Becoming James Bond: Daniel Craig, rebirth, and refashioning masculinity in Casino Royale (2006).

Daniel Craig's first outing as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006) playfully repositions the extensive and polysemic cultural symbolism that Barthes identified with the character [Barthes, R., 1982. Selected writings (1966). Oxford University Press]. The closed narrative structures which were foregrounded in Umberto Eco's structuralist reading of Bond (2009) are made ambiguous, and Bond himself is represented as incomplete, vulnerable and in a process of becoming. This refashioning of Bond is achieved through modes of birth and rebirth, whereby the character is viewed in a state of transformation. In fashioning and refashioning his identity, the film demonstrates a masculinity that is fluid, and made more so by the frequent references to water. Bond's gender identity is unsettled and is repeatedly affected by his identification with traditionally feminine attributes and connotations. This research builds on the increased critical attention for this new Bond [Lindner, C., ed., 2009a. The James Bond phenomenon: a critical reader. 2nd ed. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press; Lindner, C., ed., 2009b. Revisioning 007: James Bond and Casino Royale. London and New York: Wallflower Press], and systematically considers and extends our understanding of Bond's gendered identity.