# What exactly is "homoerotic" about "Passion of the Christ"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287 "2006-09-11T14:32:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/61 "2006-09-13T03:46:08Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] . . . Most of the above is done to him by rugged, burly men wearing leather pants. . . . [/QUOTE] Leather _mini skirts_. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/62 "2006-09-13T04:41:55Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] šŸ˜•šŸ˜•šŸ˜• [/QUOTE] I donā€™t know why the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian has served as a thinly veiled vehicle to express a manā€™s lust for his fellow man for the past few centuries, but it has. The fact that the saint has been drawn as a sexual ideal about to achieve orgasmic fulfillment, is obvious to me. I donā€™t find it erotic, but I can see it was clearly intended to be. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/63 "2006-09-13T04:42:47Z")
[QUOTE=kittenblue] Another thread had a link to a YouTube movie about _Top Gun_ where the scene of the guys playing volleyball was labelled homoerotic. [/QUOTE] You donā€™t mean [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HTF_A_E0O4) do you (crap, are Brokeback jokes totally over)? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/64 "2006-09-13T04:44:59Z")
[QUOTE=Cat Fight] (crap, are Brokeback jokes totally over)? [/QUOTE] No. One of the gay cowboys will be playing the Joker in the next Batman film. Now thereā€™s a relationship with some homoerotic subtext (Hell, in Dark Knight Returns itā€™s practically text). ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/65 "2006-09-13T06:42:21Z")
[QUOTE=DocCathode] No. One of the gay cowboys will be playing the Joker in the next Batman film. Now thereā€™s a relationship with some homoerotic subtext (Hell, in Dark Knight Returns itā€™s practically text). [/QUOTE] Word! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/66 "2006-09-13T08:39:01Z")
[QUOTE=kittenblue] Another thread had a link to a YouTube movie about _Top Gun_ where the scene of the guys playing volleyball was labelled homoerotic. So I would guess that perhaps for the reviewer, any scene where more there are two or more guys shirtless and a bit sweaty and there are few women around would be considered homoerotic, regardless of what those men are actually doing. But then Iā€™m a straight female, so what do I know? [/QUOTE] The volleyball scene? Not so much. But I just watched a scene from that movie that featured Tom Cruise, clad only in BVDs, bent over a sink in front of Tom Skerrit. Now thatā€™s some fine homoeroticism, right there! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/67 "2006-09-14T17:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Read _Barabbas_, by Nobel-Prize-winner PƤr Lagerkvist. Itā€™s the story of the one person for whom Jesusā€™s sacrifice was \*literally \*trueā€“the only person in whose place Jesus literally diedā€“and the journey Barabbas takes, afterwards, of coming to grips with the larger, metaphorical power of that fact. In other words, itā€™s a book exactly about the question you pose. Plus itā€™s short. [/QUOTE] Sounds like it would make a much better and more inspirational movie than _The Passion_ (where Barabbas appears but briefly as an insolent tongue-wagging creep). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/68 "2006-09-14T17:51:05Z")
[QUOTE=DocCathode] No. One of the gay cowboys will be playing the Joker in the next Batman film. Now thereā€™s a relationship with some homoerotic subtext (Hell, in Dark Knight Returns itā€™s practically text). [/QUOTE] The Joker?! Gay?! **NEVER!!** šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/69 "2006-09-14T17:52:08Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Sounds like it would make a much better and more inspirational movie than _The Passion_ (where Barabbas appears but briefly as an insolent tongue-wagging creep). [/QUOTE] Also, the film calls him a murderer, but IIRC the Gospels say he was a thief. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/70 "2006-09-14T18:11:22Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Sounds like it would make a much better and more inspirational movie than _The Passion_ (where Barabbas appears but briefly as an insolent tongue-wagging creep). [/QUOTE] Richard Fleischer, director of \*Soylent Green \* and _Red Sonja_, made a not-great film of it in 1962. Anthony Quinn is pretty good in the title role, but the film entirely lacks the power of the novel. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/71 "2006-09-14T21:28:49Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Also, the film calls him a murderer, but IIRC the Gospels say he was a thief. [/QUOTE] Well, no, depending on the Gospels, they say he was ā€œa banditā€ or ā€œin an riotā€ or ā€œkilled someone in a riotā€. You might be thinking of the two thieves who are crucified next to Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/72 "2006-09-14T23:02:30Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Well, no, depending on the Gospels, they say he was ā€œa banditā€ or ā€œin an riotā€ or ā€œkilled someone in a riotā€. You might be thinking of the two thieves who are crucified next to Jesus. [/QUOTE] Dismas was the apocryphally named ā€œGood Thiefā€ who, in the Gospel of Luke {where he is not named}, reproved Gestas, the other thief {also apocryphally named}, for taunting Christ for being unable to save them: Dismas pointed out that they were being justly punished whereas Christ was innocent, and asked Christ to remember him. He was thus assured of his place in heaven, and was later promoted to being the patron saint of criminals. