Analog sexy

The cartoonist Joe Dator recently updated an older cartoon of his In it a pregnant woman gets an ultrasound and the monitor displays a movie star ldquoDonrsquot worryrdquo says the radiologistldquoThatrsquos Pedro Pascal Hersquos in everythingrdquoHe sure is and I have no complaints Pedro Pascal is hot funny and fluid I am not ashamed to say that a large part of my free time and notsofree time is spent consuming Pedro Pascal only metaphorically alas Reels shorts clips whole interviews TV showsmdashIrsquom there Arenrsquot youI recently saw a wideeyed Reddit post where the puzzled poster said he had ldquolooked him uprdquo and found that though Pascal was a good actor he was only above average in the looks department so why do women love Pedro Pascal so much This made me laugh if a bit ruefully Men say theyrsquore so lost about what women like because they seem to imagine there is one known answer But if stardom tells us anything itrsquos that we are beings of infinite desires And desire is usually a question not an answerAnd does Pedro Pascal always have a question in his eyes or what Were your eyes to meet across a crowded subway car you would hold the look for a saturated minute before you both broke into irrepressible grins and walked away already lost in the memory of the greatest love that could have been Itrsquos by dwelling in ambiguity that we dwell in romance in the knowing for sure without knowing for certain that our blood quickens to flood us with sensory awarenessPedro Pascal has enlivened my DM duniya earlier ruled by SRK who is nowadays not in the mood for love ldquoDo you think he is gayrdquo I wondered to one friend last night ldquoI wonrsquot allow itrdquo she said ldquoSo just a romantic thenrdquo I typed wistfully ldquoLargely unpartnered romanticrdquo she replied ldquoWhich means the greatest romantic of them allrdquo Sigh I shared a thirst reel to my stories A friend texted ldquolaga do aag paani bhi to bhejo Pascal jirdquo YusA lot of Pascalrsquos sexiness is what I think of as Analog Sexiness Analog sexiness is hedonism that is sensual not just consumerist Itrsquos eccentric and open minded Aesthetics is for play and blurring lines not conforming to the rules of design Mischief emotion friendship and a dialup connection all have an element of maybe of surprise and mutual waiting Therersquos a lot of give and take in Pascalrsquos demeanour that invites you to play And of course he can dance which all South Asians know matters a lotThis is a savoury contrast to digital sexiness which has a vanilla curated sameness Pascalrsquos age defies the suffocating logic of our time that we must be forever young and born formed for success At the same time he seems completely of this time Middle aged men especially selfdescribed liberals complain a lot about ldquotoo much wokismrdquo and too many categories Pascal on the other hand has a being that has opened itself to all the libidinal energies that queerness celebratesmdashtart humour colour softness gender play and allowed it to infuse a more traditional masculinity where affection and sexiness coexist It makes masculinity possible without it having to be boring and selfserious or toxic or in need of reform Yaniki deliciousParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at paromitavohramiddaycomatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params