as a person under the agender/nonbinary umbrella I actually think the recently increased focus on a nonbinary person’s agab is insanely fucking uncomfortable and blatantly exorsexist. Stop trying to sort NB people into boxes of amab vs afab, transfem vs transmasc, tma vs tme, etc etc. It is not praxis or activism to keep attempting to binarize people whose entire identities are built around the fact that they DO NOT ADHERE to a binary. You are just being a fucking tar pit #sorry
tma and tme are to describe one's relationship to transmisogyny. it's similar to describing a relationship to anti-blackness by "creating a binary" of black and non-black (which includes white people, latino people, asian people, etc). tme includes anyone who is not transfeminized (such as cis men, cis women, trans men, etc). just because there are two categories of something doesn't mean you're getting forced into a gender binary. ignoring your relationship to transmisogyny by refusing to understand what tme/tma means is exactly the same as ignoring your relationship to anti-blackness by saying "i dont see color", because sure, you can ignore that there's a structural & systemic issue regarding a specific demographic, but it doesn't mean its not there!
nigga did your white ass really just come onto a black person’s post to try and lecture them about not knowing their own relationship to antiblackness
number one check yourself. Number two comparing TMA/TME to anti-Blackness is a false dichotomy and I need white queer people to stop trying to compare themselves to Black people every single chance they get. oh my god
The two are NOT similar. If you really wanna play the game of equating race and gender, then the equivalent to “Black and nonblack” would be transfem/trans woman and non-transfem/trans woman, not TMA/TME. I can assure you that NO black person is going around saying “antiblack racism affected vs antiblack racism exempt.” Because That Is Stupid.
EVERYONE is affected by antiblackness, because of how deeply it’s ingrained into our entire societal structure. You cannot write off specific demographics as not being affected by certain forms of oppression or discrimination, because the nature of living in a white supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy is that ALL of these systems are INTRINSICALLY connected with each other, and affect EVERYONE to some degree. There are countless historical examples of antiblack legislation directly impacting poor communities of other racial groups- including white people. There are primary targets of discrimination, obviously, but nobody is truly “exempt” from any sort of oppressive system unless they are at the VERY top of the damn food chain.
In the same vein, the intersection of transphobia and misogyny is ALSO deeply ingrained into our society. And because of that, nobody is truly “transmisogyny-exempt.” Even people who aren’t the primary targets are still directly impacted and negatively affected by transmisogynistic systems. I find TMA/TME to be useless in terms of categorization because it directly posits that everyone who gets sorted into the latter group just doesn’t experience any oppression or discrimination derived from transmisogynistic bases at all, which is ridiculous, because that happens All the time.
A trans man or enby who’s mistaken for a trans woman and is assaulted for it, a cis man who’s belittled and attacked on the basis of being Too Feminine, a cis woman who’s publicly shamed, derided, and transvestigated for having testosterone levels that are “too high,” are all examples of non-transfem/trans woman groups being negatively affected on the basis of transmisogyny.
Poor white people being affected by legislation meant to target and attack Black populations and the massive trend of colorism throughout Asian communities are examples of nonblack groups being negatively affected on the basis of antiblackness.
You cannot sort people by what oppression they do and do not face, and attempts to do so are inherently exclusionary and are bound to lead back into denying people of their lived experiences, just because they don’t line up perfectly into these specific categories of “this genre of person goes through this” vs “this genre of person doesn’t go through that.”
I believe that TMA/TME was coined with the best intentions, but the problem is that it’s a clumsy dichotomy and the way a lot of people tend to use it ends up leading back into the same issues of being binary (“amab trans people experience this, afab trans people don’t experience that”) and then THAT leads back into a whole heaping mess in and of itself
Talking about the way transfeminized people are targeted by transmisogyny is not a bad thing in and of itself! But like, you can just say transfem/non-transfem- or even just “transfeminized” to describe the position oppressors will often place people into in order to enact transmisogynistic violence against them- instead of directly trying to state what different groups of people Do And Don’t Experience. you can say “primary targets of transmisogyny” without directly implying that certain groups are exempt from it all together.
