Russell Tovey doesn’t fumble his role as a closeted footballer in this British sports drama
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this Super Bowl weekend edition of the column, we’re taking a cheeky look at the story of “footballers” from across the pond in 2016’s The Pass.Historically, there hasn’t been a strong connection between team sports and the queer community.
They tend to be culturally regarded as one of the epitomes of traditional masculinity, and it hasn’t been until quite recently that more players in national and international leagues have felt comfortable coming out.
And even then, most of them have still faced professional consequences or heavy criticism for it. With equitable representation still very much lagging in sports, it’s no surprise there are very few sports movies with overtly queer themes, particularly from the last century.This Sunday, thousands of people from all over the world will gather to watch the Superbowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
It’s painting out to be a pretty queer-less event, with the gayest things being the tangential Taylor Swift relation and the potential of Usher being shirtless during the Halftime Show.
