How They Connect to Lee and Gene's Relationship

Warning: spoilers for Queer, by Luca Guadagnino.

The romantic drama Queer it has a lot of symbolism, especially the presence of a centipede and a snake, and they are strongly linked to Lee (Daniel Craig) and Gene (Drew Starkey). Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs and directed by Luca Guadagnino, Queer takes audiences back to the 1950s to tell the story of Lee and Gene. Queer is divided into three chapters and an epilogue, and its main setting is Mexico City, where expatriate Lee spends his days in bars meeting younger queer men until he sees Gene, a soldier and expatriate.

Although he struggles to get close to Gene at first, Lee ends up falling in love with Gene and they begin a relationshipalthough it is more physical than emotional, as Gene is emotionally distant. A trip together to South America turns out to be a turning point in Lee and Gene's relationship after an ayahuasca experience, during which great truths are revealed to them about themselves and their relationship. All over Queer, a centipede and snakes appear in real life and in Lee's dreamsand this is all about Lee and Gene's relationship.

The Queer snake represents Lee's cycle of loneliness

The snake has everything to do with Lee's self-destruction

All over Queersome of Lee's dreams and nightmares are shown, but they begin after he sees Gene for the first time. Lee's dreams are about her lifestyle as a queer person, her friendships, and symbolic representations of her own fears and desires. The first time a snake appears in Queer is when Lee and Gene arrive at Dr. Cotter's (Lesley Manville) jungle residence, where they are (aggressively) greeted by a snake guarding Cotter's door. The next time a snake appears is in another of Lee's dreams, and this is the one that has a lot of meaning.

In this dream sequence, Lee is inside a dollhouse that is actually the hotel where he had several sexual encounters with young men before meeting Gene. When Lee enters a room, he finds a snake eating its own tail, a symbol known as an “ouroboros.” The Ouroboros is a symbol of the eternal cycle of renewal or the cycle of life, death and rebirth. In this specific case, however, The Ouroboros represents Lee's cycle of self-destruction, hence the reason the snake sheds a tear.

The snake consuming itself represents Lee making the same mistakes over and over and get stuck in a cycle of loneliness, substance use, longing for love, and being gay in a repressive world. The snake in this particular position makes her unable to move, much like Lee after his relationship with Gene, as he remained single and died alone.

Queer Centipede Represents Gene Leaving Lee

The Centipede appears with two of Lee's partners

While Lee's symbol is the snake, Gene's is the centipede, although it is not exclusive to him. The centipede first appears in the first act of Queerwhen Lee meets a guy at a bar, he later takes him to the aforementioned hotel. The guy is wearing a centipede necklace and leaves after having sex with Lee, and they never see each other again. Now, back to Lee's final dream sequence in Queerafter noticing the Ouroboros on the floor, he looks up to find Gene sitting on the bed. Gene is wearing the centipede necklace, which comes to life and starts moving.

Unlike the snake that represents Lee's destructive cycle and inability to turn away from it, the centipede is about how easy it is for Gene (and the other guy) to just leave and move on. It's easier for Gene to simply walk away from Lee and his queerness, even telling Lee that he's not homosexual, while Lee can't escape who he is, his lifestyle, and his endless desire for love and intimacy. emotional.

This remains true at the end of Queerwith Gene leaving Mexico City with an army colonel to be his tour guide in South America and never seeing Lee again, showing that he has moved on, while Lee died alone and remembering his time with Gene until his last breath.

Why Lee and Gene couldn't be together on Queer

Lee and Gene's relationship wasn't meant to last

Lee and Gene wouldn't last together Queer why they wanted different things. As mentioned above, Lee seeks intimacy in all ways, not just physical, and longs for love, but when he begins a relationship with Gene, it is mostly physical, as Gene remains emotionally distant. Gene doesn't know what he wants, which leads him to play with Gene's feelings, and he doesn't live a free life like Lee does as a queer man, succumbing to social pressure against queer people.

Their trip to the jungle to try ayahuasca ended up destroying their relationship rather than repairing it, but it was for the better because they were both living a lie: Lee believing Gene could love it, and Gene staying with Lee despite knowing he loves him and not fully identifying as gay.