THAT is my issue at hand when it comes to TMA/TME. It is an awkward framework to describe oppression, because oppression doesn’t work like that in reality
“And if you’ll give me 40% of the MOST POPULAR VOTE, I’ll give you my SPECIAL REWARD... A year’s supply of NON-GLOOBY SLIME!!! Never or BARELY used!!!” Tenna concluded his speech with a huge smile, jetting his hands up in double peace signs.
The crowd roared in confused enthusiasm as Tenna gave a gracious flurry of low-FPS bows, pausing only for the occasional stink-nose at his audience plants who weren’t throwing enough 3D roses.
Eventually, the room fell silent. It was Senshi’s turn to speak.
He puffed out his chest, took a long, sweeping look over the audience… and shook his head.
“I can see not all of you are eating properly.”
The crowd murmured with embarrassment.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s time to take the turkey out of your icebox. I have seen the ingenious technology with which your people store food... and I have also seen the waste which results from such convenience.
“The food you take had a life. Beasts grew fat on the grass of the field, plants grew from the sun’s rays, and mushrooms grew from minerals in the cracks of caves. And yet, it sits in your iceboxes, collecting moisture until it perishes.
“Eat what is given to you. Because its life will make you stronger, too.”
Without another word, Senshi left his podium and stepped away from the stage. The crowd murmured in confusion. “Is he really like that?” somebody said. “I only remember reblogging the photosets of him tripping and showing ass.”
--
Back in the Green Room, Tenna wrung his antennas nervously.
“Y-y-you think they liked me!? They HAD to!! I mean, I don’t know what Asgore was thinking, getting that weird haircut and running that food waste campaign, but… YOU thought I did good, didn’t you, Kris?”
Laios nodded aggressively, a streak of blue face paint peeling from his forehead.
“You did AMAZING, Tenna! By the way, now that we’ve seen all your insider campaign secrets, do you have any more videos of Susie? Especially her tail... If I could get a look at that, I could finally tell if she’s a dinosaur or --”
THWACK. Fake antlers butted Laios’s head.
“LAIOS?? Weren’t we dressed up to help SENSHI???” Marcille hissed, gesturing awkwardly with her hooves.
Suddenly, Tenna turned to the two adventurers.
“Hey, WAIT a second. SOMETHING’s not right here...”
Laios and Marcille held their breath.
“Where the heck are my POINTS!?”
Just then, the door opened. Chilchuck took one step into the room, whistling and holding a large bag.
Everyone turned to him.
Chilchuck paused, took a step backwards, and closed the door.
“CHILCHUCK!!!” yelled Tenna.
“How come Chilchuck got to stay Chilchuck!?” yelled Marcille at the same time.
--
Meanwhile, in outer space somewhere, some guy was making out with a rock.
