The Search for Bond’s Lost Penis

Reclaiming Masculinity in Skyfall

(Originally submitted to Prof. Sarah B. Stein on 12 March 2014 in an undergraduate level English class.)

James Bond films usually leave the spy protagonist’s masculinity largely unchallenged, but Skyfall takes a different route. From the beginning of the film, Bond’s conformity to a suave, macho gender role comes into question, first in his death-and-resurrection scene and then in his dialogues with Silva and Q. Each of these scenes creates a masculine backdrop against which Bond must prove himself as an alpha male. Specifically, Mendes (director) uses phallic symbolism, aggressive stichomythia, and a masculine-feminine binary to illustrate Bond’s struggle for competency as a man.

Toward the beginning of the film, Bond loses his masculinity when he gets shot; Mendes conveys this deeper meaning through the use of the phallic symbolism of firearms and stereotypical masculine imagery. Getting shot by anyone is damaging to a man’s pride, but being shot by a woman is far worse. Moreover, if one may interpret the gun as a metallic extension of the penis, one could say that Bond got fucked by a person substantially lower on the totem pole of masculinity. Therefore, it is no surprise that, as soon as Bond regains consciousness, he makes advances toward a local woman, drinks a Heineken half-nude, and asserts his Stoic bravery by besting the natives at their scorpion drinking game. After all, he must regain what he just lost.

Upon Bond’s return to England, Mendes accentuates Bond’s struggle for masculinity by juxtaposing Bond with Q, who emasculates Bond with his effeminacy an suggests that Bond’s role in MI6 is nearing obsoletion. When Q sits down next to Bond at the art museum, Bond shifts in his seat and betrays feelings of defensiveness. As Q remarks at the tragedy of the “old warship being hauled away for scrap” and the “inevitability of time,” Bond’s face is blurred beside a crisp, young Q who occupies the center of the frame; the combination of these themes with Q’s central placement in the shot suggests that even Q threatens Bond’s primacy in the narrative. Not only does Q’s interpretation indirectly mock Bond’s fear of becoming obsolete like the warship, but it also poses a threat to Bond’s dominance; Q represents at once a feminized masculinity and power through technology. Bond distances himself from Q’s effeminate skill by asserting a laconic masculinity; that is, all Bond claims to see is a “bloody big ship.” But as Bond attempts to do this, Q continues to assert his dominance over Bond by calling Bond by his agent number, “007.” Bond’s humiliation becomes even clearer when he realizes that this scrawny, pimple-faced youth is responsible for providing him with necessary supplies. A stichomythic duel for dominance ensues. Q brags that he can “do more damage in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.” Not only is Q competent, but he is competent while simultaneously occupying the home — a feminine domain — and drinking tea, a feminine beverage. Eventually Bond shakes Q’s hand to admit a stalemate, which for the macho Bond really means defeat (TheSupererogatoryGuy).

The next dialogue that tests Bond’s masculinity is his first meeting with Silva, where Silva threatens Bond with his homosexuality and his intimate knowledge of Bond. From the get-go, Bond is incapacitated, tied to a chair, which clearly indicates his disadvantaged position. Silva postures by addressing Bond by his first name; Bond, however, does not know his captor’s name. Silva shows Bond that he actually knows more about him than Bond knows about Silva; he discloses all of the results of Bond’s evaluation. When Silva opens Bond’s shirt, he emphasizes that Bond lost his masculinity to a woman; “see what she’s done to you?” he says (my emphasis). Silva’s attempt to seduce Bond shows Bond as the object of sexual power, not as an agent (no pun intended). Silva and Bond engage in a duel in a manner similar to his posturing with Q earlier in the film, but Silva instead emphasizes Bond’s vulnerability. In order to recover lost ground, Bond hints that this homosexually charged situation is no threat to him; “what makes you think,” he asks Silva, “that this is my first time?” One might see this line as efficacious in re-masculinizing Bond, as Silva backs away and addresses Bond as an adult — “Mr. Bond” — for the first time. Bond’s rising from the chair also suggests manly agency regained (Maverick Hunter).

Bond’s search for masculinity comes to a dramatic climax when Silva challenges him to shoot a glass of scotch off Severine’s head. First of all, Silva’s comments during this scene show that Bond’s masculinity is again in question. “We’ll see who ends up on top,” jests Silva. Bond’s gun — a symbol of his masculine competence — quivers. He hesitates to shoot, and Silva mocks, “Did you really die that day?” Judging by the phallic imagery, when Silva says you,” he doesn’t mean Bond as an agent but Bond as a man. This scene is important secondly because Bond’s remark that Severine’s death was a “waste of good scotch” consummates his journey back into manhood. The competitive atmosphere of the shootout suggests that Bond crafts this remark to express dominance. Specifically, he does this by denying emotional attachment and declaring Severine’s life to be valueless. The use of guns — phallic symbols — suggests that the stakes of the contest also include Bond’s sexual pride. And despite his poor marksmanship, he still attempts to shoot the scotch off of Severine’s head. This represents an attempt to reassert his masculinity by dominating women regardless of the risks to the lives of those women. By participating in Silva’s challenge and objectifying Severine, Bond shows that he has regained one kind of masculinity, albeit a misogynous kind (TheTechAdmins).

In these three situations it becomes clear that there is more at stake in Skyfall than MI6, the security of England, and Bond’s status as an agent. Bond explicitly and implicitly asserts his dominance over others as a way of compensating for his impaired physical strength and, simultaneously, his loss of manhood. Ultimately, Bond’s search for his lost penis, if you will, culminates in his willing objectification of Severine, which shows that Bond did not “really die that day.”

But maybe he should have done.