Close Read has been writing and recommending for a year now, and what is the one month we skipped? The one month that represents two of our writers (not a small number–that’s 66.66666etc of staff)? We were so focused on finding something different to write about for Pride that we never wrote, well, anything. (What am I gonna do, extol the genius that is The Handmaiden for the five-thousandth time?) And it’s not Pride month anymore . . . so here are some Not-Pride Recommendations. These are homoerotic for sure, but actually gay? Think again! Feast on the subtext.
Physical: 100 . . . Or Maybe All of Gym Culture
Physical: 100 is a South Korean reality TV show that purports wanting to find the “perfect body” out of a range of athletes, gym rats, and any other person you can label exercise-obsessed. Each of the 100 players gets a ceramic bust made of their torso, and right from the first episode, the intense body praise begins. Players—especially the male players—exclaim over each other’s body, stopping before busts and reveling over how strong or “perfect” these torsos are. All of this reveals the underlying homoeroticism in gym culture, the exposure of bodies of the same sex and an appreciation for them in an “approved” environment. It’s not gay if it’s your gym bro. Physical: 100 takes it a step further in their first elimination challenge, a one-on-one wrestling match. We’re talking holding people down, sitting on pelvises, hands grasping all over muscles and body parts. If you think these descriptions are exaggerating, just watch the episodes. Sometimes they just lock another player in their arms in an attempt, I guess, to grapple them; but they just end up embracing each other, lying down, and breathing hard. Right.
All Hypermasculine Action Movies in Some Way
Why are you, as a man, chasing another man across the world and to the ends of the earth? There is a homoeroticism in these hypermasculine action movies: men admiring each other’s strength and will, not to mention the way the camera tends to linger on ripped muscles lathered in sweat and oil. Who exactly is this supposed to be for? Iceman tells Maverick, after a long emotional fight brim of loss and triumph, smiling from ear to ear, “You can be my wingman anytime,” and the music swells as they embrace. You can’t help but feel the intimacy of two men who have always been at odds, finally understanding and loving one another. When Castor Troy and Sean Archer ENTER each other’s physical bodies and identities, they become utterly and self-destructively obsessed with one another. These cat and mouse games, one-ups, and playful banter (flirtations if you will), all culminate into really obscenely straight men eye-fucking each other for 2 hours.
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
There are many reasons why one might think Why did Dickens write this? while reading Bleak House. One such reason is the relationship between Esther, one of the main narrators in the book, and her close friend Ada. Upon first meeting Esther notes how beautiful Ada is, and Ada forgoes taking her hand, “seemed to change her mind in a moment and kissed me.” Why, Mr. Dickens? From this moment on, Esther will repeatedly refer to Ada as “my love,” “my dear,” and “my darling.” Why, Mr. Charles Dickens? Why, when Ada gets married, is it written that Esther “had given my darling to him,” and it “seemed to rive my heart to turn from” Ada? Why, Mr. Charles John Huffam Dickens? Why does the book end with Ada’s husband dying, and Ada’s son saying “he has two mamas, and [Esther is] one”? There’s a lot of crazier shit that happens in this novel, but if I could resurrect Dickens and talk to him about this book, these would be my number one questions.
Death Note, Ep. 25
Listen, I realize I’m about 20 years late to the party, but what the hell was that L washes Light’s feet scene? It felt like a strange culmination of something. Forget the biblical implications for a second, and walk with me. This scene comes after a period of time of L and Light being handcuffed to another for several episodes; the physical link represents both their intellectual connection and their interlock within the wider Kira case. In episode 25, L appears defeated, having vague reflections about life and lies, standing out in the rain. Light is finally going to kill him. Despite the circumstances, L offers to dry off Light’s feet to “atone for sins.” Light looks at L compassionately, wiping water from L’s dripping forehead. These two are in diametric opposition, and yet this moment reveals the complexity of their relationship: they have come to love each other, and yet one of them must die. The game is ending. After the scene played out, I turned to my significant other and asked plainly, “Did they just have sex?”
K-POP Music Videos
K-pop is divided by gender lines (this could be its own article, but we won’t get into it now), with heavy emphasis on all-boy groups or all-girl groups. As is the case with any boy band or girl group, the idols of these K-pop groups are advertising themselves just as much as the music: their personalities, their bodies, their love for their fans. A strange, gendered consequence of this is that fans have been “sold” a romantic notion of their favorite idols for so long that K-pop idols cannot show a person of the opposite gender in their music videos because of the hate they’ll get. The solution? K-pop music videos show only the group, cutting between each member as they sing; thus they sing their romantic or suggestive songs to themselves. Any person familiar with film editing techniques can draw the simple conclusion that the subtext is these idols are in love with each other. (The suggestive group dancing certainly doesn’t help.) This is not about the tired trope thrown at boy bands, equating make-up or dancing with being gay. It’s about the consequences of such harsh enforcement of gender and sexuality. K-pop has become a cultural force in which, hilariously enough, heterosexuality is sold to its audience so heavily that it turns on itself and becomes gay all over again.