my general opinion on what people should be "allowed" to portray and what topics they should be "allowed" to explore in fiction is that you can make whatever art with whatever themes you want but i'm also allowed to think the way you handled it was tasteless and should've been done differently. my negative opinion on your handling of sensitive topics is the price of admission for publicly showcasing your work. this is not a pro-censorship stance because i am not The Government
this is getting really popular so i’d like to add the important caveat that your criticism of a work is no more unassailable than the work itself. just as one is entitled to be critical of something someone else is entitled to disagree with that criticism. i add this because some of you pretend to give a fuck about thoughtful analysis and then when someone points out flaws in your argument you declare that all criticisms are valid. this is untrue. the status of a hater is no more sacred than that of a liker. get off your high horse and engage in the thoughtful discussion you pretend to believe in or perish by my blade
a simplified, if comically-long, timeline of book vincent benítez's life, annotated with relevant Real Life Events
legend:
d.u. = exact date (month and day) unknown
??? = totally unknown date
🟢 = book events
🟦 = book events, with specific times
🟡 = lomeli timeline (because this post is about vincent, i only included a few bits of lomeli's own background, not all)
‼️ = Real Life Events, using dates from wikipedia
(note: i've tried my best to place entries with d.u. and ??? "correctly" around entries with fixed/known dates along the timeline, but of course there's no certainty etc)
⚠️ based on the information in the book, i assume this book takes place in 2019. it is explicitly stated that vincent was appointed archbishop of baghdad in 2018. when vincent arrives at the conclave, mandorff reminds lomeli that the holy father "appointed him [as archbishop] last year". there are individual notes in the timeline below when this assumption of the year contradicts Real Life, or other parts of the book
🙂 comments, corrections, additions, questions are all welcome! 🙂
🟡 (d.u.) 1944: lomeli is born, in genoa, italy
note: this is based on lomeli being 75 years old during the year of the conclave
🟢 (d.u.) 1952: vincent is born in manila, philippines, to very poor parents
note: this is based on vincent being 67 years old during the year of the conclave
🟡 (d.u.) 1958: lomeli is in a seminary in genoa; he is ordained in the 1960s
‼️ 1962–1965: the second vatican council
🟢 ???: vincent enters the san carlos seminary in san pedro (now guadalupe), makati city
note: san carlos seminary is the archdiocese seminary of manila
‼️ january–march 1970: the first quarter storm in the philippines
‼️ august 21, 1971: the plaza miranda bombing, which is used by president ferdinand marcos to suspend the writ of habeas corpus throughout the country
‼️ september 21, 1972: martial law is declared in the philippines by ferdinand marcos, ending his second term as president and starting his tenure as a dictator
🟢 (d.u.) 1978: vincent is ordained by cardinal jaime sin, archbishop of manila
🟢 ???: vincent begins his first ministry at the santo niño de tondo, in the district of tondo, city of manila
‼️ august 1978: pope paul vi dies, pope john paul i is elected
note: 🟡 lomeli is in the vatican at this time and remembers viewing paul vi's body
‼️ october 1978: pope john paul i dies, pope john paul ii is elected
‼️ january 17, 1981: martial law is lifted, timed to coincide with john paul ii's visit to the philippines and ronald reagan's election as us president, but ferdinand marcos retains all his powers as dictator
note: because this is a simplified timeline, i will not explain why reagan's election is significant to philippine politics
‼️ february 17–22, 1981: john paul ii visits the philippines
‼️ august 21, 1983: ferdinand marcos' longtime political opponent senator benigno aquino is assassinated upon his return from overseas exile, unifying the opposition against the dictatorship
‼️ february 22–25, 1986: following the 1986 snap elections, people power revolution ousts ferdinand marcos and ends the marcos dictatorship
🟢 ???: vincent begins his second ministry at our lady of the abandoned parish in sta. ana, a district in the city of manila
note: this church was established by the order of the friars minor (the franciscans), and they continue to administer it
🟢 ???: vincent establishes the project of the blessed santa margherita de cortona, eight shelters for homeless girls
notes on vincent's time in manila: both churches he served at were in the city of manila, under the diocese of manila. when speaking about vincent, cardinal mendoza also mentions san andres, payatas, and bagong silangan. san andres is another district in the city of manila, sharing a border with sta. ana. payatas and bagong silangan are in quezon city, which, until the 2000s, were also under the diocese of manila. payatas and bagong silangan are now under the diocese of novaliches.
