Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol. 22, No. 5, pp. 489–496, 1999 Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0277-5395/99 $–see front matter PII S0277-5395(99)00059-X 489 Pergamon BRITAIN’S LAST LINE OF DEFENCE: MISS MONEYPENNY AND THE DESPERATIONS OF FILMIC FEMINISM Tara Brabazon School of Media, Communication and Culture, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia Synopsis — There is much potential, both politically and theoretically, in monitoring the confluences of feminism and popular culture. While much attention has been granted to Madonna and the Spice Girls, there are textual sites that have a far longer, and more complex, history. This article analyses Miss Mon- eypenny, a character in the long-running James Bond series. Through monitoring the superspy’s super- secretary, we discover the contradictory, ambivalent, and surprising impact of feminism on this small but resonant site in filmic history. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. I’m a bitch I’m a lover I’m a child I’m a mother I’m a sinner I’m a saint I do not feel ashamed I’m your hell I’m your dream I’m nothing in between You know you wouldn’t want it any other way. (Bitch, Meredith Brooks, 1997) Good old Moneypenny. Britain’s last line of defence. (James Bond, On Her Majesty’s Se- cret Service, 1969) The fracturing of femininity is a strength of, as well as a problem for, contemporary feminism. No political label can encompass the plurality of women. The representational politics of subjectivity has been a central topic for gender theorists since suffragettes chained them- selves to the gate of Number 10 Downing Street. Without a metaphoric Boadicea to em- body strength, the political objectives of con- temporary feminism seem tenuous and ambiv- alent. 1 Texts such as Catharine Lumby’s (1997) Bad Girls asserts the existence of a generation gap dividing feminism (p. 171). She argues that only by re-connecting feminism and the media, can political and theoretical objectives be aligned. Discussion of waves, clashes, and cul- ture wars bubble with rhetorical juice, but leave a nasty political aftertaste. There is value in swimming through popular cultural sites that have rarely been noticed by either femi- nist or screen theorists. From Bewitching Sa- mantha to Scary Spice, humorous, quirky, and bitchy women permeate film and television, and are far more than a footnote to feminist history. In response to these larger concerns, this article explores a minor character from a long-running film series and demonstrates that even in the midst of saturating sexism, a voice of social justice and responsibility can speak. With the latest Bond film, ironically titled The World is Not Enough, to be released during the Christmas season of 1999/2000, it is timely to evaluate a superspy’s supersecretary. Miss Moneypenny has been featured in more James Bond films than any figure except the title role. 2 She is the assistant to M, head of the British Secret Service. All agents, adminis- trators, technicians, and scientists must pass through the Moneypenny office and ante- chamber to reach the Imperial core. She is, as the Lazenby-Bond described her, “Britain’s last line of defence”. The character has been played by three actors: Lois Maxwell, 3 Caro- line Bliss (in The Living Daylights, 1987 and License to Kill, 1989), and Samantha Bond (in Goldeneye, 1995 and Tomorrow Never Dies, 1997). Moneypenny’s scenes with James Bond have become a generic characteristic of the se- ries. 4 The gender politics enacted through