General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A female James Bond is awesome! So is a black Hermione! [View all]chade
(103 posts)A woman could easily fit the 'personality' of Bond. The only thing that doesn't really carry over is a bit of the historical haberdashery/gentlemanly tailored suit thing that comes along with the character, but you could easily omit or replace that and it would totally still fit the sprit of the character.
Also, arguably, the imagery and canon of the films has far surpassed the source material in terms of the public zeitgeist, so really it's more a question of 'does this fit in to the James Bond media universe' rather than 'is this faithful to the Ian Fleming source material'. And I think the answer to that first question is an easy 'yes.'
Having said that, Hermoine kind of contradicts what I just wrote, but that's because Rowling is providing more info on the universe on the fly. I think, in her authority as the author, her saying a black Hermoine is plausible makes it true, but a lot of people make really close connections with stories and see them as unchangeable.
I read a really great article on this topic that came out recently by the A.V. Club - Ghostbusters, Frozen, and the strange entitlement of fan culture. It talks about the increasingly awkward relationship between fans and creators as social media makes it easier to connect both with creators as well as fellow fans, and how creators are starting to have demands made on their art by their fans in a way that that dialogue has never happened before. It uses some great examples of positive campaigns for inclusion and diversity to present a really balanced look at the topic. I'm still turning it over in my head.