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Plato to Elio: Ancient and Modern Sexualities in

image of Plato to Elio: Ancient and Modern Sexualities in Call Me by Your Name

Like many queer texts of the past, “Call Me by Your Name” evokes classical antiquity. The love story between 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and 24-year-old Oliver (Armie Hammer) seems to follow the pederastic paradigm, the Platonic relationship between erastes (lover) and eromenos (beloved). However, director Luca Guadagnino greatly complicates this matter. As a (graduate) student, Oliver reluctantly fits the erastes, and Elio, impossibly precocious, seems to need little instruction. Yet there is one aspect that Elio learns profoundly, ta erotika, the arts of love. “Call Me by Your Name” retells Plato's “Phaedrus” (rather than the “Symposium,” a dinner party at which the guests sing the praises of Eros, the God of Love), which engages with questions of love, sex, the good life, and erotic reciprocity, the prevalent romantic model for our time. Moreover, because of its setting in Italy, “Call Me by Your Name” also recalls Roman sexualities, extensions of Platonic love that hit much closer to present-day notions of queer identities. Studying ancient sexualities thus helps understand that the film should not be dismissed (as some critics have done) for its relationship between a teenager and an adult and for the issue of (consensual) sex. “Call Me by Your Name” asks a simple yet in cinematic history almost unprecedented question: how to negotiate a meaningful (albeit brief) erotic relationship between two men? Because the question is so momentous, the text cannot but turn to ancient models. By evoking Plato, Sappho, Heraclitus, the Star of David, ancient Rome…, “Call Me by Your Name” offers an erotic palimpsest that merges ancient and modern sexualities into something exciting and relevant. What started in 1983, somewhere in northern Italy, takes us from Plato to Elio.

Keywords: AIDS ; Ancient Greece ; Ancient Rome ; David and Jonathan ; Heraclitus ; Merchant Ivory ; Ovid ; Platonic Love ; Queer Cinema ; Sappho ; Sodom and Gomorrah

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Plato to Elio: Ancient and Modern Sexualities in Call Me by Your Name
Intellect , 151 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781789389425_10
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References

