#Judith of Bethulia

[nitrateglow]

My latest review on my Wordpress. It ended up way longer than I expected.

[lairreparablefugadeltiempo]

Judith of Bethulia (D.W. Griffith, 1913)

[falsebooles123]

Finding the First Gay Kiss - Diary of a Big Ole Gay 11.25.22

Hey Whores Realized I haven't given you an update recently. The short answer is I was planning on watching D.W.Griffinth 3 hour Epic Intolenrance tonight so I was putting a kabash on the movie watching. So instead I've been catching up on television because I am too lazy to actually read. Big News I actually really like Cabinet of Curiosities.

(its just a real fun time... Don't Judge Me)

so let me go over some of the stuff I've seen in the meantime.

Judith of Bethulia (1914) dir. D.W. Griffinth

So this movie is not nearly as gay as I was promised. The main reason why this showed up is because there is a nerdist article thats like UwU the Earliest Gayest Movies ever which should actually be congradulated it has some rare pepes on there, (is that problamatic???), however this one is the furthest reach of gay shit ever. Essentially this inclusion in the list is because of a pet theory by Susan Stryker which was included in the documentary Disclosure(2020). I think I have a quote here something.

"There's a claim," Stryker says, "that this is one of the first films that we know of where a [director's] cut in the film is used to advance the story. And there's a kind of, like, trans, or, you know, gender nonbinary character who is kind of circulating around the cut in the narrative. It's almost like the figure of the 'cut trans body,' the eunuch who's been castrated or emasculated, who is a 'cut figure', presides over the invention of the cinematic cut."

and the Eunach in its self is absolutely a queer icon, (in this sense literally iconography, as in a mythic trope), it presents us an intersex body, a masculine form that is asexual, a person that lives in between the hedgemonic binary of masculine and feminenin. The Eunach also has negative connotations as the Nance trope plays into this idea of Sexual Inversion in men being non-sexual and emmasculated. I don't think its wrong for the a eunach to be considered queer at the same time, is the mere presence of a queer coded character necessarily the watershed moment we should pretend it is?

The Nance character presided for decades in vauldville and burlesque circles and it was often not played in a positive light the nance or fairy act in vaudville was a far cry from the gender subversion of Julian Eltinge and other female impersanations of the time, it was in no less words a form of sexual minstraly, presenting the sexual invert as degenerate, unmanly, and frivolous. Tbh Its not necessarily and aspect of representation that I want to respect or cherish.

However at this point I feel that I have got my ego involved and made this representation about my own sexuality and pain. In all seriousness the supposed representation is presented as being trans, non-binary or intersex and while this film did not provide me much queer utility I would be loath to disregard that for somebody somewhere they felt seen by this charater or this aspect of queer lens interpretation. it just wasn't for me.

The ABC of Love (1916) dir. Magnus Stifter

Its Die Asta!

As we have covered on this blog Asta Nielsen was known for her boyish charm and her unflappable stage present. She was also beyond unafraid to go full butch in her work and many of her storys were incredible queer in a lot of her films. Truly a bisexual icon.

(what a fucking BICON)

in this one we see Die Asta in a classic shot of her pressed against a wall of flowers in this case sittig with her lap dog, a boudour doll, and reading a book of romantic fancys. it should also be noted that shes coded as a big younger in the film around her late teens, y'know a young coquete.

so Its not conveyed well but basically shes like

"UwU daddy I want to get railed by a tall dark and handsome foreigner"

"sure doll, let me find some fuck boy who wants to get in that snatch. BRB"

(she specifcally asked for a 'latin lover' which as someone who has fucked several latino men I get it)

But instead of getting a hot latin stud, (which I guess shes european so like she wants to fuck a spanish guy in this context??? not my kink but whatev.

anyway instead of getting a hot latin STUD!!!! she gets like some dweeb???

and like he can't even fuck so she is absolutely pissed because she want to get railed! (yes I am describing this movie accuretly), so she goes on a honeymoon in paris and your probably wondering how she deals with the wet blanket that is her husband. Um the answer is of course Crossdressing!

(I think this is from victor/victoria or something but you get it)

and Die Asta pulls a Danger Girl and serves us a full butch fantasy. She literally wears a whole ass wig and shapewear to serve some masc tuxedo action. and of course as in any of these "role-reversal" comedies she fucking slays. Apparently serving masc means you smoke fatties and fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkkk. this movie involves die asta throwing two DTF women onto her man and saying

"Be a Man, Frank"

Imagine your wife just wanted you to cuck her while she serving butch top energy.

(imagine....)

this movie ends with her father gaslighting her into thinking for limp wrist no bitches husband is cheating on her but actually THE GODDAMN HUSSY is just the porter in full drag. I also love in these stories nobody gets clocked, its always a seemless transformance where everyone absolutely asumes this person is the gender they present as. Honestly kinda nice.

