There has been a big ruckus buzzing around over the inclusion (or lack thereof) of some scenes in the upcoming film Alexander that would show (or only insinuate) Alexander as bi-sexual. My goodness, just read over the comments in this post to see the kind of emotional responses this is generating in people. I can’t believe how much prejudice, closed mindedness and bigotry exist on the anti-gay side of things… or how much prejudice, closed mindedness and bigotry exist on the pro-gay side of things either. We’re a pretty hopeless species. ANYWAY….
Now, there is an army of Greek lawyers who are threatening to sue Warner Bros. and director Oliver Stone over this whole thing unless a big disclaimer is shown at the beginning of the film that states the movie is a work of pure fiction and not historically accurate. In an nice little article over in Entertainment Weekly, the lawyers are quoted as saying:
”We are not saying that we are against gays but we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the audience that this film is pure fiction and not a true depiction of the life of Alexander,” attorney Yannis Varnakos told Reuters on Friday.
Varnakos said he’d like for the movie, which opens Nov. 24, to run with a disclaimer that says Alexander is a work of fiction, ”or we will take the case further.” He said, ”We have not seen the film, but from the information we have already there are references to his alleged homosexuality, a fact that is in no historical document or archive on Alexander.” In a reference to another Stone film that offered a disputed take on history, Varnakos said, ”We cannot come out and say that President John F. Kennedy was a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, and so Warner cannot come out and say Alexander was gay.”
What? There is NO historical evidence that Alexander was bisexual? I’m no historian, but I thought there was. I thought it was just common knowledge that there was a whole bunch of historical evidence? Well, then what does the actual historian who was the special consultant on Alexander say about it. Surely he will defend that there is indeed historical proof right? Here’s what he said:
Robin Lane Fox, an Oxford historian who published a definitive and bestselling biography of Alexander in 1972, served as a consultant on the film and signed off on Stone’s interpretation of the sparse historical record regarding the conqueror. The film’s publicity materials quote Lane Fox as saying, ”One of the fascinations about Alexander is the gaps in what we can know — they give such scope for the imagination.”
What!?!?! Scope of the imagination?!?! Are you telling me we’ve all been arguing and huffing over “Scope of the imagination”?!?!
Ok, so IF (and I do emphasize the word IF here) there isn’t really any proof that Alexander was bisexual, should he be shown as such… or does it really even matter? Do movies have a responsibility to be historically accurate? Or should be just accept that films are just entertainment and it doesn’t matter if they’re historically accurate or not?
Personally I don’t care either way if Alexander was bisexual or not. I don’t care if he was and they don’t say it in the film. I don’t care if he wasn’t and yet they show him as such. Just give me a good movie for my money… I’ll learn history in school (or on A&E television… which ever takes less effort).
