Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism Of James Bond

By: FSWL team

Published:
2010-11-19

Shaken and stirred the feminism of james bond

Publication of Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond, a new book written by our American friend Robert Caplen about the cultural impact of the cinematic Bond girl.

Although she has been lauded by some as a liberated woman and true feminist archetype, the Bond Girl has virtually escaped critical study - until now. Robert A. Caplen’s Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond analyzes the cinematic Bond Girl and argues that the character initially served as a different archetype: one that reinforced a traditional, feminine ideal that served as a powerful reactionary symbol against the gender equality movement that gained prominence in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s.

The Bond Girl is one of the most recognized and celebrated cultural icons of the last fifty years. First introduced in Ian Fleming’s novels and short stories, producers Albert “Cubby” R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman breathed life into her cinematic manifestation beginning with Dr. No (1962). Since then, the world has been fascinated by the Bond Girl.

Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond provides a glimpse into “second wave” feminism, the Women’s Liberation Movement, and cultural representations of women during the latter half of the American twentieth century through a Bondian lens. It traces the evolutionary journey of the cinematic Bond Girl and assesses her cultural impact, revealing who she is and what she represents during the first eleven films in the James Bond franchise, a seventeen–year period described as the Golden Era of the Bond Girl, and beyond.

“With Robert A. Caplen’s Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond, we finally have a detailed analysis of the complex evolution of the Bond Girl character. This book gives new insights into Bond’s world and insures that you’ll never look at Bond Girls the same way again!” - Charles Helfenstein, author of The Making of On Her Majesty's Secret Service & The Making of The Living Daylights

Background:
"The work was originally conceived of in 2000 before the wave of recent James Bond scholarship and cultural critique. At the time, only two similar types of works, James Chapman's Licence to Thrill and Jeremy Black's The Politics of James Bond, were first being released. My work - and the original version of what became the book - was completed in April 2001 as part of my degree requirements in History at Boston University in Massachusetts. After pursuing a career in law and focusing upon becoming a legal scholar, I returned to my original manuscript and began editing, revising, and rethinking various aspects of the work. It was always my intention to publish it as a book and share it with people interested in James Bond and feminism.

I believe that my book remains the first, full-scale critical treatment of the Bond Girl (this volume considers the film series through Moonraker (1979)). Unlike the various "celebration" works that are in print, such as John Cork and Maryam d'Abo's Bond Girls Are Forever work, my book is cinematic critique, historical scholarship, and entertainment all wrapped into one. It is entirely an independent work that I developed, wrote, and financed (I licensed over 50 images of actors, actresses, scenes from the 007 films, and images of important players and events in the American feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s) on my own, and it bears no relation to anything produced or endorsed by Danjaq LLC, MGM, or any other James Bond rights holder. My intent was and remains to contribute a serious work to the growing library of James Bond scholarship and cultural analysis. My follow-up book, which I am currently researching, will consider the films and characters since For Your Eyes Only (1981)." - Robert A. Caplan

Book details:
Pages: 459
Book Format: Trade Book 6x9
ISBN 13 (TP): 978-1-4535-1281-4
ISBN 13 (HB): 978-1-4535-1282-1
ISBN 13 (eBook): 978-1-4535-1283-8

Editor's note:
For signed copies of Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond, visit the official website.

For other American Bond books featured on From Sweden with Love, click here.

Photo above:
The first edition of Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond. © 2010 Robert A. Caplen. All rights reserved.

Order Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond from Amazon:

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1453512829/fromswedenwit-21/

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#english_bond_books

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