Thoughts about You Only Live Twice

I'm so reminded of controversies surrounding the Bond franchise. Especially this film. I read an article in the Japan Times which said that this film is hated by Japanese Feminists. I would really like to talk to Japanese feminists who don't like this film. I wonder exactly why they don't like it. Of course there is a lot of sexism. It portrays Japanese women as secondary and obedient to their male controllers. Like the character of Aki. She helps bond everywhere. She rescues him from near assasination twice. She plays a major role in the film. Then she is killed off by poison without any fanfare. Then, Bond takes up with another Japanese woman like Aki was never there to begin with. I guess they are special agents and people die in the adventure. But in the this film the women die first and often. I wonder if it's like that in all Bond films. Probably.

Aside from the sexism and cliche portrayal of Japanese women, the film follows traditional patterns of a Bond film. I was surprised to see that Roald Dahl had written the screenplay. I remember him as a novelist of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. My oldest brother bought me the series one Christmas and I read them. That film has a lot of twists and turns, stunts and explosions, and sex. Yet it has a light air to it. It's almost comical how many times James eludes death in his pursuit of foiling the plot for World domination.

Bond is ridden with cliches and the story is almost always the same. Bond finds the bad guy. Bond foils the evil scheme. Bond ends up with the girl. If it is so ridden with cliches and bad writing, then why do people still watch? I would suppose it's for the action. For the intrigue. Isn't it fun to pretend your a secret agent working for MI6? And not only a secret agent, but the best one. The one who can't be defeated. Right. So?

You Only Live Twice is one of the better Connery Bond films. It was not a franchise low by any means. The franchise did reach a nadir in the late 70s when Connery was changed to Roger Moore. Then there was the Timothy Dalton Bond which many people didn't like. Yet the franchise seems to have turned it around with Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.

The James Bond franchise has left an indelible mark on pop culture. I can only wonder at how many people pondered a life in service after seeing Bond films?