Thursday, October 07, 2021
No Time to Die: the problem with Bond villains having facial disfigurements
theconversation.com: As the 25th James Bond film No Time to Die hits the cinemas, we are once again reminded of the way that disability is depicted negatively in Hollywood films. The new James Bond film features three villains, all of who have facial disfigurements (Blofeld, Safin and Primo).
If you take a closer look at James Bond villains throughout history, the majority have facial disfigurements or physical impairments. This is in sharp contrast to the other characters, including James Bond, who are able-bodied and presented with no physical bodily differences.
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I hadn't really ever thought about how many villains in film, tv, and the media, in general, tend to have disfigurements. I'm glad that this article is taking the time to make us all more cognizant of a community that feels misrepresented and taken advantage of by larger society. Many of the things we see in the media subconsciously change our perception and opinions of things like disfigurements. It's extremely unfair that many people's assumptions about who they are can be skewed by this lack of representation in such a large cultural medium. Inclusivity in entertainment casting has been expanding greatly in the last few decades and while the current fight is heavily centered on race, body type, and gender these character biases need to be assessed and changed as well. Given how difficult it is going into a performance sphere in general, I can't imagine how difficult it must be when you also have a physical disability. It must be intensely frustrating knowing that the reason you may be passed over for roles doesn't even guarantee you roles for characters with the same physicality because many would rather replicate it with special effects or makeup.
Considering the long history of disfigurements, James Bond villains perpetuating stereotypes about evilness and disability sounds about right. The term “narrative prosthesis” references how disability is used as a narrative device. The stereotype in entertainment is that characters have a tragic backstory, where they become disabled and oftentimes, the reason for their disability is their reason for their rage and revenge. The fact that disability is used as a prop for villany is lazy and bigoted storytelling. In addition to this, the portrayal of ‘Other’ has real world repercussions--disabled people and people with facial differences are ostracized due to misconceptions which are supported, and even created, by misrepresentation in the media. This is true for many groups that fall into the ‘Other’--non-white people, queer people, people with mental illness, and more. Ultimately, relying on lazy representations, generalizations, and stereotypes of marginalized groups is unacceptable and adding a little extra care into a narrative could lessen the negative impact of stereotyping in media.
I truly never thought too deeply about how almost every James Bond villain has a physical deformity or disfigurement until now. Its truly saddening that for many of these films the Villains evil or scariness is emphasized though one of these disfigurements. Oftentimes, to add depth to the overall film, the backstory of these super villains also centers around how they received these disfigurements. In fact, within many of the films the reason for the evil villains anger and plots for revenge is usually centered around how they received a physical disfigurement of sorts. These films have not consider the very real impact the characters they create have on perpetuating these bigoted stereotypes about people with disfigurements. Not to mention that this is very bland storying telling. Creating an evil villain with a physical disfigurements has been seen time and time again. Whether in the James Bond films or even in the Austin Powers films, almost all contain some villain with a physical disfigurement. Perpetuating stereotypes, especially about marginalized groups, is never acceptable and I believe strongly that the negative impact of these stereotypes could be minimized drastically if media would stop portraying the disabled in such a manner.
A couple years back, I read a post dissecting the features and behavior of Mother Gothel from Disney's Tangled (and with that the author pointed out several trends with the way Disney codes its characters with physical appearance). The gist of it was that Mother Gothel had stereotypically Jewish features (sharp face, prominent nose, dark curly hair) compared to Rapunzel (fair color palette, button nose, round face, as is the case with most female Disney protagonists), so by making Mother Gothel the villainous witch mother, Disney was, consciously or not, perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes. Ever since then, I have become more aware of how physical features are used to reveal character traits, especially where ableism and minority traits are often associated with villainy or degeneration. I have not seen many Bond movies, I've really only seen Casino Royale, but I did clock that Mads Mikkelsen was given facial disfigurements for that too.
Y'know, this isn't really something I thought about until this article, and then once I started thinking about how many villains I've seen in media that have some kind of disfigurement, it was absolutely staggering how many there were. No wonder then, that the consistent portrayal of villains with disfigurement in media then can cause such self-esteem issues. The emphasis on many of these villains having a tragic backstory leading to their disfigurement is also quite staggering. I wonder why this is such a prevalent trope? Is it because audiences nowadays already associate disfigurement with "other" and therefore it's easier to consider them evil? That's horrible if it is the case.
