Vortrag: Muscles, Antiquity, and Queer Fantasy: Examining the depiction of Greece and Rome in Physique Pictorial magazine

The muscle magazines of the 1950s and 60s, and their associated films and photographs, represent one of the earliest expressions that we can find of popular gay consumer culture. Produced in large volumes and disseminated throughout the United States and abroad, these magazines helped to define a new form of gay life that emerged in the post-war period in the West. Running through this discourse was a strong engagement with the Greco-Roman world. The ancient word provided a point of historical foundation for gay life as well as a place of escape from the uncomfortable realities of contemporary life. In addition, the privileged position of the nude male body within classical art assisted publishers of these magazine to subvert laws relating to obscenity in relation to their imagery.

This lecture examines the representation of Greece and Rome within the work of the prolific publisher Bob Mizer whose Physique Pictorial was the most popular and longest running of the muscle magazines. It examines how these ancient cultures were depicted and celebrated. A particular focus of the lecture are the short films produced by Mizer that were advertised in the magazine and distributed to subscribers through mail order for private viewing. The lecture will feature a showing of the 5-minute film The Emperor’s Pleasure which has only recently been restored and digitised. This film has not been seen in public since its release in the late 1950s. The lecture explores the limits and politics of this engagement with antiquity, and shows how they contribute to understanding of queer modernity.

Professor Alastair Blanshard is the Paul Eliadis Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland. He is also the director of the UQ Centre for Western Civilisation and program director for the Advanced Humanities degree.