Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “ A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, with theater-goers embarking on The Odyssey, let’s revisit another Greek epic that happened to be responsible for many a gay awakening: 2004’s Troy.
This weekend, Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated The Odyssey sweeps into theaters across the world. His follow-up to his Oscar-winning biopic Oppenheimer, the film features an appropriately epic ensemble including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathway, Zendaya, Charlize Theron & Lupita N’yongo.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Based on the classic poem by Homer, the film follows Greek king Odysseus’s years-long journey to return home to his wife, encountering trials & tribulations that test his resilience along the way. And because Greek mythology is canonically one of the queerest fields of academic study—focused on one of the gayest civilizations to have ever existed—it feels like our community’s been particularly excited.
The Odyssey marks a return to the sword-and-sandal blockbuster, which hasn’t been en vogue for a few decades now. So, this week, we’ll take a look at a movie from the genre’s last peak, one that also adapts a great work of Greek mythology and oral narrative, and that was the root cause of many gay sexual awakenings thanks to its abundance of sweaty torsos, chiseled muscles, and homoerotic friendships.
The Set-Up
The 2004 movieTroy is based on The Iliad, Homer’s other great epic poem, and follows the story of the great Trojan war and the many warriors, political thinkers, and objects of desire that propelled it. It stars Brad Pitt (at the height of his movie stardom) as the great Achilles, a seemingly invincible warrior that swears loyalty to no one but himself.
Eric Bana plays Hector, the prince of Troy and commander of the Greek army, while Orlando Bloom is his younger brother Paris, who kickstarts the war by stealing away Helen (Diane Kruger), the princess of Sparta, and marrying her in secret.
The all-star cast (which seems to be a tradition in these types of movies) is rounded out by Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, Rose Byrne as Briseis, Peter O’Toole as Priam, and Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus. It was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, a filmmaker known for his propensity with great epics, disaster movies, and blockbuster spectacles, all of which is on display here.
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They Don’t Make’Em Like This Anymore…
Although this is a sentiment that has (rightfully) become cliché in the modern era of franchise superhero films and heavy CGI that is at times indistinguishable from animation, Troy feels like the kind of blockbuster they just don’t make anymore. It’s a sweeping action-adventure that, yes, hits all the expected narrative tropes and beats and may favor spectacle over emotional depth or nuance (it’s based on one of the oldest archetypical stories ever told, after all) while still feeling tactile, exciting and alive.
There is such a clear and refreshing display of practical filmmaking and scale at every turn, not just in the battle sequences. The streets of Troy were actually built. Thousands of extras were actually employed to stand in their individually designed Greek warrior costumes. And it bears a distinct visual look and style; the bright blue of the sky contrasts with the bright red of the blood. The night scenes are thoughtfully illuminated. Everything just feels grand.
Troy also evokes a bygone era of movie stars. These aren’t just actors playing a role, they are superstars that are meant to be larger than life. The film frames its cast as unattainable gods (thematically relevant to the story!) with perfect beauty that thrives on a giant movie screen. The male leads in particular are showcased with a reverence that feels sorely lacking in today’s celebrity: Pitt, Bloom, and Bana (just to name the most striking, but certainly not the only ones) have rarely looked better on celluloid.
Bodies Cut From Marble
Because if Troy knows how to do one thing, it’s how to frame male beauty. There are probably dozens (if not hundreds) of gay men whose first inklings of queerness came from seeing Bloom disrobing in the chambers of the palace, or Pitt putting on armor with his golden muscles and armpits on full display—or stealing a passionate kiss from Rose Byrne. The film worships the physical beauty of its leading men, keeping up with Greek tradition remarkably well.
Breaking with this tradition, however, it sadly doesn’t make any of this homoeroticism textual. Although no relationships between the men are explicitly romantic or sexual in The Iliad, historians and academics have widely agreed that those kinds of relations did exist, as it was common practice in Greek culture for soldiers to take on male lovers.
The bond between Achilles and Patroclus (which has attained an even greater level of popularity thanks to Madeline Miller’s best-selling novel Song Of Achilles) is particularly watered down here, turning them from intimate companions to cousins. The death of Patroclus is the motivating factor for Achilles’ narrative arc, and while the movie displays their affection, it also undermines the power of it.
End Of An Empire
Though not necessarily well-received at the time of release, Troy made an astounding half a billion dollars at the box office, and it marked the high point in the careers of many of its stars.
Much like the poem it’s based on, it serves best as a relic of a different time that has passed us by: A time where blockbuster entertainment still had a spine and an artistic voice behind it. A time where movie stars were allowed to become superhuman. And a time where no one had better bedroom eyes than a young, twinky Orlando Bloom. Let’s see if Tom Holland can live up to that legacy.
Troy is currently streaming for free (with ads) on YouTube, and is available for digital rental or purchase via Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.
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