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Bambi and thumper james bond1/8/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() Her gang changes from trapeze artists into Pussy Galore's Flying Circus is still an all female gang, with lesbian overtones, while the character Denise is also played quite butch. In the film of Goldfinger, the lesbianism is muted. They end up known as the Cement Mixers (which name may be another sexual reference), and associated with Goldfinger. Pussy is one of the most respected gang leaders in the USA, and started off with a group of trapeze artists called "Pussy Galore and her Abrocats", which is unsuccessful, so the women train as cat burglars instead. Pussy Galore's name can be seen as an obscene reference to "a lot of women" - there was a move to change it to Kitty instead for the film.Īuric Goldfinger leaves little doubt about the nature of Pussy Galore and her gang in the novel of Goldfinger, saying "it is a lesbian organisation". Klebb's lesbianism is sent up in the Austin Powers' series, by the character Frau Farbissima.Įlisabeth Ladenson likewise lists Pussy Galore as one of "two memorable lesbians" from Fleming's Bond novels (the other being Rosa Klebb). Klebb attempts to kill Bond, by using a blade attached to her shoe, which Bond deals with easily. A few hints to Klebb's sexual orientation remain throughout the film, such as her reaction to when SPECTRE henchman Morzeny ( Walter Gotell) touches her arm at the SPECTRE Island training facility, and when she asks Romanova to take her jacket off and turn around when they first meet. According to Lauren Spungen, Klebb's unwanted advances of Bond's love interest, Tatiana Romanova and other characterization make Klebb "foreign and not relatable, allowing further dehumanization". It had scallops of the same material round the low square neckline". The film version of Rosa Klebb is not overtly lesbian, but in the book she attempts to seduce Tatiana Romanova after an interview, and comes back into the room wearing a "semi-transparent nightgown in orange crêpe de chine. She also notes that her portrayal in the novel is more feminine than in the film. In the book, she is described unflatteringly: as "a toad-like figure in an olive-green uniform which bore the single order of Lenin", a "squat face" which "broke into a sugary smile", and "the Head of Otydel II, the department of SMERSH in charge of Operations and Executions, hitched up her skirts and sat down." Ladenson notes that Klebb's character, a butch and unattractive design, whom Fleming's himself characterized in the novel as "the oldest and ugliest whore in the world", can be seen as "dig at Iron Curtain femininity, the sort of joke that endured until recently in digs at Eastern European female athletes". Some Bond actors and directors have also been LGBT in real life notably Ben Whishaw and Tula.Įlisabeth Ladenson wrote that Rosa Klebb is one of "two memorable lesbians" from Fleming's Bond novels (the other being Pussy Galore). The Daniel Craig era of Bond has seen great change in the portrayal of this issue. Ian Fleming's writings and some of the early Bond films have provoked some negative criticism in this area. In the post-war period, a number of real-life British spies, such as the Cambridge Four defected to the Soviets, and some of them, such as Guy Burgess and Antony Blunt were attracted to men, which helped create a negative image of gay spies. The manner in which such characters are portrayed, and their general moral character is often a reflection of the times that they were written in. In the 1950s, homosexual acts, or at least ones involving males, were against the law in the United Kingdom. Since Ian Fleming created the character, there has been a massive seachange in attitudes towards LGBT+ people at most levels of western society. The history of LGBT characters in James Bond is a complex one. Pussy tells Bond, "You can turn off the charm.
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