Vingarne (The Wings) (1916) dir. Mauritz Stiller

So this is one of the first adapatations of the 1902 Mikael by Herman Bang. it is also mostly lost with the available version being a fixup version from 1985 which used production stills and intertitles as a way of feeling in the gaps in the story. There is still 20 minutes of this film that are lost forever or at least to the best of our knowledge. A pretty common narrative in early cinema, there are a lot of early cinema works whose tape was not properly archived or literally destroyed for censoreship or just to get the trace amounts of silver nitrate that was imprinted during the film production process.

The movie itself is the story of a gay artist who falls in love with his muse, a grecian youth type. The film falls into this sort of pedarast adjacent storyline, where you have this older sexual experience man and his younger protege/boytoy. Narratively in the story he is also the adopted son of the artist but as I mentioned on DoestheDogDie.com this doesn't necessarily mean that this love story is incestious as Same-Sex Adoption was a thing at the time.

Basically the young muse decides to get some pussy and leaves the poor old artist to die of sadness or some shit.

This movie is kinda hard to follow and you kinda have to ask yourself if you want to add DDLB and fickle Bi's to your pantheon of early queer cinema.

On a side note i am watching Dad Takes A Fishing Trip(2009) by Tim Kinkade which deals a lot with Daddy kinks so I have been kinda exploring a lot of the eroticism around this type of age gap relationship. So there is that.

[illustratus]

Judith holding the Head of Holofernes by Jean-François Godefroy

[from1837to1945]

Judith of Bethulia (1914, D.W. Griffith)

[sassmill]

Oh THAT is exactly the play they were suggesting Lizzie and emma attended in Boston I get it now

[tlcartist]

The beheading of Cazador

Closeups and background info below 👇

This is a classic painting study based off of Judith slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi, 1614–18. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith.

[girlactionfigure]

After we light the candles on Hanukkah there is a tradition that women refrain from work while the candles are burning. Why are women given this special honor? Because of Judith, the Jewish woman who singlehandedly saved her entire town during a brutal siege.

At the time of the Maccabee revolt, around 175 BCE, the Greek Empire ruled Judea. The Jewish town of Bethulia was under siege by Holofernes, a brutal general. He demanded that the Jews stop practicing their religion and instead adopt Hellenistic values and culture.

The Jews refused to bow to the Greek gods. Holofernes tried to starve them into surrender, cutting off the food and water supply to Bethulia. The townspeople grew desperate. They begged their leaders to surrender. Uzzia, the commander of defense forces, refused, but finally agreed to wait five more days, and if no salvation came, he would surrender.

At this point Judith (Yehudit), daughter of the high priest, stepped forward in outrage. “Why do you test G-d, giving Him only five days in which to send us His help? If you truly have faith in G-d, you must never give up your trust in Him. Don’t you know that surrender to Holofernes is worse than death??”

Judith came up with a plan. A beautiful young widow, she dressed in her nicest clothes and traveled to the enemy camp, praying as she went. She carried a basket with wine and salty cheese. Judith told the sentries at the gate that she had information for Holofernes regarding how to finally take the city of Bethulia. Dazzled by her feminine charm, they let her in to see the general.

Judith went into Holofernes’ chamber. The general was pleased to see such a lovely young woman, and accepted her wine and cheese. The cheese was so salty that it made him drink a great deal of wine, and soon he fell asleep. Then Judith unsheathed Holofernes’ sword, and chopped off his head.

Humiliated at their defeat by a woman, the Greek forces retreated from Bethulia, allowing the Jews to live freely and practice their religion.

For her stunning courage in slaying the enemy of her people, we honor Judith as our Thursday Hero, Hanukkah edition.

Accidental Talmudist

[texaschainsawmascara]

Harley Beheading Joker x / You Make Me Sick! - Ashnikko / Salome - Jean Benner / x / Judith with the Head of Holofernes - Cristofano Allori / Gretel & Hansel (2020) / Judith at the Gates of Bethulia - Jules-Claude Ziegler / Jael and Sisera - Artemisia Gentileschi / Kill Bill Vol 1

[artsyfartsypoopypants]

a collection of baroque paintings with beheadings as the theme

these paintings are based on the book of judith, apocryphal work which is excluded from the hebrew and protestant biblical canons but included in the greek version of the hebrew bible. it is also accepted in the roman canon. the book involves nebuchadnezzar, king of assyria, sending his general, holofernes, to palestine. at the siege of the jewish city bethulia, another assyrian general, achior, warned holofernes of the danger of attacking the jews. then, a jewish widow named judith pretended to flee the city to tell holofernes he would succeed. she was invited into his tent, got him drunk, and cut off his head while he slept so she could bring his head back to her hometown of bethulia. the jewish forces then won over the leaderless assyrian forces (encyclopedia britannica). i wanted to research this story because it’s absolutely fascinating to me, and encyclopedia britannica was the source that i enjoyed reading the most. straight to the point. i think i’ll read the book of judith myself at some point :)

