#the scene is still pretty melodramatic theres a few lines that were very sweet

[angstics]

i discovered the movie Wings (1927) was based on a book. the movie is famous for several reasons (first best picture winner, crazy aerial shots, crazy regular shots, crazy ww1 epic, clara bow, gary cooper bit part) AND! it's famous for having a same sex kiss between two men. which i would venture to say was pretty normal in the 20s since films depicted it as a normal platonic thing to do until sometime in the 30s/40s, i cant pick out when it phased out (breen? squashed european sensibility?). so anyway i was looking into this to see if it was ever commented on at the time, since modern queer theorists harp on it a lot, and i ran into the book.

and the book seems to have the same story, but SPOILER! our main character doesnt get to see his best friend before he dies from his friendly fire. the scene is nicely written but i was sad that the melodramatic death scene (including the kiss) from the film wasnt novelized. til i saw this. oh brother

the retroactive queering of achilles and patrocles has done a lot for the queering of male friendship, from grantaire and enjolras to these fighter pilots