ArtGraeco’s homoerotic take on the James Bond spy film You Only Live Twice (1967).
James Bond (Sean Connery) has been captured, tied to a chair and interrogated by Helga Brandt (Karin Dor) as he attempts to unwind Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s plot to start a nuclear war.
[Bond is captured by Brandt]
Brandt: I’ve got you now.
Bond: Well, enjoy yourself.
[Brandt slaps him]
The CineManArt series by ArtGraeco replaces Helga with “Helmut”, instructing him to stay away from bridges (Helga Brandt is eaten by piranhas after a bridge’s bottom drops out when Blofeld hits a pedal).
CineManArt is a series of photomontages, collages and digital art by ArtGraeco that recast characters of mainstream movies, change scenarios and subvert plots. These up-stagings add new dimensions – some solemn, others playful – to the stereotypes, the intolerance and homophobia cinema portrayed for over 100 years of filmmaking.
The CineManArt series by Artgraeco depicts what cinema could be and could have been more of: open, daring, defiant, fair, inclusive.
The homoeroticism here speaks to the subtext of sexual tensions and desires that flow between those of the same gender and the subversive homoerotic imagery in the movies.
ArtGraeco 