# Yes, "300" is the most homoerotic action movie ever made **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735 "2007-03-20T17:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/1 "2007-03-20T17:04:43Z")
from this article [http://www.dailybulletin.com/entertainment/ci\_5387868](http://www.dailybulletin.com/entertainment/ci_5387868) I’ve only seen the trailer and it looked pretty gay to me what your impression? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/2 "2007-03-20T17:12:23Z")
There is already a 4-page thread about this. ---
**Author:** ![anamnesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@anamnesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anamnesis)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/3 "2007-03-20T17:16:54Z")
Yes, and since you’re obviously too busy to look for it, [here’s the link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=410855), in case you wish to further publicize your homophobia in there. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/4 "2007-03-20T17:18:36Z")
What exactly is homoerotic, or any-kind-of-erotic, about men **fighting?** Or, for that matter, about men getting flogged and crucified? (See [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=387732) thread.) ---
**Author:** ![gromehown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@gromehown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gromehown)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/5 "2007-03-20T17:23:38Z")
Maybe until they make a Wrestlemania movie, this can stand in. From the trailers it looks like a computer-game introduction scene with live actors. How many years until it’s all just computerized graphics with voiceovers… ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/6 "2007-03-20T17:28:40Z")
My opinion is that there are far too many people who want to make everything “homoerotic.” ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/7 "2007-03-20T17:45:08Z")
Would Captain Oveur like it? that’s the yardstick. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/8 "2007-03-20T17:50:38Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] What exactly is homoerotic, or any-kind-of-erotic, about men **fighting?** Or, for that matter, about men getting flogged and crucified? (See [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=387732) thread.) [/QUOTE] You mean hot, sweaty, glistening, muscley manly men wearing leather Speedos breathing heavy with exertion while thrusting their spears into one another? Nah, nothing erotic about that. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/9 "2007-03-20T17:51:15Z")
> [@gromehown](#): > > How many years until it’s all just computerized graphics with voiceovers… um..none. What do you think Shrek is? and Alexander is still pretty much tied with Top Gun for being most homoerotic. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/10 "2007-03-20T17:53:50Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] What exactly is homoerotic, or any-kind-of-erotic, about men **fighting?** … [/QUOTE] The display of skin, display of masculine athletic prowness, the fact that fighting (especially wrestling) is often the closet physical acticity to sex. In the 50s for instance it was legal to show two men nude or nearly so as long as they were trying to kill eacher, but if they were kissing it was obscene. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/11 "2007-03-20T18:01:32Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] There is already a 4-page thread about this. [/QUOTE] About the movie, yes, but not specifically about its homoeroticism. ---
**Author:** ![Illinois\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Illinois\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illinois_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/12 "2007-03-20T18:58:13Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] The display of skin, display of masculine athletic prowness, the fact that fighting (especially wrestling) is often the closet physical acticity to sex. In the 50s for instance it was legal to show two men nude or nearly so as long as they were trying to kill eacher, but if they were kissing it was obscene. [/QUOTE] Not trying to be a smartass, but the more I think about this, the less this seems like an answer. What exactly about the display of skin and masculine athletic prowess makes it (homo)erotic? Is swimming the most erotic sport, because (off the top of my head) is involves the least amount of clothes? Is fencing erotic because of the “thrusting”? Similarly, I’m not sure it’s a fact that fighting is often the closest physical activity to sex. Does boxing really turn people on? I mean, those guys are muscular, sweaty, and trying to kill each other! I’m not sure how wrestling is particularly erotic either. I know it’s almost knee-jerk to point out the eroticism of two men grappling with each other, but I just don’t see much merit in that statement as applied to actual wrestling matches. Granted, in film, almost any activity can be portrayed as erotic (think chess in the original Thomas Crowne Affair), but that doesn’t mean that particular activity