Broke-butt Mountain
I'm going to do something today that I preach against constantly, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to criticize a movie I haven't seen and probably won't. Actually, I won't criticize the movie. I will criticize the critics. I won't see the movie though. I'm just not ready for Shootout at the KY Corral.
Brokeback Mountain, the movie about the forbidden love of two gay cowboys, opens in J'ville today. There's a great first date conversation starter for ya. The movie is critically acclaimed because, well, it's a movie about the forbidden love of two gay cowboys. I just don't get that. Gay people, and I know several, claim that they are just like everyone else, and nobody should make a big deal out of their sexual preference (and I believe them), and yet this movie is already walking away with Oscar, according to the critics, because cowboys have sex. My preferences being what they are, I'd rather watch Angelina Jolie have sex, but I don't think just because she does on the screen, it becomes an Oscar winning performance. Then again, I'm not an artsy-fartsy movie critic. There, folks, is the point of today's rant.
I have no problem with people being gay. What they do behind closed doors is their thing. What I have a problem with is the militant gay folks...the ones who stick it in your face and get overly obvious about it, and if you have a problem with that, you're homophobic. Ever been to Disneyworld during "Gay Days"? Funny how that doesn't show up on the event calendar. Guys are practically humping each other (much like Moses in Meet the Fockers) on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom in front of your kids, Mickey and Winnie the Pooh, but if you have a problem with that, you're homophobic. That's another thing I have an issue with...the word homophobic. It means I'm somehow afraid of gay people. I'm not afraid of them. I just don't want their sexual preference to be the single focus of my contact with them (any more than I want somebody's heterosexual-ness to be the single focus of my contact with them), and I don't want to watch them make it obvious. I don't want that any more than I want to watch my neighbor shoving his hand down the back of his wife's jeans and giving her ass a squeeze while exploring her throat with his tongue in their driveway. It ain't that you're gay. It's that some things don't belong in my face, regardless of who you are, but back to The Good, The Bad and the Closet.
This movie is critically acclaimed because two cowboys have a relationship. That's my impression, anyway. I could be way off base. The movie may actually have a plot beyond that, which does indeed merit the accolades that are being showered upon it. Whether I ever see it or not, I actually hope it does. I hope it's more than one of the Village People guys and his buddy doing the buttslam boogie, because if that's all it is, it has all the artistic merit of Catwoman, but Halle Berry looks better in leather. It's just that this time we picked on a gimmick that critics love. Maybe if Halle Berry was gay, she could be artsy and edgy too....hmmmmmm.
Brokeback Mountain, the movie about the forbidden love of two gay cowboys, opens in J'ville today. There's a great first date conversation starter for ya. The movie is critically acclaimed because, well, it's a movie about the forbidden love of two gay cowboys. I just don't get that. Gay people, and I know several, claim that they are just like everyone else, and nobody should make a big deal out of their sexual preference (and I believe them), and yet this movie is already walking away with Oscar, according to the critics, because cowboys have sex. My preferences being what they are, I'd rather watch Angelina Jolie have sex, but I don't think just because she does on the screen, it becomes an Oscar winning performance. Then again, I'm not an artsy-fartsy movie critic. There, folks, is the point of today's rant.
I have no problem with people being gay. What they do behind closed doors is their thing. What I have a problem with is the militant gay folks...the ones who stick it in your face and get overly obvious about it, and if you have a problem with that, you're homophobic. Ever been to Disneyworld during "Gay Days"? Funny how that doesn't show up on the event calendar. Guys are practically humping each other (much like Moses in Meet the Fockers) on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom in front of your kids, Mickey and Winnie the Pooh, but if you have a problem with that, you're homophobic. That's another thing I have an issue with...the word homophobic. It means I'm somehow afraid of gay people. I'm not afraid of them. I just don't want their sexual preference to be the single focus of my contact with them (any more than I want somebody's heterosexual-ness to be the single focus of my contact with them), and I don't want to watch them make it obvious. I don't want that any more than I want to watch my neighbor shoving his hand down the back of his wife's jeans and giving her ass a squeeze while exploring her throat with his tongue in their driveway. It ain't that you're gay. It's that some things don't belong in my face, regardless of who you are, but back to The Good, The Bad and the Closet.
This movie is critically acclaimed because two cowboys have a relationship. That's my impression, anyway. I could be way off base. The movie may actually have a plot beyond that, which does indeed merit the accolades that are being showered upon it. Whether I ever see it or not, I actually hope it does. I hope it's more than one of the Village People guys and his buddy doing the buttslam boogie, because if that's all it is, it has all the artistic merit of Catwoman, but Halle Berry looks better in leather. It's just that this time we picked on a gimmick that critics love. Maybe if Halle Berry was gay, she could be artsy and edgy too....hmmmmmm.
John put this out here at 8:38 AM
5 Comments:
Ok, King John. You've had your say.