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/73 "2006-09-15T00:30:54Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] Dismas was the apocryphally named ā€œGood Thiefā€ who, in the Gospel of Luke {where he is not named}, reproved Gestas, the other thief {also apocryphally named}, for taunting Christ for being unable to save them: Dismas pointed out that they were being justly punished whereas Christ was innocent, and asked Christ to remember him. He was thus assured of his place in heaven, and was later promoted to being the patron saint of criminals. [/QUOTE] ā€“and the subject of a cheesy gangster-romance called _The Hoodlum Saint_, with William Powell, Angela Lansbury, and Esther Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/74 "2006-09-15T02:06:56Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Leather _mini skirts_. [/QUOTE] ā€œJosephus, do you like satyr plays aboutā€¦ gladiators?ā€ Sadly, **Passion of the Christā€™s** long running time necessitated the editing of certain scenes: INT.-- THE LAST SUPPER. JESUS STRIPS DOWN TO A LOINCLOTH AND KNEELS BEFORE PETER. ``` PETER: ``` Umā€¦ what the hell are you doing? ``` JESUS: ``` Donā€™t worry, youā€™ll figure it out. ``` PETER: ``` Quit washing my feet, please. Stop touching me! ``` JESUS: ``` If you donā€™t let me wash your feet, you get nothing later. ``` SIMON PETER: ``` Say, Iā€™d like a double helping of that action! ``` PHILIP: ``` Hey, the delivery guyā€™s here with the food! ``` JESUS: ``` Oh dear! Iā€™ve just realized, I have no money! However shall I pay him? SCORE: CUE '70s ELECTRIC GUITAR ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/75 "2006-09-15T03:02:22Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] ā€“and the subject of a cheesy gangster-romance called _The Hoodlum Saint_, with William Powell, Angela Lansbury, and Esther Williams. [/QUOTE] as well as being proof that God does not grade on a curve. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/76 "2006-09-15T03:32:29Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] as well as being proof that God does not grade on a curve. [/QUOTE] Hmm. Nope, not parsing. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/77 "2006-09-15T04:04:02Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Sounds like it would make a much better and more inspirational movie than _The Passion_ (where Barabbas appears but briefly as an insolent tongue-wagging creep). [/QUOTE] I didnā€™t particularly care for it, but BARABBAS was indeed made into a movie (late 50s) with Anthony Quinn. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/78 "2006-09-15T05:26:58Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Hmm. Nope, not parsing. [/QUOTE] Well, presumably Gestas _didnā€™t_ make it into Paradise: however, if I were nailed to a couple of bits of wood next to a guy who claimed to be the Son of God and yet did nothing to alleviate our mutual plights, most people would allow me at least a little leeway when it came to the odd barbed remark. Not God, whom it would seem has a strict pass or fail grading system when it comes to salvation: astringent comments, even made _in extremis_, apparently disqualify one from entry. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/79 "2006-09-15T05:57:57Z")
[hijack about St. Sebastian] The homoeroticism of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian doesnā€™t end with him being penetrated by multiple, hard shafts. One of the most famous paintings of the saint was by an Italian artist whose real name escapes me at the moā€™, but whose nickname was _Il Sodomo_. Now, Iā€™ve heard that this is an unintentional corruption of another name, but come on. This whole thing bleeds homoeroticism. Also, I seem to remember that St. Sebastian was not, in fact, martyred by the arrows. He survived the pincushion treatment, recovered, and was later martyred by being clubbed to death (by some cadā€™s long, thick, throbbing uh, tool.) [/St. Sebastian] ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287/80 "2006-09-15T08:53:29Z")
[_Sebastien_](http://www.art-forum.org/z_P_et_G/IP/PG_Sebastien.htm), by Pierre et Gilles. And a Pierre et Gilles [Crucifixion](http://www.optimistique.com/pierre.et.gilles/images/galerie/pg39.jpg). Safe for work, but, uh, homoerotic. _Really_ homoerotic. Warning: some of the images on those sites, in particular the first link, may _not_ be safe, depending on where you work. Itā€™s art and everything, but browse at your own peril. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-homoerotic-about-passion-of-the-christ/372287.md?page=3)