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| PlanetGay - Enslaved Buddies |
This image may look familiar to you, it's part of a select group showing desert kidnaps in distant lands where we fondly imagine enslavement of white men still flourishes. Examples at this blog are by Bowen, Tacitus, Iskan156, Gilgamesh and most notably perhaps by Chirenon.
In fact this picture is an AI reinvention of the slave delivery scene from Etienne's classic tale of Middle-Eastern misfortune 'Sailors Beware'. This particular story has had a lot of coverage at mitchmen blog recently thanks to the discovery of a little-known early draft of the story and a long-forgotten Royale storyette which probably inspired it: 'Shanghaied Sailor'.
AI gets a bad press in some quarters but there's no question of 'stealing' pictures here and the artist - PlanetGay- gives full credit to Etienne as it's inspiration. The new version is distinctly different from Etienne's original but it gives it a new lease of life. It's even preserved the distinctive, balletic stance of the brunet captive - a very Etienne-ian detail. The sexy, new characterisation of the kidnapped sailors makes one wish for some of the other scenes to be given the same treatment. If you compare the clothing of the evil abductor with Etienne's original, you might be surprised at what is revealed.
As ever with AI, some of the detailing is wide of the mark, like the unmilitary haircuts and goatees of the conscripts and the slanting oasis water (with surf?). That big city mosque parachuted into the middle of the desert to add atmosphere is clichéd as well as daft. Having said that, Etienne might easily have done the same thing in his time.
More PlanetGay at mitchmen blog