Vanessa Kensington

Austin Powers character
name = Vanessa Kensington


caption = Elizabeth Hurley as Vanessa Kensington
first =
last =
nickname = Miss Kensington
gender = Female
country = UK
role = British agent
father =
mother = Mrs. Kensington
spouse = Austin Powers
children =
episode = 2
portrayer = Elizabeth Hurley

Vanessa Kensington is a character in ' and, briefly, '. She was played by actress and model, Elizabeth Hurley.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Vanessa Kensington was the daughter of Mrs. Kensington, Austin's partner from the 1960s. Born on 10 June 1970, she was among the secret agents that welcomed the thawed Austin Powers to the 1990s. [cite journal
last = Halberstam
first = Judith
title = OH BEHAVE!: Austin Powers and the Drag Kings
journal = GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies
pages = 425–452
publisher = Duke University Press
date = 2001 ] She was initially disgusted by Austin's politically incorrect, womanising attitude, but soon warms to his good nature and falls in love with him. At the end of the film, she and Austin marry and are shown in their honeymoon suite.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

In the second Austin Powers film, Vanessa is quickly revealed as a fembot after inexplicably malfunctioning and self-destructing. Austin briefly grieves, but quickly gets over it, enjoying his freedom and taking up with Felicity Shagwell.

Kensington's self-destruction at the beginning and Austin's apparently genuine but very, very short grieving period are satires of how the women in James Bond movies are inexplicably not in the sequels to the previous films and how they are never mentioned again. When Austin reveals to Basil Exposition that Vanessa was really a fembot, Basil replies, "Yes, we knew all along, sadly," and the two quickly drop the subject as if nothing had happened. Numerous discrepancies, such as the reason Austin was partnered with Vanessa if she was known to be a Fembot, or why she did not betray him earlier, are never explained. There are also several inconsistencies to this storyline, such as the fact that Frau Farbissina did not evidently create the fembots until some time after Austin was partnered with Vanessa.

Characterisation

Vanessa is most likely based on Ian Fleming's Vesper Lynd. She is not only the first romantic interest for the main character, but, just as Bond showed interest in marrying Vesper, Austin "did" marry Vanessa (which also likens her to Tracy Bond). Vanessa shares much in common with both of these characters. Vesper Lynd was Bond's love interest, who later turns out to be a double agent, and commits suicide. Vanessa marries Austin, but on their honeymoon is revealed to be a Fembot, being described as "a kamikaze bride" by Doctor Evil. Vanessa promptly explodes. Just as Bond feels no remorse over Vesper's death, Austin is delighted by the fact that he is now single. Fans have also pointed out that Vanessa and Vesper sound similar, but it is not revealed whether this is is intentional or not. Others believe the "real" Vanessa was replaced by the fembot sometime between the events of the first movie and the marriage/honeymoon.

References

External links

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