‼️ april 7–july 19, 1994: the genocide in rwanda, zaire's neighboring country
note: this is included in the timeline as a precursor event to the first congo war
‼️ october 24, 1996: start of the first congo war
‼️ 1997: zaire is renamed (had its name changed back to) "democratic republic of congo"
‼️ october 29, 1996: christopher munzihirwa, archbishop of bukavu, is assassinated
note: the diocese of bukavu is located in south kivu, drc, a major site of conflict in the first and second congo wars, as it shares a border with rwanda
🟢 (d.u.) 1996: vincent requests to be transferred to zaire, does missionary work
‼️ may 16, 1997: end of the first congo war
‼️ august 2, 1998: start of the second congo war
‼️ july 18, 2003: end of the second congo war
🟢 ???: vincent sets up a catholic hospital in bukavu to assist female victims of the genocidal sexual violence perpetrated during the first and second congo wars
note: this fictional hospital has a real-life equivalent, the pentecostal panzi hospital and foundation, founded in 1999 by nobel peace prize awardee dr denis mukwege
‼️ july 2006: joseph kabila is elected president of the drc in the first multi-party elections since 1960
‼️ march 20, 2003: the usa invades iraq, beginning the iraq war
🟡 ~2003–2005: lomeli is recalled from his position as the apostolic nuncio for the permanent observer of the holy see to the united nations in new york city to serve as the secretary for relations with foreign states by john paul ii, who gives him his current pectoral cross
notes: i put down 2003 as the tentative start of this period, because lomeli notes that john paul ii's parkinsons was already advanced at the time. btw much in the same way that there are 2 nuncios in the usa (the nuncio to the usa is in washington, d.c.), there are 2 holy see permanent observers to the un—the other one is in geneva, for the un hq and and other specialized institutions located there.
‼️ april 2005: pope john paul ii dies, pope benedict xvi is elected 🟡 lomeli's first conclave
note: lomeli mentions that the current conclave is his (and cardinal krasinki's) third conclave
‼️ 2011: the usa officially withdraws from iraq
‼️ february 2013: pope benedict xvi resigns, the holy father is elected* 🟡 lomeli's second conclave
note: lomeli remembers that the holy father was elected on the fifth ballot
⚠️ * note: in the book, tedesco complains "Another ten years like the last ten – another Holy Father like the last one". this seems to indicate that the holy father has been pope for ten years (tedesco, as ratzinger's protégé, would not have been complaining about benedict xvi's papacy). either benedict xvi's papacy in the book ended earlier (in book canon he also resigned) or the book actually takes place in...2023?
‼️ december 2016: joseph kabila's second presidential term officially expires, but he does not leave office until the 2018 elections
🟢 (d.u.) 2017: vincent meets the holy father, who is on a papal tour of africa. he is created monsignor*
note: based on the provided dates in the book, vincent was in the drc/africa for at least 20 years. it is in africa that he got used to not having electricity and having candles around him at night
* monsignor is not an official appointive rank within the clerical hierarchy like bishop or cardinal. it's more of a papal honorary title, although exactly what that honor entails depends on the prevailing rules at the time he was given the title. starting from this point, vincent would be called monsignor benítez in formal or official address
‼️ 2013–2017: war in iraq, involving the islamic state/isil/isis/daesh
‼️ december 2017: start of the (still-ongoing, as of 2025) islamic state insurgency in iraq
🟢 (d.u.) 2018: the position of archbishop of baghdad falls vacant. the holy father rejects the nominees of the congregation of bishops and appoints vincent as the archbishop
🟢 ???: vincent is featured in a magazine while he is archbishop, as remembered by lomeli
🟢 ???: vincent is injured in a car-bomb attack in iraq, goes to the hospital, is fully examined by a doctor for the first time, and finds out he's intersex
note: the book's exact phrasing is "In January this year, following minor injuries sustained in a car-bomb attack, Archbishop Benítez offered his resignation on medical grounds …". based on this, i'm not willing to declare that the car-bomb attack was also in january of 2019
🟢 ??? (shortly after the previous event): the doctor who treated* vincent dies in a bombing