1: “judith slaying holofernes” - artemisia gentileschi (1614-1618)

2: “the return of judith to bethulia” - sandro botticelli (1470)

3. “judith with the head of holofernes” - fede galizia (1596)

4. “judith beheading holofernes” - caravaggio (c. 1598)

5. “judith with the head of holofernes” - simon vouet (first half of 17th century)

[hlmoorewrites]

Judith Slaying Holofernes - Artemisia Gentileschi, Florence, c.1620

In the Middle Ages Hanukkah festivities celebrated more than just the valiant deeds of the Maccabees. For several centuries there was another hero associated with Hanukkah: Judith. The Book of Judith promised that her praise would "never depart from the heart of those who remember the power of God," and that her actions would "go down through all generations of our descendants." While not historically connected to the story of the Maccabees, the Book of Judith shares the theme of Jewish faith and courage overcoming a larger force. [...]

In the second century B.C.E., as the powerful Assyrian army invaded the Near East, the town of Bethulia was besieged by the cruel and domineering Holofernes, the Assyrian emperor Nebuchadnezzar's top general. If Bethulia fell, the whole country would come under Assyrian control. Discouraged, the city's elders agreed to surrender if they were not rescued within a few days. Judith, a young widow and most unlikely savior, challenged them to take responsibility for the survival of their famine-stricken community. Accompanied only by her maid, she set out for the enemy camp. Smitten with her beauty, Holofernes invited her to a banquet. When he fell asleep in a drunken stupor, they were left alone in his tent. After praying for God's help, Judith took his sword and decapitated him. With the Assyrian army thrown into confusion, she urged the Israelites to launch a surprise attack; they emerged victorious. [Jewish Women's Archive]

CHAG CHANNUKAH SAMEACH!

[nitrateglow]

Currently editing a review of the 1914 Judith of Bethulia.

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Giorgione (Italian, 1478-1510) Judith, 1504 The State Hermitage Museum A beautiful Jewish widow named Judith left the besieged city in pretended flight and foretold to Holofernes that he would be victorious. Invited into his tent, she cut off his head as he lay in drunken sleep and brought it in a bag to Bethulia. A Jewish victory over the leaderless Assyrian forces followed. The lyrical, charming image of Judith herself and the coolness of the morning landscape create the mood of poetical thoughtfulness, which is not disturbed even by the severed head of the enemy commander Holofernes. The world is depicted by the artist as a harmonic whole, in which life and death are indissoluble. This biblical heroine, who saved her native city of Bethulia from attack by the Assyrians, was extremely popular during the Renaissance (Old Testament, Apocrypha, The Book of Judith, I-XVI).

[themuseumwithoutwalls]

MWW Artwork of the Day (8/14/23) Paolo Veronese (Venetian, 1528–1588) Judith with the Head of Holophernes (c. 1575-80) Oil on canvas, 111 x 100.5 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

During the siege of the city of Bethulia by the Assyrians, Judith succeeded through her courage and cunning in entering the camp of the general Holofernes and beheading him in his sleep, thus giving her people victory over the now-leaderless Assyrian troops. Veronese depicts the moment when Judith is about to hand her victim’s severed head to the servant standing to her right. Although the heroine is clad in orange-red and blue-colored garments adorned with precious jewelry, there is nothing openly triumphant in her gestures. Melancholy and yet in command of the situation, Judith accepts her deed.

[illustratus]

Judith and Holofernes by Giorgio Vasari

[whumpshaped]

Fem. Jude is Judith?

I mean I think Jude could work but, mmh if there were something more distinctly feminine, I thinks it'd be this.

spakly eye anon. I still can't find my emojis and am scartching at the walls.

fem jude is absolutely named judith after judith from the book of judith. from wikipedia, we can see she was a girlboss

"The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible but excluded from the Hebrew canon and assigned by Protestants to the apocrypha. It tells of a Jewish widow, Judith, who uses her beauty and charm to kill an Assyrian general who has besieged her city, Bethulia. With this act, she saves nearby Jerusalem from total destruction. The name Judith (Hebrew: יְהוּדִית, Modern: Yəhūdīt, Tiberian: Yŭhūḏīṯ), meaning "praised" or "Jewess",[1] is the feminine form of Judah."

despite this, judith is of course a subdued young woman who lives in constant fear of hellfire and sex before marriage. she's not a girlboss, she's sopping wet and pathetic.

anyway here's the original judith with the head of holophernes by cristofano allori