Posted on 11/20/2004 8:04:44 PM PST by OESY
Oliver Stone and the studio releasing his $150 million historical epic "Alexander" should beware of Greeks bearing writs — over the film's depiction of Alexander the Great as Alexander the Fabulous.
The controversial director and Warner Bros. were yesterday threatened with a lawsuit by a group of Greek lawyers who are incensed that the new movie "Alexander" portrays the hero as bisexual.
The group of 25 Athens-based lawyers said they sent a letter to Warner Bros. demanding that it label "Alexander" ... as a work of fiction....
"We are not saying that were are against gays, but we are saying that the production company should make it clear that this film is pure fiction and not a true depiction of the life of Alexander."...
Colin Farrell, who plays Alexander in the 3-hour epic, sports a blond pageboy and mini toga and is seen kissing two different men on the lips.
Though the film includes a steamy wedding-night sex scene between Alexander and his wife Roxane, played by Rosario Dawson, it makes no bones that the true love of the emperor's life was his pal Hephaistion, portrayed by Jared Leto.
Alexander came from northern Greece, which has long been touchy about most historians' belief that like many men of the era, one of the greatest military leaders of all time swung both ways.
Two years ago, hundreds of Greeks stormed an archeological symposium where a speaker presented a paper on Alexander's sexuality and police were called in to restore order.
"We cannot come out and say that President... Kennedy was a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers and so Warner cannot come out and say Alexander was gay," Varnakos said....
According to the film's narration, "It was said . . . that Alexander was never defeated, except by Hephaistion's thighs."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
In a sense, we cannot apply today's standards to those of the old. If we were to do that to history, we would be revisionists ourselves. Whils there may be no "direct" evidence showing Alexander's sexual orientation, males would tend to have a wife for "making babies" and another male "for pleasure". Seeing how it was even more commonplace amongst soldiers (almost as part of comradery....that, and the lack of female companionship on decades-long conquests), an educated guess can be made as to Alexander's sexual life. His (assumed) actions, if anything, were fairly protocol for the time. And his spreading of Hellenistic culture did, in many ways, bring said institution to Rome.
...and, of course, to make a buck by titillating people's interest.
I guess it will go over good in the blue states and bomb everywhere else.
I sure wouldn't waste money on Oliver Stone's sicko fantasies.
Two bad, a film about Alexander's military conquest of the known world would have been fascinating.
Was just reading an article about this Alexander the Great ,and this movie, in the Smithsonian magazine. It also mentioned that Oliver Stone created the JFK movie, that supported multi gun theories in the Assasination of JFK.
Guess Oliver Stone , like most liberals considers the facts, not that important.
I thought that Eporius was Greek. I am well aware that the Macedonians were merely Hellenized. My uncle is married to a Macedonian.
At the time of Alexander, the Macedonians spoke a Hellenic language fairly closely related to Greek, but not readily intelligible to "real" Greeks. The Macedonian royal family and aristocracy were becoming increasingly hellenized.
Epirus was an even more backward and remote region. Its inhabitants were probably a mixture of primitive more or less Greek-speakers, similar to Macedon, and Illyrian (probably ancestral to Albanian) and Thracian tribes. It was considered even by the Macedonians to be barbarous, one reason Alex's mother was never popular with the Macedonians.
One of the nastiest squabbles of the last century or so is the issue of who "Macedonia" belongs to.
The Greeks claim it on historical grounds, a big reason they're so territorial about Alexander. They claim he was Greek, and he was from Macedon, therefore Macedonia must be Greek.
Meanwhile, most of the actual Macedonians speak a Slavic language more or less midway between Serbian and Bulgarian, causing both the Serbs and the Bulgars to claim that Macedonians are "really" Serbs or Bulgars.
At the moment, it appears that the Macedonians are opting out of this three-way tug of war and going for independence. Let's hope it sticks.
Meanwhile, most of the actual Macedonians speak a Slavic language more or less midway between Serbian and Bulgarian, causing both the Serbs and the Bulgars to claim that Macedonians are "really" Serbs or Bulgars.
I think the Albanians are in the mix somewhere. They seem to want Macedonia for themselves.
At the moment, it appears that the Macedonians are opting out of this three-way tug of war and going for independence. Let's hope it sticks.
Did they take a picture of Thesselonika off their currency yet?
Plutarch's Lives' chapter on Alexander only includes an anecdote where an angry Alexander rebufs a conquered city's presentation of a young boy as a 'gift'; Alexander's father Phillip is supposed to have remarked, at seeing the bodies of the famous gay Theban garrison after his conquest of that city, words to the effect 'let it not be said that any of these (warriors) ever engaged in any unspeakable acts' - ie. he admired their courage and fighting skill, and refused to acknowledge that they were homosexuals.
Doesn't sound like they admired this sort of behavior....I too have yet to see an actual cite to a contemporary source claiming that Alexander was a deviant.....
Didn't Alexander himself run Hephaiston through with a spear following some argument, while in a drunken rage?
The Greeks just don't want to admit that their ancient forebears were mostly bisexual sluts..
The Roman 'Pot' Calls the Greek 'Kettle' Black! (Call the NYT!!) As if the Romans were paragons of virtue!
I repeat.
Would you make broad statements about today's culture if all you had was a few books that had been copied and recopied by hand and the best copy was 500 years after the fact?
It's like this: the info we have about Alexander's greek culture should be compared to Dan Rather's memogate.
So why are you so far behind now, Al?
I thought it was common knowledge that Alexander was bisexual.
This whole argument about "did the Greeks accept homosexuality" appears to assume a monolithic society that thinks in lock step.
Suppose you asked the same question about America today?
This movie will go down as the biggest bomb of the year! You can already see the writing on the wall.
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