James Bond Gay: Skyfall Homoerotic Scene is a Wink to a Younger and More Diverse Audience

As Skyfall, the twenty-third film in the James Bond series, becomes the franchise's biggest debut ever with almost $90 million at the box office during its U.S. debut — and critics hail it as the best Bond film yet — people have started to speculate about the spy's sexuality because of a scene in which Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem (who plays the villain) seem to engage in some homoeroticism. 

Though Bardem addressed the scene — where his character Raoul Silva has Bond immobilized in a chair while "exploring" his body — as a way of creating "uncomfortable situations beyond fear and terror” (and Craig denied Bardem's character is gay or straight), the scene serves the movie in a couple of ways.  

First, it provides a lot of free publicity by bringing up an issue still considered as controversial by many (homosexuality) into a film and a character who epitomizes heterosexuality. By putting womanizer Bond in a homoerotic situation, the producers of the film guarantee tons of press coverage focused on the character's supposed bisexuality (which, in turn, helps to promote the movie). 

Secondly, unlike the GOP, the franchise may have found proof of a younger and more diverse American audience which — as evidenced by the results of the 2012 elections — is more open to gay rights. Though neither James Bond nor Daniel Craig (or Javier Barden, for that matter) are gay, their homoerotic interaction could well be a wink to gay members of the broader audience who could identify with a more modern — and less chauvinistic — version of Bond.

It wouldn't be the only market segmentation appeal attempted by the producers of Skyfall, as it has been duly noted that the movie's switch from the traditional "shaken not stirred" martini historically enjoyed by classic Bonds from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan has now been substituted by a more youthful Heineken.