A missed opportunity?

Another piece of news which had me choking on my cornflakes (if I still ate them, but saying it about yoghurt doesn't quite sound right) was the plotline to the new film Troy.

I am really keen to see the film, not least because I spent a summer several years ago backpacking around the Mediterranean and visited Troy. In the flush of youth I pretentiously sat upon a rock overlooking the plain below and pulled out my copy of The Iliad, where I read a few verses until it started to rain - or until I felt queasy (it's not exactly light reading).

The whole point of Achilles's wrath is the death of his friend (lover?) Patroclus at the hands of Homer. But what do I learn on the radio? That they've changed the plot so that Achilles is angry for having his girlfriend taken away from him.

Apparently this is to make the material more "accessible" to a younger generation.

Okaaaay...

Why is Hollywood so scared about having an ambiguous gay icon avenging his dead lover? Can anyone explain this to me?