2013-05-21T13:11:41-04:00 Mark Edlitz http://www.news.moviefone.com/author/index.php?author=mark-edlitz Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Mark Edlitz Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1959295 2012-10-17T15:51:15-04:00 2012-12-17T05:12:02-05:00

Mark Edlitz http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-edlitz/
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Why do you think the films have remained so popular for fifty years and counting?

Roger Moore: The films are hugely popular because they are entertaining. The producers never cheat audiences - the money goes on the screen.

To what do you attribute to character's popularity?

Moore: Every man wants to be James Bond; every woman wants to be bedded by him!

What drives James Bond?

Moore: He obviously feels a sense of duty and thrives on it.

Is Bond essentially a hedonist of sorts -- who's primarily in pursuit of pleasure?

Moore: He takes pleasure along the way, and uses it to great advantage at times in extracting information from certain ladies. But hedonist? No, I don't think so.

What do you think are the most significant ways the character of Bond has changed?

Moore: He has had six different faces! Each Bond is right for that generation. I'm sure my Bond wouldn't work today; just as Daniel Craig's 007 probably wouldn't have worked for 1970s audiences. The producers move and adapt with the times. They are very clever.

Up until recently, the Bond movies have deliberately avoided exploring Bond's psyche. Would you have enjoyed exploring those elements?

Moore: Me? Act and think deeply? No thanks! I wouldn't say they avoided exploring his psyche, but I guess after 20-odd films you reach a stage where we know so much about the character without knowing that much about the man and it's interesting to take a look.

Can you talk a little bit about how you found the right note to play Bond?

Moore: Guy Hamilton [who directed Moore's first outing as 007] told me to play it my way. We avoided some of the lines closely associated with Sean such as ordering a vodka martini. But otherwise I just played myself - as always.

Bond's movement appears effortless. Can you talk about how you approached the physicality of the part?

Moore: I never thought about it. I had doubles to make me look good!

There are some great moments in the films where you show Bond's vulnerable side. How do you approach those scenes?

Moore: I honestly don't read into it. I look at the script, speak to the director and just say the lines.

Over the course of your seven Bond films, you experimented with different approaches to the part -- from the tongue-in-cheek to the more realistic. What is your favorite approach?

Moore: I never really enjoyed the hard, gritty side of Bond. I much preferred being a lover and being a giggler.

Were there any moments in the Bond films that made you uncomfortable?

Moore: As I say, my Bond was a lover and giggler -- I didn't think he should hit a woman, nor kill a man in cold blood. The storyline called for it, I know, but I personally don't feel comfortable with those types of scenes.

What do you see as the main difference between Sean Connery's Bond and yours?

Moore: Sean's Bond was a tough character who could fight his way out of a corner; my Bond would charm his way out of a corner.

What made Connery's interpretation distinctive?

Moore: Sean was the first Bond. He created and defined the part. He was distinctive in that there was no one else to compare him with.

What about George Lazenby?

Moore: George's film is a damn good movie. He could have been a great Bond and could have made quite a few movies, but it wasn't to be. We are friends.

Timothy Dalton?

Moore: Not long ago, I sat down to watch The Living Daylights for the first time and thought it a terrific movie and Timothy, who I've known years, is a bloody good 007 and a great actor. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed the film.

Pierce Brosnan?

Moore: Pierce played it much like me, though I did feel his films got a little too far-fetched -- invisible cars?!

Daniel Craig?

Moore: Daniel is certainly the best actor to ever play 007, and I think he will go on to become the best ever Bond.

And what about that actor who played Bond seven times... Roger Moore? What did you admire about his approach?

Moore: Oh he was very handsome, charming, talented and modest.

Who is the best Bond?

Moore: Sean -- because he was the first.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.672626 2010-08-05T18:36:45-04:00 2011-05-25T17:15:21-04:00

Mark Edlitz http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-edlitz/
Jabba (the most notorious of the Hutts) is the baddie from Return of the Jedi who captures, imprisons and then forces Princess Leia to wear a gold metal bikini. Though worn by Carrie Fisher in the1983 film for just a few minutes of screen time the impact of the outfit has been long-lasting.

Leia's bikini has become an indelible part of pop culture and it's been featured on such diverse TV shows as Family Guy, Dancing with the Stars and Deal or No Deal. There's an episode of Friends in which David Scwhimmer's character, Ross, confesses that he has an erotic fantasy which involves the garment. Much to Ross's (and the audience's) delight, Jennifer Aniston winds up wearing the outfit to seduce him.

