Girls, Boys and Cowboys

So, Liz and I went to see Brokeback Mountain on Friday...

Here's your Possible Spoiler Alert. Click at your own risk.

I had a couple of different motivations for seeing the film, which is so far out of my normal genre preferences as to be like traveling to Mars... dramas are really not my thing. I can't stand to have my emotions jerked around, especially when that's the sole point of a given scene. On the occasion that I am interested in a drama, I prefer to watch them in my own livingroom where I feel more comfortable indulging in a good cry.

I heard about the film shortly before all the massive hype started right after Kevin and I netflixed The Order and I spent a day or so trying to decide if I'd liked The Order or not. (I concluded that I did. It made me think and it was fascinating, if probably wholy inaccurate look at some catholic history...) I was vaguely interested, as I like westerns, and then a little more intrigued by the description. Hmmm, I thought, could be interesting.

I pinged Liz with the idea of doing a girl's night, then discovered the first opening was going to be very limited. I even priced the theoretical idea of flying up to see the film. Ha. Although at <$200, I did a little more than just dismiss it out of hand. In the end, though, I decided I'd catch it on DVD if nothing else.

I had great hopes for the movie. As I told a few friends, gays get a really bad treatment by hollywood. So often they get only two roles: the flat, flaming comedic minor character or the tragically going to die of AIDs boring role (or die tragically at the hands of homophobes. Or commit suicide. etc etc. How tragic. Yawn.) In either case I have rarely seen a gay character portrayed with much in the way of interest in him/her as a person, just as a 'lifestyle' to either mock or mourn.

(also, I find gay men fairly sexy in a similiar manner to most men's attraction to lesbianism... in a vouyeristic sort of way. I wouldn't actually - like many guys I know - want to be involved in sex with a gay couple. I certainly don't feel they have any need whatsoever to be 'converted'. I just want to watch. It might be weird, but there it is, and if I said the idea of watching Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal make out wasn't a big part of my wanting to see the movie, I'd be lying.)

I was slightly amused when we arrived at the theater... for one thing, I got carded for the movie, which led Liz and I to a discussion about the rating of the movie (it was R. I do not look less than 17. Really. Even on my best days.) Ah well, it was funny. For the second, watching the other people in the audience was intriguing. There were a lot of women (in pairs) and a few men (alone.) I noted that for the most part, people didn't sit in the same row as other groups. Weird dynamics going on there.

The pre-movie commercials were even more crack-smoking than usual and I wonder what marketing bracket they thought they were appealing to - companies being especially weird these days about 'supporting' gay causes. Witness the recent ballyhoo over GM's car ads in gay magazines...

Despite having great hopes for the movie, I didn't have much in the way of expectations... I had no idea what the plot was or anything in the way of 'spoilers' already under my wing.

That being said: I liked the movie. I did. And yet...

It was sort of dull. There was almost nothing in the way of 'action.' I don't even mean fights and exploding star destroyers... I mean, really, very little actually happened. The only plot was the love between these two men and the events of their lives that slowly got destroyed, consumed in a passion that they weren't allowed to share.

If it had been a movie about Jake's older sister Janie who was in love with a married man, there'd have been nothing of interest to critics or movie-goers. It was only because they were gay that made this from a quiet tragedy into the social commentary and award-hopeful hype. Now, on that basis, I agree. It's groundbreaking material, especially for a movie. It deserves to be honored, lauded and awarded. And yet, it could have been so much more.

There are some really great moments, and there are some major eye-rolling moments. I found the wives of both men to be spineless and insipid. Perhaps it was just the whole failure of communication thing, but Ennis's wife waited until years after their divorce to even explain that she knew about Jack. I find that beyond revolting. Spineless, weak... stupid.

Perhaps there was no way to mend a relationship that was nothing more than two children and a farce to hide the truth, but... it might have been nice for the confrontation to take place before the divorce instead of afterwards. Reminds me, perhaps, too much of my mother, who never mentioned any of the things my father did or didn't do during their marriage until it was much too late for any repairs to be attempted.

I found it easier to feel sorry for Jack, who was sneered at by his in-laws (not for being gay, but for coming from a poor background. His wife was pretty, smart, wealthy and almost entirely uninterested in him. I guess Jack felt that if he couldn't be happy, the least he could be was comfortable.

I ache for the intolerance that exists - even, especially now - that keep people from being comfortable with who they are, that keeps people apart from the ones that they love. Social stigmata is so ugly, cruel, and pointless. Honestly, what the HELL do people care that someone else is gay? There are so many sins to hate (according to the bible) and so many sinners to love, why are gays met with so much more visceral brutal cruelty than anything else? No one beats a person to death who disrespects their parents.... I just don't understand it... perhaps I simply can't.

Things have gotten better than they were. I know that, I hope for that every day. Things continue to get better, one tiny little step at a time. I know we all wish for great leaps, but I think those tiny steps are all we can realistically hope for. That this movie exists, that it's doing well in theaters, and that it really... shows what it's like, how hard it is... that's another tiny step.

That being said, it's still a slow, sometimes boring movie. There's less actual portrayed sex on screen than in your typical James Bond movies. The kissing is intense, bordering on violent, and I think that will revolt some of the fence-sitters who go to see the movie. And yet, the people who really OUGHT to see the movie wouldn't be caught at a showing in the same theater while it might be playing for fear all the muscles would go limp in their wrists or something.

I wish I understood that fear. Maybe if I could understand, I could counter it. Somehow. As close as I can get, the logic goes this way: I think it's icky and gross and I don't like it and it shouldn't be allowed.

Maybe I do understand. I feel that way about Republicans.

Posted by tisfan at January 28, 2006 11:37 PM