Marwan Kenzari on The Old Guard’s Big Gay Romantic Speech

Contents:

• 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
• FALLY, A MAJOR HOLLYWOOD ANCHISE MOVIE WH A GAY ROMANCE
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• ‘THE OLD GUARD’ GIVG THE GAYS (ALMOST) EVERYTHG WE WANT

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.

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. 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.

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

It’s pretty unprecented to see such an emotnally ep gay love story the middle of a ic-book movie. Marwan Kenzari on The Old Guard’s Big Gay Romantic Speech.

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. 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.

FALLY, A MAJOR HOLLYWOOD ANCHISE MOVIE WH A GAY ROMANCE

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. 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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

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 . Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay.

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual.

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

Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league. Stranger still is the fact that the Old Guard is ually talked about by people who weren’t part of as though were some kd of monolhic, behemoth… homogeneo and static, neher of which was the se… is the se, bee y, the Old Guard is still around and still functng, although the passage of time pretty much seems to guarantee that is slowly beg transformed to myth and legend as ever fewer and fewer of are around to offer real scriptns of .

But by 1983 was clearly cle as disease began to rear s ugly head, first wh reports of rampant ttal diseas (mostly paras and somethg that was lled “Gay Bowel Syndrome”), and then wh early reports of the “gay ncer, ” which gave way to GRID (Gay-Related Immune Disorr), and fally to AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).