But the obvious pleasure many derive from seeing a scantily clad woman obfuscates other darker implications. What exactly did Jabba want from Leia? What were her slave duties? Was her sole function to lie ornamentally at Jabba's feet or did he ultimately intend her to be his love slave?

The Star Wars community largely rejects the notion that Jabba sexually assaulted Leia. Amira Sa'id (who performs a belly dancing routine while dressed as Leia) believes the purpose behind the outfit was to put her "under his control." Echoing these thoughts is Amy "Kitty" Brown who performs a Star Wars themed burlesque routine. Brown thinks, "Jabba likes putting respectable ladies (i.e. a Princess) in humiliating clothes. It's not sexual; it's a power thing because Jabba is a bully!"

While humiliation is definitely a factor, fans should not ignore the fact that the form of her humiliation is sexual in nature. Jabba doesn't just put her in a funny hat and make her sit in corner. Instead, because he is attracted to her, Jabba forces her to wear a very skimpy outfit. A small but telling insight into Jabba's character is the name of his pet monkey-lizard, Salacious Crumb. "Salacious," of course, means lecherous or lustful. A less subtle clue to Jabba's true intentions occurs when he licks Leia's face with his long, slimy tongue. One video on YouTube entitled "Jabba Slurps Leia Aplenty" loops that moment of degradation.

For many fans, Leia is an exemplary personification of female empowerment. She's a smart, feisty, brave diplomat and warrior. And for these admirers it is disturbing to see her formidable stature diminished by the endlessly evoked image of her as a sexual object.
As Audrey Brown writes on her website Born For Geekdom: "I just resent the fact that out of all of Leia's actions from the entire Star Wars trilogy, this is the moment that has been removed and sanctified."

With that in mind, it's potentially disturbing that the image has been so highly marketed and merchandised. The toy company Hasbro manufactured Slave Leia action figures for children to play with. When first released in 1997, they immediately became a sought after collector's item.

There's also a website created by Jamin Fite that celebrates the cult of Slave Leia. On his MySpace page Jamin boldly declares that he "will not rest until every beautiful woman on earth wears a metal bikini." With a website already filled with several hundred photos of just that, it seems that he's off to a good start.

When discussing the metal bikini most fans refer to the character as "Slave Leia" and not "Princess Leia" or just "Leia". Both Hasbro and Fite were wise to eliminate the identifier of "Slave". When Kenner originally created the action figure they described her as "Jabba's prisoner." (Although when sold on eBay the figure is frequently called a slave.) Fite calls his website "Leia's Metal Bikini" and in doing so, he's helped redefine the terms in which the image is understood.

Regardless of, or in spite of Jabba's intentions, the fans who put on the costume find that their own pleasures in wearing it. Sa'id has said that Leia is "such a strong character, her will made the costume empowering." For her, the outfit makes her "feel sexy, powerful and confident." It's largely in that context that she dons the duds.

Brown thinks you can almost take the notion of sexuality out of the discussion. She said: "I didn't create my routine to sexualize Leia or the costume, I just did it because I thought it was a good gimmick."

Of course, it's easy to write off the concerns about those scenes' subtext as the overactive imaginations of pundits who take an innocent image and repurpose them to suit their own puerile thoughts. It is easy to dismiss the concerns of those who are offended by the sexualizing of Leia as misguided or overwrought. Perhaps, but then, can the same be said of George Lucas who also seems to be aware of the carnal pleasures of the outfit? Carrie Fisher told People Magazine, "There's that doll of me in the metal bikini, and George Lucas has a special one made for me where the top came off and I had tits."

An important but often overlooked part of the costume is the chain around Leia's neck which Jabba uses to restrict and control Leia. Her shackles are means of oppression. Paradoxically, the instrument (the chain) which Jabba uses to subjugate Leia is also the tool she employs to liberate herself from Jabba by strangling him to death with it.

Amanda Kloerne, who writes about human trafficking, considered the implications of the cult of Slave Leia and concluded in her blog: "It seems to be that most people can make a clear distinction; women being forced into prostitution as slaves is not sexy: Princess Leia as a slave in a gold bikini is."

No matter what one's personal feelings are about the bikini, there's one instance where it's been irrefutably been used for good. Earlier this year, the costume group The 501st and G4's Attack of the Show raised money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Their money raising method for the esteemed charity? A car wash populated and operated by beautiful woman dressed up in, you guessed it, Leia's metal bikini.]]>