* vincent uses the word "treated", so my interpretation is that the doctor who treated his car-bombing injuries in the hospital was also the doctor who fully examined him and first discovered him being intersex. also based on what vincent says, only one doctor knew he was intersex, so i assume the doctor didn't record their findings anywhere and there were no other doctors/nurses/etc present while vincent was being treated/examined
🟡 2019: lomeli is 75 years old and is experiencing some kind of spiritual insomnia
🟢 january 2019: vincent offers his resignation on health grounds to the holy father in a letter, then is invited to vatican city* by the holy father and they have a private meeting with the holy father where he withdrew his resignation (both the resignation letter and the note saying it was withdrawn, are in vincent's file with the congregation of bishops)
note: please see next event's footnote for more discussion on this
* robert harris is clearly aware that vincent, a philippine passport holder, requires visas to go to many countries, so ask him and not me how vincent, from iraq, got a religious*** visa to enter italy** to get to vatican city
** vatican city does not issue its own visas, and vincent, at this point in time, is not entitled to hold a vatican passport
*** or a tourism/business/invitation visa..............the point here is that third-country visas are way more difficult to obtain than getting one from the embassy located in the country where one holds the passport
🟢 (d.u.) 2019: vincent is issued a return ticket to go to a clinic specializing in "gender reassignment" in geneva, switzerland, and files a visa application to that effect, but he changes his mind and cancels his appointment the night before he is due to fly out, and returns to baghdad*
* the events of vincent's attempted resignation are told piece-meal in the book, but to the best of my understanding: after finding out he is intersex: vincent writes and sends a resignation letter to the vatican, on medical grounds but not specifying why ➡️ the holy father finds out and invites vincent to the vatican to discuss his resignation ➡️ during this meeting, vincent "in the end" reveals that he is intersex, and the holy father lets him decide what he wants to do (they pray together for guidance) ➡️ vincent decides to get "a surgery to correct a fusion of the labia majora and minora, and a clitoropexy" (it's not clear if at the time he decided, he knew that these were the specific procedures he "must" undergo) ➡️ the pope's private office buys him the return** plane tickets to geneva and vincent submits his swiss visa application (lomeli mentions that this application, on file somewhere beyond vatican control, is a possible smoking gun); it's not stated who made the appointment for the preliminary consultation with the clinic, which was under an assumed name ➡️ vincent decides not to go to geneva, withdraws his resignation, and returns to baghdad instead (implying all of these happened in the vatican? ** the plan was for him to return to rome/the vatican after his consult?) ➡️ his resignation and its withdrawal are filed with the vatican
🟢 (d.u.) 2019: a couple of months before the holy father dies (august?), he raises the possibility with bellini to appoint vincent as a cardinal. bellini advises him against it
🟢 (d.u.) 2019: the holy father changes the law on in pectore appointments, essentially so that the appointments do not lapse/expire if the appointed cardinals are not made public (published? in a consistory?) before the appointing pontiff dies
🟢 (d.u.) 2019: vincent is created a cardinal in pectore. he has a letter of appointment from the holy father addressed to the archdiocese of baghdad, and a seal of office
note: the book explains the three ranks of cardinals. vincent is almost certainly a cardinal-priest, as he has a diocese
🟡 september 17, 2019: the final meeting between the holy father and lomeli
🟢 october 19, 2019: the holy father dies. this is also the date of the report on tremblay's simony*
note: the holy father is discovered by wozniak at around 11:30 pm (of the previous day) and is pronounced dead at 12:12 am. his official date of death is october 19. lomeli leaves his apartment to go to the pope's bedroom before 2:00 am, and is the last to arrive
* it's not explained in the book why the report is dated october 19, when the holy father confronted tremblay on october 18
🟢 october–november 2019: the holy father's funeral and almost daily congregations (meetings) of the college of cardinals
notes: it's not stated in the book, but part of this period is novendiales, the 9-day mourning period for the dead pope. all cardinals present in rome, electors or not, are expected to attend the general congregations. vincent misses all of these events, for obvious reasons, but lomeli also notes that tedesco steered clear of rome since the funeral, implying that he too did not attend the congregations*
