Michelle Yeoh‘s depiction of a ‘kick ass’ secret agent in the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies signalled a sea change in the way the 007 franchise depicted its female characters.
But now the 62-year-old has found herself at the centre of a sexism row after BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour appeared to dismiss her achievements – by describing her as a former ‘Bond girl’.
Critics say that the term used by presenter Nuala McGovern in the introduction to an interview with the star bears no relation to what Ms Yeoh actually did in the movie – which included performing some of her own stunts.
Last night, Dame Jenni Murray, who presented Woman’s Hour until 2020, said: ‘For me, ‘Bond girl’ can only apply to a woman with whom [James Bond] went to bed and even then should not be used for any female character, regardless of bedability, post 1972.’
Ms Yeoh’s portrayal of the Chinese agent Wai Lin in the film –which starred Pierce Brosnan as 007 – could hardly be further removed from the more passive Bond heroines played by the likes of Britt Ekland, Jane Seymour and Jill St John in the 1960s and 1970s.
The character Wai Lin was a skilled weapons expert who could more than handle herself in a fight – and was Bond’s equal in every way.
Malaysian-born Ms Yeoh – who won the Oscar for Best Actress last year for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once – began her career in Hong Kong action movies.
At the time of the release of Tomorrow Never Dies, the Bond franchise was making a determined effort to appeal to female audiences and to shake off its sexist image.
Kathy Lette, the best-selling novelist, said last night: ‘It’s time the term ‘Bond girl’ bit the linguistic dust.
In an interview two years ago, Ms Yeoh, who is currently starring in the film version of the musical Wicked, reflected on how her role in the 007 franchise changed the way female stars would be viewed in future.
She said: ‘Because it was always very much the man’s world, right? All the guys love to be James Bond, and the women were almost always the Bond girls.
‘But they [the producers] were ready at the time when they came looking for me to have much more depth, emotion, the quality of their nature in the film.
‘I was very blessed that that was the train of thought that was going through their mind when they were writing Tomorrow Never Dies.’
Author Dr Julia Long said: ‘To refer to a female actor who is clearly extremely accomplished and talented and very expert in her craft as a Bond Girl is infantilising. It just seems a very outmoded term.
‘It’s part of a vocabulary that undermines women as human beings participating in the world and it’s really unfortunate that Woman’s Hour would participate in that.’
The controversy over the term is the second to hit Ms McGovern and Woman’s Hour in the space of a week.
The presenter was criticised for a pointed interview with nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital in County Durham who have objected to a trans colleague using a female changing room.
Some listeners and Christian groups were concerned by Ms McGovern’s interrogation of one nurse’s Christian beliefs, with a Mumsnet user criticising her ‘cynical tone’.
A spokesman for BBC Radio 4 declined to comment.
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