F is for ...

I was happily binge watching Poldark cast interviews when the possibility of Aiden Turner being offered the role of James Bond was brought up by one interviewer. Aiden fielded it by saying that so many other actors were also rumouredly being considered for the role.  Then Eleanor Tomlinson jokingly said that in fact, she was going to be the next Bond. And that was when I thought, oh god, it's only  a matter of time before some studio exec says 'hey, what about Jane Bond?'. If it hasn't happened already that is (I'm scared to look). 

At the cost of repeating what better people before me have said ad nauseum- why have we stopped creating strong female characters in movies and television who are not based on (or are a rehashing of) male characters? Starting from the obvious Ripley and  Sarah Connor examples there have been, over the years, quite a few amazing female characters. Of course the numbers are probably less than we would like and that is what we need to fix. And the answer is not to  create female versions of every damn thing. So no. Don't do Jane Bond. Create an original story with a female lead  - do that instead. Don't do silly things like retelling an already amazing movie but now with an all female cast (you know who you are. and I don't want to call this version of you). Do what Ocean's 8 did  -  they didn't replace the men, they just made a different bad ass team in a world where the men also existed. 

If you think that toppling the patriarchy means literally shoving the patriarchy aside and standing there in its place saying 'Here, take me instead' - that's not what it should be. By any means. What you need to do is stand upto it and say 'Here, take me also. Take me also and attribute to me the same worth'.

"Oh, when you said we need guns you meant actual guns. Sorry I wrecked the bed man.