is inherently so. Clearly if one wanted to, it’s fairly easy to find homoerotic tones in 300. But it’s just as easy to see it as a straight-forward ode to masculinity and to (cinematic) physical aggression as a vent to modern psychic steam. ---
**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:** [March 20, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/13 "2007-03-20T19:01:08Z")
[QUOTE=RikWriter] My opinion is that there are far too many people who want to make everything “homoerotic.” [/QUOTE] My opininion is that there are far too \*few \*such people. More homoeroticism, people! From now on, for every scene, in every movie, where in order to move the plot forward it’s necessary for the heroine’s blouse to be torn off, there should be a corresponding scene involving leather man panties. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/14 "2007-03-20T19:27:25Z")
[QUOTE=Knorf] About the movie, yes, but not specifically about its homoeroticism. [/QUOTE] You must not have read the thread. The homoeroticism angle is discussed at length. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/15 "2007-03-20T19:32:57Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] In the 50s for instance it was legal to show two men nude or nearly so as long as they were trying to kill eacher, but if they were kissing it was obscene. [/QUOTE] Watch cage fighting. It seems that the object is to get your opponent laying on his back so you can sit on his crotch and hump him while you pummel his face. VERY strange sport. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/16 "2007-03-20T19:37:54Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Watch cage fighting. It seems that the object is to get your opponent laying on his back so you can sit on his crotch and hump him while you pummel his face. VERY strange sport. [/QUOTE] And _so_ gay :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/17 "2007-03-20T19:39:21Z")
I was actually thinking of starting a thread about this–what are the great cinematic moments of “straight” homo-eroticism? There would have to be a few rules: (1) No film with a gay icon (Rock Hudson, Monty Clift) would count since everything would be dripping in rather unapologetic subtext already. (2) No film that’s intentionally trying to throw in a gay subtext would count either (spear-throwing in _Ben-Hur_, snail discussion in _Spartacus_). (3) Any film where one man tells another he loves him is automatically disqualified (come on, that’s soooo touchy-feely/girly!) What we’re talking about are films that are Hetero-to-the-Max, yet a scene or setpiece or relationship can’t seem to quite escape that rather conspicuous Homo-Erotic vibe. **Top Gun** is indeed a very good example. _Alexander_ I’m not sure about, since wasn’t he presumed to be gay in the first place? What brought this to mind was rewatching **Topkapi** recently, which has a rather extended sequence of a stadium full of large half-naked men oiling each other up, slapping & rubbing against each other, and then indulging in wrestling that seems less to do with athleticism and more to do with full-body-contact-exhibitionism. And the funny thing is, all the characters in the film (90% male) are watching the wrestling and largely seem entranced by the proceedings (and please note that the wrestling itself has only the most peripheral relationship to the plot). I’ll concede that it may be a Turkish cultural thing, but time has allowed that scene to be completely recontextualized. Haven’t seen **300** yet (though it does seem like a fairly good candidate), but any other films come to mind? ---
**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:** [March 20, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/18 "2007-03-20T20:13:32Z")
[QUOTE=Illinois\_Boy] Not trying to be a smartass, but the more I think about this, the less this seems like an answer. What exactly about the display of skin and masculine athletic prowess makes it (homo)erotic? [/QUOTE] Well, “turns on gay guys” would probably be the major factor, there. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/19 "2007-03-20T20:42:40Z")
[QUOTE=Illinois\_Boy] Not trying to be a smartass, but the more I think about this, the less this seems like an answer. What exactly about the display of skin and masculine athletic prowess makes it (homo)erotic? Is swimming the most erotic sport, because (off the top of my head) is involves the least amount of clothes? Is fencing erotic because of the “thrusting”? [/QUOTE] This bugs me a little, too. It seems that any time a man is in some state of partial undress, for any reason, it gets called “homoerotic.” ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735/20 "2007-03-20T20:44:11Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Watch cage fighting. It seems that the object is to get your opponent laying on his back so you can sit on his crotch and hump him while you pummel his face. VERY strange sport. [/QUOTE] When you’re actually doing it, though, it’s one of the least sexy things imaginable. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-300-is-the-most-homoerotic-action-movie-ever-made/396735.md?page=2)