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

Contents:

• THE PROFOUND GAY LOVE STORI OF THE OLD GUARD AND SONG OF ACHILL
• WAS ACHILL GAY? WHAT WE KNOW FROM CLASSIL LERATURE
• ‘THE SONG OF ACHILL,’ ‘THE NEW NORMAL,’ AND THE FUTURE OF GAY POP CULTURE
• WAS ACHILL GAY? TWTER ERS BATE AFTER RURFACED 2011 BOOK!

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

Much of the ntemporary LGBTQ+ lerature we are exposed to today mak beg gay the only thg the book is about. Gay people didn’t jt happen to show up the past 100 years.

It serv as a great example of LGBTQ+ reprentatn that approach and treats gay romance the same way straight romance would be wrten about. 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. 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”.

WAS ACHILL GAY? WHAT WE KNOW FROM CLASSIL LERATURE

“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. 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. One of the most asked qutns of all time is: was Achill gay?

‘THE SONG OF ACHILL,’ ‘THE NEW NORMAL,’ AND THE FUTURE OF GAY POP CULTURE

One of the ma arguments that suggt he might have been gay is the exprsn of love between Achill and his clost iend Patrocl, who he had known sce childhood. Some thk he was bisexual, sce there is evince of his romantic attachments to both men and women, while others see his ep attachment to Patrocl as a nfirmatn that he was gay. Surely gay upl takg on stereotypil mascule and feme rol have been over-ed throughout lerature?

Is the trope of Achill’ brazen personaly upled wh Patrocl’ soft exterr a false, ovesed fetishizatn of a gay relatnship?

Whilst Miller has received praise for her cln of an openly gay relatnship, her approach to their sexual enunters has been cricised. As a member of the muny myself, I wele healthy and accurate reprentatn, and I acknowledge that my ment on gay male relatnships is limed due to my genr, but om what I’ve seen personally on social media, the majory of fans who are obssed wh gay male relatnships are straight women. And therefore, I ask: why are straight women so obssed wh gay relatnships?

WAS ACHILL GAY? TWTER ERS BATE AFTER RURFACED 2011 BOOK!

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Neher Achyl, nor Plato, nor Xenophon uld have imaged Achill and Patrocl as gay.

Patrocl’ self-doubts show that his (gay) sexualy is trapped a morn tensn between ncealment and Wolfgang Petersen, Pels and Thetis would not have been disturbed by the erotic turn of their son’s iendship. ” Siarly the Hebrew Bible David breaks to a lament upon learng of Jonathan’s ath wh whom he had sworn a venant of iendship: “I am distrsed for thee my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonrful, passg the love of women” (2 Samuel 1:26) make Achill and Patrocl gay is not historilly false the way would be if they were given Facebook acunts or were discsg multiculturalism over ppucco.