* later in the book, on the last day of the conclave, tedesco accuses lomeli of turning the conclave into a congregation when the latter lets the cardinals discuss the terrorist attacks
🟢 november 6, 2019: vincent lands in beirut, lebanon, and sleeps at the arrivals lounge
notes: rome is one hour behind beirut. it's not clear how circuitous the route vincent takes to get from baghdad to beirut, but the most direct flight is under 2 hours
🟢 november 7, 2019: the night before the first day of conclave
⚠️ note: the book says that this nov. 7 is a sunday. in the Real Life calendar, november 7, 2019 was a thursday
🟦 3–4:?? pm: vincent arrives in rome, heads to vatican city
note: the most direct flight between beirut and rome takes 3 hours and 35 minutes
🟦 5:45 pm: the then-last cardinal arrives at casa santa marta
🟦 ~6:00 pm: lomeli meets with wozniak
🟦 6:?? pm: vincent arrives at casa santa marta, and meets the vatican characters for the first time*
* lomeli introduces vincent to bellini with a "This is Cardinal Bellini, whom I think you may know." and vincent replies, "Cardinal Bellini? I’m afraid not." later vincent tells lomeli that the holy father told him that bellini is "brilliant but neurotic", implying that he did, in fact, know who bellini was
note: lomeli wakes up from his nap and notes that it's almost 8 pm. he stays in his room for more than 30 minutes (he spends nearly half an hour kneeling on his prie-dieu) until it is time for dinner
🟦 8:?? pm: dinner, where vincent is introduced to the college of cardinals, and meets the cardinals from the philippines and africa, for the first time
notes on this dinner: vincent is hugged by cardinal muamba, archbishop emeritus of kinshasa, drc, who invites vincent to sit with the table of eight african cardinals. cardinal nakitanda is in this table. adeyemi is seated two tables away and lomeli observes that he keeps looking at vincent with puzzled irritation.
🟢 november 8, 2019: first day of voting, the first ballot. it's rainy
🟦 10:?? am–12:?? pm: the missa pro eligendo romano pontifice. lomeli delivers his homily and is so stressed out by the responses that he misses lunch (he had previously missed breakfast)
🟦 2:30 pm: the cardinals board the minibuses to the sistine chapel
🟦 4:46 pm: the cardinals are officially sequestered in the chapel
🟦 5:00 pm: the first ballot (vincent vote: 1)
🟦 8:30 pm: dinner
🟦 ??:?? pm: at the lobby of casa santa marta, vincent leaves the group he is speaking with to talk to lomeli. vincent tells lomeli that he voted for him
🟢 november 9, 2019: second day of voting, the second to fifth ballots
🟦 9:?? am: the cardinals head to the sistine chapel
🟦 ??:?? am: the second ballot (vincent votes: 2)
🟦 10:45 am: the last cardinal finishes voting in the second ballot
🟦 ??:?? am: the third ballot (vincent votes: 2)
🟦 12:37 pm: black smoke from the third ballot
🟦 12:50 pm: lunch is ongoing. adeyemi makes a scene with shanumi
🟦 2:45 pm: the fourth ballot (vincent votes: 5)
🟦 ~4:?? pm: the fifth ballot (vincent votes: 4)
🟦 6:22 pm: black smoke from fifth ballot
🟦 ~7:?? pm: lomeli is visited by bellini and sabbadin
🟦 30 minutes later, before dinner: lomeli visits vincent in his room, to ask vincent not to vote for him
note: vincent says that it's his habit to meditate for an hour at this time of day
🟦 ??:?? pm: dinner. vincent sits with the "anglophones" (uk, usa cardinals are memtioned)
note: lomeli spends this dinner contemplating (and accepting as true) vincent's accusation that lomeli spent the last 30 years worshipping the church
🟢 november 10, 2019: third day of voting, the sixth to eighth ballots
🟦 6:30 am: lomeli leaves his room to photocopy the simony report
🟦 ??:?? am: breakfast, with the simony report. vincent gets food for lomeli and sits next to him
🟦 ~9:?? am: o'malley tells lomeli that vincent was issued a return ticket to geneva for a hospital visit
🟦 ~10:00 am: the sixth ballot (vincent votes: 19)
🟦 ??:?? am: the seventh ballot. for the first time lomeli thinks about voting for vincent, but decides not to, instead voting for himself
🟦 11:20 am: the explosion happens. vincent identifies it as a car bomb. voting resumes
🟦 12:42 pm: voting in the seventh ballot concludes. only tedesco, lomeli, and vincent get votes (vincent votes: 24)
🟦 ??:?? pm: in the dining room, lomeli informs the cardinals of the circumstances of the explosion. vincent asks to speak, then insists on speaking despite tedesco's objections
note: vincent speaks twice: first, his campaign speech for lomeli. then, after tedesco talks, he speaks up again with his experience as archbishop of baghdad. the cardinals clap for him after his second speech.
