity in films that exist in society. These people all support the inclusion of varied characters but feel that new films should be written for people of different ethnicities, for strong women, people with alternative sexuality, etc. They feel all this is unoriginal and derivative – a lazy cop-out.
Now, given that Mighty Thor and a female 007 have attracted the ire of the conservatives as well as some liberals, I think these are characters whose time has come. For a very long time, strong heroes and slick spies were all always male. Those were also the days when concepts such as respect for women and consent were rather limited concepts. Homosexuality was a crime and trans people were looked upon as abnormal. Lack of awareness about alternative sexualities and prejudice about different races and nationalities were rife.
Those were ignorant times, unequal times; that privileged a few and disenfranchised many. Today we are (hopefully) living in more informed and egalitarian times; and have welcomed female characters such as Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and Batwoman; which were unconceivable before.
It is true that Ian Fleming wrote James Bond as a misogynistic, white, British man. That was cool for those times since most of the James Bond novels were written in the 1950s. Human sensibility itself was different then. We are no longer content to be fed the sort of straight-jacketed characters that proliferated then. We are more evolved; we now demand entertainment that is also more evolved.
Mighty Thor and female 007 are representative of a new reality, a shift in perception that is broader and much more inclusive. This is not unoriginal or derivative. This is about filmmakers being more politically aware; of taking baby steps towards making the world of make-believe a more egalitarian and inclusive; more real. And if they make new stories with fresh characters; we’ll welcome those as well.
Meanwhile, if the women, and the people of colour and the gay people, the little people, the handicapped and others not PLU are making you uncomfortable, well… get used to it. There’s more where they came from, and they aren’t about to go away.
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