All the times Timothée Chalamet was a gay icon

Some gay icons aren’t even gay, or at least that’s what they show in their shared love lives. This is the case of Cate Blanchet, Taylor Swift, and Timohtée Chalamet, but is he really straight? The 2017 movie Call Me By Your Name by director Luca Guadagnino marked an entire chapter of Thimothée Chalamet’s career and the way he is perceived. 

This year Guadagnino & Chalamet are making a comeback with Bones and All, the actor’s latest movie and yes, there’s a gay scene. Although the actor’s sentimental history shows no gay relationships, the scene where he dances “Love my way” with Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name is in our hearts. Bones and All won’t let us down, yet, let’s remember Chalamet’s most iconic gay moments in 2017. 

Should actors be gay to play gay characters?

It’s sad how audiences enter into a gossip spiral where the whole question spins around which gender celebrities like to sleep with. Knowing this information can be important in cases where celebrities profit from LGBTQ+ discourses, but if not, who cares?

The truth is 80% of straight actors play gay roles, anyway, only a few gay actors play straight roles in movies & TV shows, same with the trans community. Let’s stay critical with the pieces that represent LGBTQ+ or any marginalized community, we must be careful not to fall into stereotypes. Anyway regardless of whether or not Timothée Chalamet is gay, his performance is always iconic, here’s why. 

We love peaches 

The truth is peaches are such an iconic fruit, one of the best emojis with no discussion! But what about the peach Elio masturbates with in Call Me By Your Name, and gets eaten by Oliver on purpose, only iconic behavior, definitely. But besides the morbidity this scene can awaken, it’s crucial to recognize the importance of contrasexual practices being represented in popular movies. 

LGBTQs and particularly the gay community have been recognized for not practicing traditional sex, which goes further than homosexual intercourse. We can call contrasexual to all sexual practices that fall from a standardized script of what should happen to follow pleasure, which is 99% of the time focused on genitals. Self-erotism and the use of other untraditional props such as fruits are definitely iconic. 

Although both actors are extremely handsome and represent well-read White men, this erotic scene is important in terms of sexual representation. However, there are other gay movies that hold way more political elements, such as Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins. In this movie, we can observe how race & violence affect a kid in the discovery of his sexuality. 

A breathtaking phone call

We’ve all got our hearts broken through a phone call at least once in a lifetime, if you haven’t then get prepared for the moment that comes. In the final scene of the movie where Elio is holding his cry while Oliver is telling him about his wedding after the romantic trip, they spent together. Afterward, all we see is entering into the exhausting duty of getting your heart broken for the first time. 

This scene is extremely important in several ways, in narrative terms it shows the complexity of both characters and their relationships. It makes us think if Oliver really loved Elio and if he is marrying this girl to hide his gayness from the world, or because he is actually in the bisexual spectrum. Don’t forget Elio is actually bisexual too, points on Guadagnino for complexifying characters this way. 

Finally, in terms of gay representation, this scene is iconic and extremely important because it leads to feelings and romantic intercourse between characters. Sometimes all we hear about the gay community is their love for sex encounters, which is also violent for people in the asexual spectrum. 

It’s important to represent nonheterosexual relationships uncut, with all their nuances, that’s what makes these two scenes valuable. It also demanded a rich character development from Chalamet, which was definitely iconic.