Personality
In addition to being a parody of James Bond and clearly being heavily influenced by Peter Sellers, Austin Powers represents an archetype of 1960s Swinging London, with his constant advocacy for free love—defending this attitude in an argument with Doctor Evil by arguing that they were rebelling against authority figures like Doctor Evil and the movement would have used less drugs if they had been aware of the long-term consequences—his use of obscure impressions and his clothing style (including crushed velvet suits and Beatle boots). With his flamboyant ways and never-changing dress-sense, he is deliberately made to stick out from his surroundings; though, he invariably escapes detection when disguised, particularly when he talks about things that would have had no place in the 1990s. Despite this, he displays an intense devotion to his work; after being thawed out from cryogenic freezing and informed that Dr. Evil is on the loose, he immediately asks "When do I begin?"
In the many instances he takes off his clothes, he is revealed to have a very hairy chest, with the hair forming a phallic shape. Much of his attitude toward relationships could be a parody of Bond's lack of reflection with regard to the loss of a woman. For example, after partner Vanessa Kensington is revealed to be a fembot and explodes on their honeymoon, Austin mourns at first, then joyously exclaims, "Wait a tick. . . that means I'm single again! Oh, behave!" and proceeds to dance through the hotel in the nude. Some of his abilities include a kind of hypnosis he learned from an Indian Guru, "a chaste man, who died from a disease that had all the hallmarks of syphilis".
Austin does display a streak of morality dating from this period; for example, he will not make love to a girl (such as Vanessa Kensington after a night in Las Vegas) when she "is drunk; it's not right". This morality is not completely without irony, since Austin does not consider other mind-altering drugs to fall under this limitation.
From the original film, he lists only two things which scare him: one is nuclear war, the other are "carnies" or "circus folk". His signature drink is Captain Morgan's mixed with Tab (as opposed to James Bond's martini). He is the author of Swedish-Made Penis Enlarger Pumps and Me: This Sort of Thing is My Bag, Baby! He mentions in "The Spy Who Shagged Me" that In Like Flint is his favourite movie.
One of the things Austin is best known for is his "mojo." His mojo is the physical representation of his sex drive. It is what gives Austin Powers his legendary sexual prowess and energy; without it, he would seemingly be rendered impotent (such as when he loses his erection while having sexual intercourse with Ivana Humpalot after Fat Bastard steals it), but finds that he IS this mojo and needs no physical representation (hence why his past self is able to have sex with Felicity during the credits). (This scene from the sequel mocks emotional depth in movies)
Read more about this topic: Austin Powers (character)
Famous quotes containing the word personality:
“What we ought to see in the agonies of puberty is the result of the conditioning that maims the female personality in creating the feminine.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“The child begins life as a pleasure-seeking animal; his infantile personality is organized around his own appetites and his own body. In the course of his rearing the goal of exclusive pleasure seeking must be modified drastically, the fundamental urges must be subject to the dictates of conscience and society, urges must be capable of postponement and in some instances of renunciation completely.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“The great pines stand at a considerable distance from each other. Each tree grows alone, murmurs alone, thinks alone. They do not intrude upon each other. The Navajos are not much in the habit of giving or of asking help. Their language is not a communicative one, and they never attempt an interchange of personality in speech. Over their forests there is the same inexorable reserve. Each tree has its exalted power to bear.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)