Here's the thing about "Brokeback Mountain": it's not that it's a movie about two cowboys having SEX, it's that it's a movie about an absolutely devastating relationship. It just so happens that this devastating relationship is between two men, which perhaps adds to the depth and maybe the intensity of the relationship, bringing into play, as it does, the men's difficulty accepting what it means to be homosexual in a heterosexual society, as well as their relationships with the women in their lives and vice-versa. Unfortunately, the focus of the movie has completely been made to be about the very small amount of time of "on-screen sex" rather than the incredible amount of depth and feeling Ang Lee has brought to this tale of two men caught in an untenable situation. Is it possible to remove your homophobic tendencies and instead of watching TWO MEN to watch a movie about a RELATIONSHIP??? It is critics like yourself who make it a GAY COWBOY MOVIE and refuse to approach this as a piece of film. You certainly were able to suspend your belief system for Halle Berry in a catsuit, as you said. And god knows, ain't nothing good about THAT movie, except how she LOOKED.
Fondly,
JessieE
(friend of Reb's, and really, only responding to your Brokeback Mountain position :-))
Is it possible for me to remove my homophobic (still a word I find laughable) tendencies and instead of watching a movie about two men, watch a movie about a relationship? Sure. Then it fits into the genre of chick flick, like so many others before it, and I don't want to pay to see that either.
OK, so I'm having a bit of fun with it. I could be very wrong and if I am, don't bother marking it on the calendar. If you track that sort of thing, you'd be marking the hell out of a calendar. Still, do I want to watch a movie about two guys having a relationship? In real life, I can accept that it happens, I can be happy for them that it happens. I can be sad for them if it doesn't work. Do I want to watch it happen, and pay to sit in a theater to do that? Nah. Just not my idea of entertainment. If that makes me guilty of some phobia, well, so be it. But it's not just me, or people like me who are catagorizing this movie as a "gay cowboy movie." The first thing anyone says when they start telling me how good it is, is "It's more than a gay cowboy movie." Well, that means we're starting with "it's a gay cowboy movie." Movie critics, though, will fawn all over it because it's a gay cowboy movie. I have a friend who is gay, and even he rants about that phenomenon. His viewpoint is, it's the new and lazy way to appear cool and edgy. Just throw 'gay' into any mixture and all of a sudden, you're cutting edge. Then if you're a critic and you approve of that, you're enlightened. He feels exploited, so everyone can feel good about themselves.
Let me ask you this. If you have two movies. One is a gay cowboy movie and one is a science fiction thing set on some far away planet. Both have the same character depth and the plots are equally amazing and both have an ending that knocks your socks off. All things being equal, which do you honestly think critics fall all over themselves to praise? If you think they get the same attention, I believe you're fooling yourself.
You're right about Halle Berry in Catwoman, which is why I used it as an example, but I wasn't able to suspend my belief system for that movie. I saw a little of it and said, "Damn she looks good, but no, I'm not wasting any more time on this." Looking good only gets you so far...and back to Blockbuster with you.
To be fair, this reminds me of another rant about a movie that had nothing to do with gay people, but everything to do with relationships. It was critically acclaimed and I didn't like it either, but I actually watched part of it, so the opinion was more informed. I got about a third of the way through Sideways and either had to yank it from the DVD player or nap. There was no other alternative. I kept waiting for it to get to the good part and realized...what I was watching was supposed to be the good part.
Good response. Here's what I think. I think guys don't like relationship movies, as a general rule, unless they're really written for guys, like "Lost in Translation", which is much more from a guy's perspective, in my opinion (girl speaking, so correct me if I'm wrong), and one of my personal favorites, "Beautiful Girls" which is a chick flick for guys. It's a guy flick in chick's clothing is the best way to put it, I'd say.
And you're right. Because "Brokeback Mountain" has a gay relationship at its center, that's all anyone is focusing on, rather than the relationship itself and the storyline. If it were different, you could just say, "I don't like relationship movies," and leave it at that. And no one would think anything of it, because you're a guy and guys don't like relationship movies. The critics are as much at fault as anyone, because THEY'RE making a big deal out of it, too. Let the movie stand on its own, and see what comes of it. From what I understand, the performances will speak for themselves.
Re: "Sideways", I thought it was a lot of fun. But for reasons probably different than many others. I'm sorry you couldn't make your way through, because in the end, it was worth it. But you know, movies (and good stories) take patience. They don't just slap you in the face. Good plot progression needs to unravel, and a good story, if you've ever studied literature, definitely has parts leading to a climax. I suppose if you're used to ACTION, it's hard to sit through character and plot development. Unfortunately, you'll miss out on a lot of good stuff if you're impatient. But hey. Luckily there's lots of stuff out there for everyone, Catwoman nothwithstanding.
--Jessie E
When I read Brokeback Mountain it was in a book of short stories called "Close Range" By Anne Proulx.
All the stories are based in Wyoming. each storie is based in a different time period. The characters are all equally different.
The characters were these spot on stereotypes when she started the story would delve deeper into the lives of the character so they were no longer a stereotype.
Brokeback Mountain is the most obviuos "political" story. Not all of them are. Proulx could have written the story about cowboys having relationships with sheep (it would have been equally as authentic) but Woody Allen already did that one.
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