It makes me think of a character from one of my favorite shows, Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He's immediately introduced from the beginning as a villain with a big burn mark around one of his eyes, with a tragic backstory to boot. But the show takes plenty of time to build him as a character and redeem him. Does this make the villainous disfigurement acceptable? I definitely never thought about it that way, and quite frankly, due to my bias towards the show, I don't really have an answer to that question.
Just as many others who have commented on this post right below, I had never given the issue at hand double thought. Now, it seems too obvious, there is definitely an inherent problem with only villains having facial visual disfigurements. As with my last post, I am ashamed to admit that so late in my development; however, I am glad the article pointed it out. As cliche as it may seem, better late than never. For one, I imagine it is hard enough for someone with disfigurements to gain confidence– as pointed out in the article. That, amongst many other evident (and undiscussed) issues. So, by having villains display disfigurements there are serious implications to consider. Especially when the exploitation of these traits is nothing more than a lazy shortcut to creating a tense atmosphere. And why is it tense in the first place? Because it is further promoted in the media we consume.
This article makes an excellent point about something I've been thinking about for a while. In Anti-Racist Theatre, we've been talking about stereotypes as shortcuts in storytelling, and how and why that's both poor storytelling and incredibly harmful to the groups being portrayed. By having antagonists with visible differences in their face and body, filmmakers are saying that "the inside is reflected on the outside". Not judging someone by their appearance is something that we teach to children, so why is this idea of physical difference equaling a moral difference being reinforced so heavily? Why are heroes always necessarily able-bodied and their villains not so? These are important questions to ask when we think about ableism in the media. Because media is how ideas, stereotypes and tropes are most easily perpetuated and disseminated. I would ask filmmakers to think about their rationale behind assigning certain traits to villains, and whether or not it's for an actual reason tied to their character.
Honestly, I haven't thought about how ableist this representation of a villain is, but it totally makes sense. Like Keen mentioned above, I've noticed when antisemitic tropes are often used in films (i.e. the greedy, large-nosed creatures who work at the bank in Harry Potter), or even when the one POC in the piece is the "source of all evil" (Othello, or even choosing to cast a POC as a villain and keeping the rest of the cast white). And as much as it is problematic, as this writer mentions, it's also just lazy. There is a lot of room to create a detailed backstory to a villain, and make it greatly compelling (The Joker), while not leaning in physical scarring as a huge part of the storyline. I think we have the ability to write something new rather than recycling the same old concepts, and deconstruct what we see as a villain.
I am really surprised that I have never consciously made this connection that so often the villain is portrayed with facial differences to the point that is becomes their main source of vengeance. This also makes me think of how many people with disabilities struggle to make it in this frankly horribly exclusive industry only to watch able bodied performers fill the roles of characters with disabilities. Often, these able-bodied actors are even praised for their “incredible acting ability” when in fact it is largely based on stereotypes. I immediately think of Forest Gump, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and The Upside. This does go beyond the facial differences talked about in the article, but it is certainly to a similar point. The trope of villains with facial disfigurements really is everywhere we look; I could come up with so many examples when reading through this article and is certainly something I want to look out for in the future. If I ever find myself in a room where these decisions are being made, I can point to the “I am not your Villain” Campaign.
Like the others who have commented before me, I really did not think about this at all. I have not watched many of the bond films but I can count numerous other times where this is true. The dehumanization of those who are disfigured or disabled is really disgusting and it remind me of the privilege I have working in this industry being able bodied. Further, villains are always seen as those who are often mentally ill (the “psycho” villain with mild ptsd) or disfigured. These depictions are not harmless- especially in a franchise as big as this. These depictions quite literally imply that those who do not fit the mold of what society deems to be “good”- you are literally subhuman and an outcast to society. Movies and other forms of entertainment affect the general conscience more than we think and it is important to have these conversations as much as possible in order to begin to remedy the generations of hurt. Not that disfigurement in films is bad, but the fact that it is used solely to show how unlikeable, outcasted, horrifying a villainous character is is unacceptable and backwards.
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