Netflix’s The Old Guard: A revolutnary, ancient gay romance - Vox

Contents:

• FALLY, A MAJOR HOLLYWOOD ANCHISE MOVIE WH A GAY ROMANCE
• THE PROFOUND GAY LOVE STORI OF THE OLD GUARD AND SONG OF ACHILL
• THE OLD GUARD BURI THE ‘BURY YOUR GAYS’ TROPE WH QUEER MANDOS
• IN CELEBRATN OF NICKY AND JOE, THE OLD GUARD’S GAY SUPERHERO
• ‘THE OLD GUARD’ GIVG THE GAYS (ALMOST) EVERYTHG WE WANT
• THE OLD GUARD IS VERY GAY

FALLY, A MAJOR HOLLYWOOD ANCHISE MOVIE WH A GAY ROMANCE

Each allegedly featured some form of queerns yet each example was so pdish and so unrplayed that you’d be fiven for not realisg was even overwhelmg straightns of mastream cema has gone mostly unchallenged for years, studs unwillg to allow gay characters to the multiplex, leavg them to flourish the arthoe stead. The aforementned attempts to perm non-straight characters to anchise fare were viewed by some as an ditn of a more acceptg dtry, one that was also fally allowg women and people of lour to save the world alongsi whe straight om Josh Gad fleetgly dancg wh another man a Disney movie (obnoxly herald prs at the time as an “exclively gay moment”), to John Cho seen wh what we n sort of gus is his male partner a Star Trek sequel (a nfirmg kiss was cut, obvly), to beg told after the fact that Tsa Thompson, Kate McKnon, Donald Glover, Ryan Reynolds and Kristen Stewart were playg queer characters (spe no on-screen proof), ’s all been embarrassgly and furiatgly image my surprise, havg gmbled about this tirome tactic on many ocsns, when an hour to Netflix’s glossy new Charlize Theron-led summer adventure The Old Guard, two central male characters kiss. Not as a bet, not as a joke, not bee they’re posssed by some evil gay mons and not a quick peck eher but after one of them livers a heart-swellg speech about love, they engage a passnate movie kiss, the kd of movie kiss that’s ually rerved for straight 2020, really shouldn’t be such a big al, but watchg a form of unfettered queer love exist wh the nf of a fantastil ic book adaptatn, aimed at a wi dience, felt major to me.

THE PROFOUND GAY LOVE STORI OF THE OLD GUARD AND SONG OF ACHILL

I’ve long sired to see gay characters genr other than “gay movie” and seeg two men kill the bad guys while fdg time to spoon and flirt provid a thrill I’d not yet experienced my many years of blockbter-watchg. While the visibily of queerns big movi means we have no way of provg that would repel dienc as executiv seem to thk will, ternatnal ncerns rema paramount and wh major terrori such as Cha removg gay scen om Bohemian Rhapsody and Malaysia dog the same to Rocketman, studs are wary.

A iend of me once said that talkg about anythg gay ont of his fay would forever be seen as R-rated, that even the most nocuoly romantic e of a male pronoun would lead to dartg ey and a sperate subject change, somethg I thk many of n intify wh.

Whether we like or not, mastream entertament still plays a huge role shapg how we see mory groups, and if LGBT characters are left wh gay cema, and if gay cema is left the arthoe, that’s how people will still see . Joe and Nicky aren’t the ma protagonists director Ga Prce-Bythewood’s film, but sce the film’s release on July 10, they’re the characters who have garnered a lot of attentn bee of how rare is that gay men are featured actn movi. That The Old Guard’s Joe and Nicky are unapologetic about their love allows queer people, and gay men particular, the opportuny to see that throughout all of history, we’ve been there all along — and such a mastream, typilly heteronormative medium, no ls.

THE OLD GUARD BURI THE ‘BURY YOUR GAYS’ TROPE WH QUEER MANDOS

At s heart is a simple msage: that straight people might not ever fully unrstand what ’s like to be gay and to fd love. Beyond that not-great movie, Achill and Patrocl’s homosexualy has been bated over and over, ually g down to dissectg ancient Greek culture and the semantics of “gay”. “I did not liberately set out to tell a liberately ‘gay’ love story; rather, I was eply moved by the love between the two characters—whose rpect and affectn for each other, spe the horrors around them, mol the kd of relatnship we all n aspire to.

IN CELEBRATN OF NICKY AND JOE, THE OLD GUARD’S GAY SUPERHERO

Though Miller says she didn’t liberately set out to create a gay love story, ’s a fantasy that unravels and jtifi the feelgs and vulnerabily of the LGBTQ experience, and of gay men particular. How did Andromache the Scythian (Theron) and the rt of her Old Guard get que so old, and que so gay? The Old Guard uld have buried s gays — but don’t.

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Red, Whe and Royal Blue’ on Amazon Prime Vio, a Charmgly Star-Crossed Gay Rom-Com.

Then, the day before Avengers: Endgame me out, -director Joe Rso revealed the film would feature the Marvel Cematic Universe’s first-ever openly gay character, played by himself. After all of fanfare and build-up, the first-ever gay character the MCU was not a superhero.

‘THE OLD GUARD’ GIVG THE GAYS (ALMOST) EVERYTHG WE WANT

That will forever be the first-ever openly gay character the MCU.

THE OLD GUARD IS VERY GAY

It: Chapter Two ma clear that Bill Har’s character was gay, but certaly didn’t clu a kiss. Rowlg clared Alb Dumbledore was gay after she wrapped her seven-book seri, but the Fantastic Beasts prequel films, which show the wizard as a young man, opted not to make him “explicly” gay. Nicky and Joe are not momentary flash, nor do they nform to the tradn of "buryg your gays".

Related: Netflix's The Old Guard stars praise "powerful" gay relatnshipEven upon their pture, they are not shunted to the si until their straight unterparts rcue them, but they stead break a few nos while they wa. "Andy and Quynh are a power uple and no one n tell me otherwise, " wr one er, while another ndidly ptns a vio clip of the pair, sayg: "The Old Guard says give the gays immortaly. Whether Andy and Quyhn bee the next gay power uple the seri or not, The Old Guard has broken boundari wh jt one movie.