Sergei Bordov’s Mongol Gay Cinema || by Joel Barraquiel-Tan

In the afterglow and hangovers of yesterday's Pride Celebration in San Francisco, we here at Oh! bring you this month's guest contributor, Bay Area-based writer/poet/playwright and sexual warrior, Joel Barraquiel-Tan. After more than 25 years in HIV/AIDS prevention and queer activist work, he currently focuses his energies on putting the "sex" back into sexuality through edited anthologies, poetry chapbooks, and performance. Here, he pulls together two streams of mainstream representation (Mongol, the movie and queer Asian American bodies) in order to queer our notions of pride. Enjoy!

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Queer or not, men of any Asian extraction should masturbate to Sergei Bordov’s cinematic extravaganza, Mongol. The first installment of a trilogy, Mongol is a three hour epic depicting the early life of Tamudjin , the man who would be known as Genghis Khan. Whether you like horse galloping long-haired, beefy hirsute men with cheekbones in leather and fur or not, touching yourself to the images of these men will make you feel really good about being a man and it might even add inches.

I have never. I have never seen so many fucking beautiful men (and women and children and horses and wolves and embroidery) in my life! I know its customary for a film review to lay out the plot before I tear into what I thought about the film. But actually, this isn’t a review where I share what I think about the film but rather this post is about the thinking the film inspired in me. But context is important so:

Mongol Haiku #1
Borte, Khan’s Queen says
You can’t cook 2 ram heads in
1 pot: me & him?

The him in the Haiku that Borte is referring to is the Mongol chieftain Jamukha, Tamudjin’s blood brother and enemy. I imagine the sexual culture of Mongol’s world to be a little like being at Burning Man. Nomadic, 21st century omnisexual, stationery, dusty & non-cash trading encouraged. And Borte certainly did a lot non-cash and cash trading that yielded in two children (one from Khan’s enemy warrior who kidnapped Borte & a traveling salesman) that the Great Khan adopts as his own. Husband and wife spend a lot of time apart between battles and kidnapping and capture but their love stays true and everlasting.

I don’t know about you but I’m really appreciating the queer heterosexuality of the Khans’ clan: open relationship, separate households & non-blood family making. I really admire this. It's not easy, this open relationship thing. Communication is key.

BORTE: Meet your daughter. She’s seven.

KHAN: But we’ve been apart for eight years!

BORTE: Don’t start. You were the one who got yourself kidnapped by the enemy tribes. Only to end up a freak show act in a Tangut Kingdom cage.

KHAN: I feel criticized. Was the sex better? Are you IN love with him?

BORTE: Needy needy the fucking wood killer. Look, Khan, I am not responsible for your feelings. And I am not going to co-sign your pity contract.

KHAN: She’s cute. Our daughter.

BORTE: She has your ears. Now, can you watch her? I have to run some errands.

As a late 80’s, early 90’s Queer AIDS activist, I couldn’t help but wonder what it might have been like if we, the engineers of the Asian American AIDS movement, had been exposed to compelling images of Asian masculinity and a deeper understanding of 12th century Central Asian omni-sexual practices. Might we have taken a different approach to our work?

Early Asian American HIV awareness strategies for Gay Men centered on sexual nationalism. Safer sex brochures & posters featured images of attractive Asian American men with other Asian American men. We steered clear of exotica. Determined to defy Asian male stereotypes, our approach was non-assimilationist assimilationist. Nation builiding through empowerment propaganda. Slogans floating about included: Love Your Asian Body. Queer N’Asian. Long Noodle Factory, etc. (editor's note: for an alternate version of HIV prevention made possible by the efforts of this earlier movement, see San Francisco's Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center's "Safer Sex: A Guide for Us")

We imagined that we could create a nation of healthy HIV negative Queer Asian men. Weaken the hold of racism and colonialism. Take white men out of the equation and call it safeR sex. Besides the epidemiology proves having sex with white and other non-Asian men is HIV risky. Not surprising, during the early years of the HIV epidemic there was a boom in demand for Asian boyfriends in the Gay personals. It seemed that Asians might be immune or at the very least, resistant to HIV. Hurry get your Asian boyfriend because supplies are limited!

Mongol Haiku #2
Tamudjin, Craiglists
Bi tribal 4 discreet fun
No fats, fems or whites

Shortly after the screening of Mongol, my boyfriend asked what I thought.

I looked into his blue eyes and replied, “Let’s get the fuck out of the U.S!”

I am not the American ideal of masculinity. There is little to no place for my type of beauty. My nostrils are wide and spread. I am bridgeless, double folded, chunkythick tattooed. I’ve long accepted that I might live my life only appearing beautiful to myself and a select handful who have very specific fetishes.

I am a fetish.

I am exotica.

Hey, I am exotica.

The next morning, I wake up feeling like shit. It’s only Tuesday. I have a presentation to give that I’m nervous about. I didn’t get enough sleep. My boyfriend and I are taking small early morning nips at each other. I hate his neighborhood and its pollution. I hate my student loan. Bush should be arrested. My breath stinks. What would the Great Khan do?

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The Great Khan wakens. War and worry on his mind, he watches his fair Queen Louie of the Cleveland tribe mumbling apocalypse over the day’s Yahoo news features. The Great Ruler's heart is heavy. He must convince the various departments of his proposed agenda or go to battle. The Great Ruler wants to avoid spilling blood but he will, if forced to. Over a hearty bowl of Irish style oatmeal, orange flavored cranberries and pistachios, he offers thanks to the Sky God for a new day and for granting him the courage and the cheekbones to brave the wilds of Oakland. He braids his hair in fancy ways & slips in his astigmatism soft lenses. The world is as clear as Lake Merritt.

He is a warrior king.

He is ready for the world.


- Joel Barraquiel-Tan