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Lily Evans

Queer (2024: Luca Guadagnino)

Roland Barthes theory of Semiotics in relation to Queer (2024, Luca Guadagnino.)

 

The 2024 film, adapted from the autobiographical novel by William Burroughs, is about the relationships and conflicts with homosexuality in 1950’s Mexico. The film revolves around Lee and his fascination/desire for Eugene, and the hidden conflict Eugene has between hiding and accepting his identity in a pre-modern world.

   In the film, Lee and Eugene are almost semantic codes themselves, with their personalities being so juxtaposed. Lee is represented as a very open character, with his dialogue driving most of the movie, whilst Eugene is closed off, almost cold and detached with his demeanour. This juxtaposition sets the precedence for the film and almost foreshadows the inevitable ending of the film, where Eugene is almost forced to face who he really is and instead of accepting it seemingly disappears. His disappearance is a key enigma code for the film, where does he go? Not even the other characters get the answer to this. In some ways, despite the audience following Eugene’s character we don’t learn anything about him or who he is- almost an anomaly in a film that has such an open message about love, loss and addiction. Like the fragments of Lee’s memory due to his heroin addiction, it feels as though Eugene is there to be a fleeting, markable memory to Lee that he can never quite get the opportunity to understand, no matter how physically close they may be.

   Guadagnino also uses numerous symbolic codes throughout the film, so meticulous that it’s difficult to notice without a re-watch. For example, in a dream sequence towards the end of the movie, Lee wakes up in his home, but his rug is spiralled, a visual signifier of the Vertigo he is facing, both due to the weakened state he is in because of losing Eugene mentally, but because of the physical toll of the drugs on his body and mind. The camera pans out to watch Lee from a window, he is framed by this and the impression is given of surveillance, which could be symbolic of the fear queer people faced during the 1950’s due to discriminative ideologies- subconsciously, Lee does not feel as secure in himself as he tries to lead us to believe in the film, he is just as aware of the dangers he faces due to his identity as Eugene was. The Vertigo is also further symbolically signified through the scene of Lee falling from the sky onto the beach- he is out of control of his body and when he lands on the beach months later, it is almost as though no time has passed for him- whilst he has physically changed his mind is still the same. This signifier of Vertigo could also potentially be a referential code to the 1958 film Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock, which would have been released around the same time that the movie is set.

 However, the most important symbolic code in the film is demonstrated through a choreographed sequence between Lee and Eugene, which takes place after they have both taken Ayahuasca, a psychedelic that is used as an action code throughout the film, believed by Lee to grant telepathy. This idea of telepathy and true connection is reflected through the mergence of Lee and Allerton, they form together- almost as if their souls become one- interconnected both due literally to the drugs and the hallucinations that it brings, but the meaning of purity and being able to see someone for who they are without judgement or distaste. The characters see into each other, and it is this that ultimately leads to Allerton ‘disappearing.’ The tragic poeticism of this sequence is clear to the audience. True, alike understanding does not mean acceptance for Eugene, but instead highlights his desperation to keep himself hidden away and secure into what he considers normality. He rejects himself and in doing so rejects Lee.  

   The film also uses songs from Nirvana’s discography, a referential code to William Burroughs (the author of Queer) and his previous collaboration with Kurt Cobain, who he collaborated with on ‘the “priest” they called him.’ This ode to Burroughs serves to heighten the emotional impact of the film.

  

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