Close Read <\/em>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\u2013that\u2019s 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<\/em> for the five-thousandth time?) And it\u2019s 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical: 100<\/em> . . . Or Maybe All of Gym Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical: 100<\/em> is a South Korean reality TV show that purports wanting to find the \u201cperfect body\u201d 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\u2014especially the male players\u2014exclaim over each other\u2019s body, stopping before busts and reveling over how strong or \u201cperfect\u201d 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 \u201capproved\u201d environment. It\u2019s not gay if it\u2019s your gym bro. Physical: 100 <\/em>takes it a step further in their first elimination challenge, a one-on-one wrestling match. We\u2019re 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Hypermasculine Action Movies in Some Way<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n