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References

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  2. Amin, Kadji. Disturbing Attachments: Genet, Modern Pederasty, and Queer History. Durham: Duke University Press, 2017.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Anon. ‘Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.’ New York Times, 3 July 1981, Section A, 20.
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  4. Bloomer, Jeffrey. ‘What Should We Make of Call Me by Your Name's Age-Gap Relationship?’ Slate, 8 November 2017. https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/11/the-ethics-of-call-me-by-your-names-age-gap-sexual-relationship-explored.html.
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  5. Dargis, Manohla. ‘Review: A Boy's Own Desire in Call Me by Your Name.’ New York Times, 22 November 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/movies/call-me-by-your-name-review-armie-hammer.html?referrer=google_kp.
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  6. Di Mattia, Joanna. ‘Beating Hearts: Compassion and Self-Discovery in Call Me by Your Name.’ Screen Education 91 (October 2018): 8–15.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Dover, Kenneth J. Greek Homosexuality. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, [1978] 1989.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Edgerton, Joel, dir. Boy Erased. Focus Features, Perfect World Pictures, Blue Tongue Films, Anonymous Content, 2018.169
  9. Ellis, Brett Easton. ‘Movie of the Year: Bret Easton Ellis on the Many Pleasures of Call Me by Your Name.’ Out, 18 December 2017. https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2017/12/18/movie-year-bret-easton-ellis-many-pleasures-call-me-your-name.
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  10. Endres, Nikolai. ‘Horses and Heroes: Plato's Phaedrus and Mary Renault's The Charioteer.’ International Journal of the Classical Tradition 19, no. 3 (2012): 152–64.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Forster, E. M. Maurice. London: Hodder Arnold, 1971.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Gianelle, Zachary J. ‘Sympotic Love?: Classical Reception in Call Me by Your Name.’ Master's thesis, University of Arizona, 2019. https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/633123/azu_etd_17218_sip1_m.pdf?sequence=1.
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  13. Gray, Billy. ‘Call Me by Your Name, Moonlight, and the Cost of Critical Success for Queer Films.’ Slate, 21 November 2017. https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/11/call-me-by-your-names-lack-of-explicit-sex-may-explain-its-critical-success.html.
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  14. Greydanus, Steven D. ‘Artful Veneer of Call Me by Your Name Masks Shallow, Distorted View of Sexuality.’ Catholic World Report, 13 February 2018. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/02/13/artful-veneer-of-call-me-by-your-name-masks-shallow-distorted-view-of-sexuality/.
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  15. Guadagnino, Luca, dir. Call Me by Your Name. Frenesy Film Company, La Cinefacture, RT Features, 2017.
  16. Halperin, David M. One Hundred Years of Homosexuality and Other Essays on Greek Love. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 1990.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Haskell, Molly. ‘Call Me by Your Name.’ Film Comment 53, no. 6 (November-December 2017): 67–69.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Hutchinson, Pamela. ‘My Summer of Love.’ Sight and Sound 27, no. 11 (November 2017): 32–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Karlhuber, Kerstin, dir. Fair Haven. Trick Candle Productions, Silent Giant Productions, 2016.
  20. Keats, Amanda. ‘Call Me by Your Name “Controversy” is Pure Nonsense: It's a Romantic Masterpiece, Plain and Simple.’ Metro, 13 October 2017. https://metro.co.uk/2017/10/13/call-me-by-your-name-controversy-is-pure-nonsense-its-a-romantic-masterpiece-plain-and-simple-6990122/.
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     [Google Scholar]
  22. Kramer, Larry. ‘1,121 and Counting.’ New York Native 59 (14–27 March 1983).
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Lee, Ang, dir. Brokeback Mountain. River Road Entertainment, Focus Features, 2005.
  24. Mann, Thomas. Der Tod in Venedig (Death in Venice). Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag, 1912.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Miller, D. A. ‘Elio's Education.’ Los Angeles Review of Books, 19 February 2018. https://www.lareviewofbooks.org/article/elios-education/.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Mirell, Barb, ed. Call Me by Your Name: How a Little Film Touched So Many Lives. Philadelphia: Liberty Bell Publishers, 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Monk, Claire. Heritage Film Audiences: Period Films and Contemporary Audiences in the UK. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011.170
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Neher, Erick. ‘A Revolution in Progress.’ Hudson Review 71, no. 1 (Spring 2018): 96–102.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Nissinen, Martti. Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: A Historical Perspective. Translated by Kirsi Stjerna. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998.
  30. Pear, Robert. ‘Health Chief Calls AIDS Battle “No. 1 Priority”.’ New York Times, 25 May 1983, Section A, 1.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Plato. Phaedrus. Translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff. Indianapolis: Hackett, [c.370 BCE] 1995.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Quick, Tyler. ‘The Queer Public and Its Problem with Representation.’ The Velvet Light Trap 86 (Autumn 2020): 27–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Renault, Mary. Fire from Heaven. New York: Pantheon Books, 1969.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Renault, Mary. The Persian Boy. New York: Vintage, [1972] 1988.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Rich, B. Ruby. New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut. Durham: Duke University Press, 2013.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Richlin, Amy. ‘Not Before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the Cinaedus and the Roman Law against Love between Men.’ Journal of the History of Sexuality 3 (1993): 523–73.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Roden, Frederick S. ‘Queer Jewish Memory: André Aciman's Call Me by Your Name.’ Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 18, no. 2 (May 2019): 194–211.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Rutherford, Emily. ‘Dare to Speak Its Name: Pederasty in the Classical Tropes of Call Me by Your Name.’ Eidolon 2018. https://eidolon.pub/dare-to-speak-its-name-819a05b358f.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Sorrentino, Renee, and Jack Turban. ‘Call Me by Your Name: Not Pedophilia, Still Problematic.’ Psychiatric Times 35, no. 9 (September 2018): 16A–16F.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Stevens, Benjamin Eldon. ‘Classical Desires in Call Me by Your Name (dir. Luca Guadagnino 2017).’ Antiquipop: Antiquity, Pop Culture & Politics. https://antiquipop.hypotheses.org/eng/3264eng.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Stone, Oliver, dir. Alexander. Warner Bros., Intermedia Films, Pacifica Film, 2004.
  42. White, Armond. ‘Call Me by Your Name: Idealized Sex between an Adult Man and a Nubile Teen.’ National Review, 1 December 2017. https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/12/call-me-your-name-hollywood-hypocrisy-teen-sex/.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Man/Boy_Love_Association.
  44. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, 1890 (novella). London: Ward, Lock and Company, 1891 (novel).
  45. Williams, Craig A. Roman Homosexuality. Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, [1999] 2010.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Winkler, John J. The Constraints of Desire: The Anthropology of Sex and Gender in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge, 1990.
     [Google Scholar]

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