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

Contents:

• WAS ACHILL GAY? WHAT WE KNOW FROM CLASSIL LERATURE
• THE PROFOUND GAY LOVE STORI OF THE OLD GUARD AND SONG OF ACHILL
• THIS ANCIENT GAY LOVE STORY WAS ONCE AS POPULAR AS OUR ROMEO AND JULIET
• REIMAGG THE TALE OF ACHILL AS A GREAT GAY LOVE STORY
• ‘THE SONG OF ACHILL,’ ‘THE NEW NORMAL,’ AND THE FUTURE OF GAY POP CULTURE
• THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS

WAS ACHILL GAY? WHAT WE KNOW FROM CLASSIL LERATURE

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

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. 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.

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

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.

THIS ANCIENT GAY LOVE STORY WAS ONCE AS POPULAR AS OUR ROMEO AND JULIET

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.

REIMAGG THE TALE OF ACHILL AS A GREAT GAY LOVE STORY

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. I’m talkg about the love affair between Patrocl and Achill, whose iendship was tablished Homer’s epic poem the “Iliad” but was immortalized as a homoerotic relatnship by the ancient playwright, Achyl.

” (Can’t get much gayer than that).

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

In addn to Achyl’ sential fan fictn about Achill and Patrocl, their homosexual relatnship was also referenced by an Athenian polician, Ach, 345 CE. However, attempts have still been ma to challenge or discred the homosexual terpretatn. Cred: Once aga the book “Homosexualy and Civilizatn” by Louis Crompton has been stmental wrg this post and I highly remend checkg out.

THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS

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.

I hope too that might help to bat the homophobia that I see too often. 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.