Bonus Video! The Sacred Band of Thebes, MASH, and the Army's “Queen for a Day” Rule
For a long time, if you wanted to learn about The Sacred Band of Thebes (a Greek army made up of 150 pairs of male lovers) there were only two sources available for you to consult: The sitcom Murphy Brown, and an erotic Men-dot-com film. These were the only two pieces of media to ever acknowledge the Sacred Band’s existence.
Okay, okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration — there were also tons of scholarly resources. But those aren’t nearly as fun! In this bonus video, I unpack what little we know (and what we don’t) about the band’s existence, including some debate over whether it actually existed.
Also in this bonus video: The story of how the super dark theme song to M*A*S*H made one teenager a millionaire; and also the US Army’s “Queen for a Day” rule that let anyone go a little queer as long as they promised that they’d only do it once.
As always, huge huge thanks for making these videos possible! I’ll have another bonus video for you next week, all about underwear parties in George Washington’s camp at Valley Forge. Oh la la.
Matt
(PS: If the embed isn't working for you, try this link:
https://youtu.be/LsQb2Sa7liw)
Comments (14)
On a slightly related note, I’ve been doing research for a book I’ve wanted to write. That course led me to the case of John Provoo, an US prisoner of war during WWII who colluded with Japanese radio propagandists, and was accused of being gay.
One more thing about the song, SUICIDE IS PAINLESS -- it's a reference in the movie to the character of the well-hung dentist, the "Painless Pole" who is having trouble getting it up so he decides to kill himself. The doctors give him a placebo then have one of the nurses fuck him so he doesn't commit suicide. Hence, 'Suicide is Painless'. The song is sung live in the scene in the movie.
check the buffy comics https://am23.mediaite.com/tms/cnt/uploads/2016/09/buffy-satsu.png
Oh this is super helpful, thank you! :D
I'm not sure how everyone is watching this video. I couldn't find a link that worked for me. The only link that works I'd the one for men.com, which is fine but not for me.
Ah geez, sorry it's giving you trouble! Try this link: https://vimeo.com/mattbaume/mashbonus1
I am despondent to say that I was told the sacred band involved a pedophilic upbringing and I accepted that without question.
I suppose that's possible but I haven't found any evidence to support it.
If I’m remembering correctly (it’s been many years since I saw it), the scene in the movie MASH where Suicide Is Painless was sung was a Last Supper parody where the dentist (nicknamed “Painless”) was getting ready to kill himself because he thought he might be gay. The situation was resolved when the other doctors coerced a nurse to have sex with Him and he decided he wasn’t gay. So….. super problematic in a lot of ways…😬
Oh gosh! I haven't seen the film, but I'll have to go looking for that.
I love these bonus videos where I learn even more about our queer culture and all the great info you dig up, Matt. Thanks
Oh, please say you'll be including the musical episode of Buffy, specifically the "You make me cum... plete" lyric between Tara and Willow.
It's SO explicit!!!
There's a fun skit on the sacred band of Thebes in horrible histories (historical comedy show in the UK)