Daniel Craig's Queer Character Slammed as 'Rainbow Capitalism'

Movie fans and experts are divided over the revelation that Daniel Craig's Knives Out character Benoit Blanc is "obviously" queer.

Rian Johnson, the director of the 2019 whodunnit and its follow-up Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, confirmed the detail in a press conference ahead of Glass Onion's screening at the London Film Festival on Sunday.

The news has sparked debate across social media, with some praising the decision as progressive while others have accused Johnson, Craig and the films' producers of "queer-baiting."

Ian Kinane, a senior lecturer in popular literature and culture at the University of Roehampton in London, compared the remark about Blanc to J.K. Rowling's retrospective announcement that Albus Dumbledore was gay. She made the comment in 2007, after the publication of her final Harry Potter novel.

"The retcon-ing of fictional characters' sexualities is part of the often cynical efforts of rainbow capitalism, the practice whereby large brands/franchises attempt to queer-bait fans in the hopes that the cultural product they are trying to sell will have greater reach or appeal," Kinane told Newsweek.

He added: "What matters is context, not whether Daniel Craig's character Benoit Blanc is gay. It matters how the film chooses to frame the character's sexuality, or whether it chooses to do so at all in a way that is appropriate to the narrative.

"Otherwise, a character's sexuality is incidental, completely irrelevant to the text, and a sure-fire sign of queer-baiting."

Kinane is also editor of the International Journal of James Bond Studies. As an expert on the 007 movies, he does not think it is "progressive" for the spy franchise that Craig followed his final outing as James Bond in No Time to Die by playing an LGBTQ+ character.

"Queerness is not a novelty, not a marketing tool; it is a real, material, political, embodied existence for many of us. When media discourse continuously presents the introduction of queer themes and ideas as novel and exciting, it distorts the reality of the fact that these experiences are germane to many, many people," he said.

Some social media users agreed, suggesting that the label had merely been given to Blanc outside the movie and questioning whether it would be reflected in the new film. Johnson and Craig have also signed up for a third Knives Out, scheduled for 2024.

Another Bond expert, Tom Pickup from the Really, 007! podcast, pointed out that previous 007s had played LGBTQ+ characters too—Roger Moore in Boat Trip and Timothy Dalton in The Lion In Winter.

Pickup told Newsweek: "Benoit Blanc's sexuality is secondary to his skills as a detective, but it's real progress that a lead character in a major movie can be anything other than straight."

He added: "[Producer] Barbara Broccoli has said that Bond will remain a male character, but there's much more possibility that the next 007 will be played by a gay actor such as Luke Evans.

"Bond's sexuality has also been explored before, most famously in Skyfall where he implies he has had sexual encounters with men in a brilliant scene with Javier Bardem's Silva."

Pickup added: "Daniel Craig's Bond has always been a bit of an outlier, mainly by showing his emotions and wearing his heart on his sleeve more than any of the other incarnations."

Kinane also said Craig's Bond had "always been unconventional." He pointed out that the actor's role as an executive producer on Spectre and No Time to Die may have affected the way Bond was portrayed. "No doubt Craig's own political leanings have influenced the ways in which the Bond character was shaped during his tenure," he said.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will launch on Netflix on December 23.