🟦 ??:?? pm: the eighth ballot. lomeli votes for vincent for the first time
🟦 3:00 pm: voting ends (vincent votes: 105). vincent is elected pope
In a film that is about gowns and gossip, there's a lot to say about how people are dressed or are dressing—Benítez refusing to put on the costume until Lawrence sees him plain in the Room of Tears, Adeyemi holding his fascia in his hand when he is confronted with his unchastity, Tedesco with his princely ankle-length cape, Bellini examining and standing apart from the robes prepared for the new pope, Benítez again as he takes off his shoes while Lawrence tries to get him to not vote for him—but tonight I am circling the drain thinking about nakedness.
And how the person who shows the most skin in this movie is (by a wide margin) Aldo Bellini.
First of all, people like to say that this is a film about your bald coworkers but it's really just him. Almost everybody else is experiencing some amount of hair loss, yes, but Aldo's the only main character who is bald-shaved-bald. Even with the skullcap on he is, at all times, in a very modest workplace, showing more skin than anyone else. It's a very high-maintenance look, too, as we can see because he has a little bit of shadow from where the hair he does still grow comes in. For him to have this look, he has to go over his scalp with a razor, close, every few days; at least once per week. That's a choice he has made, and that the film has endorsed, because I have seen them put some very wild lace-fronts on Stanley Tucci and they chose not to do that. Being that bald and austere and bare is right for his character.
And then he wears the blue nightshirt (others have spoken on color theory in this film and I'll leave the implications of that color choice as an exercise to the reader) and it is short. When everyone else has only been visible from the chin up and the wrists down, it's shockingly intimate to see so much bare skin. We even get the now-infamous panty shot, which is completely deliberate for the audience if not for Thomas—I struggle to imagine they didn't have at least one other take they could have used if they didn't want that to be included.
He's extremely exposed in that moment, right up to his underthings, whether we consciously notice that or not. We see his forearms and his legs, and we see that his body is hairy, and that the hair is still dark. He's not an old, dead thing, not yet. He's still alive, still robust, he is human and mammal and animal: he still has skin and not just marble and ice. In a film where everyone else "dresses down" to a long-sleeve shirt and a cardigan sweater, in a film where not knowing our own bodies is the key to the final revelation, Aldo's body is the one we know the most about.
Moreover, he is physically and emotionally that naked, that intensely exposed, when he has the argument where Lawrence names him for a coward. He is stripped down to just his jangling nerves in that scene, when we finally see him recognized, shamed, and lost.
But he's also the man who turns back to Thomas and reconciles with him. He's the man who can be honest, bare his heart to his friend, receive Thomas' bared heart in return. Because Aldo's always more naked than anyone else. He's been saying and preaching and shouting the truth about himself, about his unworthiness and his fear, the whole time. He hides his ambition to remain in the Curia, but not very well, because as much as he is brilliant and strategic and versed in Vatican realpolitik, he's not accustomed to hiding and lying about himself.
He lives his life much, much more naked than anyone else in the whole place. Whatever else he's ashamed of, whatever else upsets him, it isn't being seen. It isn't being bare.
