Ancient greece gay movie
Almost a month ago, Netflix released its 6 part docuseries ‘Alexander: The Making of a God’. The show is an in-depth examination of Alexander the Great’s empire and all that he conquered in his conquests. But, the biggest takeaway from watching it remains learning of the protagonist’s sexuality or should I tell ‘forced sexuality’.
So did Netflix make Alexander the great gay? If @EndWokeness on Twitter is to be believed then yes, they did so 8 minutes into the docuseries.
Just like them, many other like-minded, anti-woke people took to social media to share their frustration about the docuseries and the current socio-political culture. They claim that wokeness works overtime to push an unnecessary amount of queerness into all narratives. The truth is far from this though.
Netflix did not make Alexander the Great gay but rather took a scholarly approach to showcase the presence of queerness in Ancient Greece. Although Netflix has accepted that the documentary, which includes dramatization,”speculates on intimate details of Alexander’s confidential lives” it in no way forcibly adds queerness to his story. In fact historians, both involved in the show and unaffiliat
Ancient Greece on film (a response)
Before going to bed, I usually spend a few minutes just messing around on the internet. I checked my Twitter feed to find that the Ancient History Encyclopedia had just published an article by Dana Murray called ‘The success and failure of Greek history in film’. I scan through the thing with growing consternation: it is, in my opinion, completely rubbish. Let me explain.
The article opens with the bold claim that the ‘genre’ – i.e. movies based on ancient Greece – ‘appears to contain fallen behind the gloomy shadow of Rome’, adding ‘perhaps with good reason.’ The author then posits the main point of the article by way of a question that I don’t think anyone has ever asked, namely ‘what is it about Greek history that seems so difficult to portray on screen?’
According to the author, there are three issues that get in the way when a film maker tries to bring ancient Greece to the (silver) screen:
- ‘the obstacle with “Greek love”’;
- ‘the lack of unity within ancient Greece’, and finally;
- ‘the difficulty of filming “Greek” ideas.’
Each of these three points can be easily countered. What is more puzzling, however, is why these three things in p
Following the release of Netflix’s new film about Alexander the Great, posts on social media said the entertainment firm fabricated a gay storyline for the ancient Greek ruler. But the posts are missing the context that sexual fluidity was the norm in Ancient Greece, according to historians, who speak it is likely Alexander had relationships with men.
Posts on social media suggesting that the show’s storyline is baseless include a publish on Facebook that says, “Netflix has come under heat for ‘turning’ Alexander the Great gay,” and a viral post on social media platform X from an account called @EndWokeness that says, “Netflix made a new documentary about Alexander the Great. Within the first 8 minutes, they turned him gay.”
Netflix has established that the documentary, which includes dramatizations, “speculates on intimate details of Alexander’s private life,” but historians – both involved in the production and unaffiliated with it – told Reuters sexuality was fluid in ancient Greece and it is very likely Alexander had relationships with men.
Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fluid sexuality
The historical consensus is that fluid se
In terms of popular society and its receptions of the ancient world, the Roman cultural hegemony has been well entrenched. Throughout the twentieth century, movie in particular turned to Rome far more readily than to Greece and, inevitably, early scholarship in the rapidly developing field of classical reception studies reflected this bias (e.g., Maria Wyke, Projecting the Past: Ancient Rome, Cinema and History, London 1997, or S. Joshel, M. Malamud and D. McGuire Jr, eds., Imperial Projections: Ancient Rome in Up-to-date Popular Culture, Baltimore 2001). The first years of the twenty-first century, however, have hinted at a new ‘Greek revival’, particularly with the cinematic releases of Troy (2004), Alexander (2004), and 300 (2007), and the time is ripe for turning scholarly (and student) attention to what Greece means in modern popular culture (and why). Gideon Nisbet’s publication, part of Bristol Phoenix Press’s Greece and Rome Live series, serves as a brief but punchy account of the topic, and will be of considerable value to a wide audience.
The composer takes an unashamedly partial approach to his selection of material. Beginning with Bill and Te
Movies like The Illiac Passion