Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
TOTW 11/07: How will moviegoers view BBM 30 years from now?
Scott6373:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on October 15, 2007, 04:02:47 pm ---So you're saying this film is socially irrelevant?
--- End quote ---
No. I am saying that I personally don't think this film advanced the fight for gay rights in my life. In fact, based on the jokes and ribbing I have heard since its release, quite the opposite.
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on October 15, 2007, 04:02:47 pm ---You don't think it can--and does--do both? There seems to be anecdotal evidence that it does.
--- End quote ---
Again, in my personal experience, it did very little to shed light on the struggles and horrors that I have faced as a gay man. No one has come up to me and said, "Was it like that for you?" They have however said, "You gonna become a cowboy now?"
This film will always be important to me for the humanist teachings it portrays: for the lessons about personal accountability, and ownership of ones life and life choices, but, it is not important to me for the boost it gave to my fight for equal rights under the law.
Shakesthecoffecan:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on October 15, 2007, 04:03:48 pm ---Nope, not in the STS book. Must have been somewhere else.
--- End quote ---
Your right, let me work on this and see if it can be confirmed or not.
Shakesthecoffecan:
Okay here is an article in the Village Voice that mentions it:
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0548,winter,70454,20.html
However it would be good to have some other confirmation of it, I will work on it some more this evening.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Scott on October 15, 2007, 04:11:28 pm ---No. I am saying that I personally don't think this film advanced the fight for gay rights in my life. In fact, based on the jokes and ribbing I have heard since its release, quite the opposite.
Again, in my personal experience, it did very little to shed light on the struggles and horrors that I have faced as a gay man. No one has come up to me and said, "Was it like that for you?" They have however said, "You gonna become a cowboy now?"
This film will always be important to me for the humanist teachings it portrays: for the lessons about personal accountability, and ownership of ones life and life choices, but, it is not important to me for the boost it gave to my fight for equal rights under the law.
--- End quote ---
Well, just because you feel it hasn't done anything to advance gay rights in your life doesn't mean it hasn't done anything--period.
Kd5000:
BBM is a solid film with great acting and a solid storyline. It's also a unique film. Will there ever be another film that combine same sex love in the 1960's west. Hence, I don't think this "genre" is in any danger of being overdone. So I hope it will still be considered a cinematic landmark for decades to come.
I'd like to hope that in 2035, ppl still love this film and find it powerful and heartbreaking... However, I'd also like to hope that ppl will sigh and say what's the big deal, i.e. homosexuality will not be such a taboo subject in films in that time period.
DO hope there is never a remake. Sometimes a classic is best left untouched. By 2035 Hollywood will start looking at successful films in the first decade of the 21rst century and wonder if BBM would be an excellent candidate for a remake.
I do worry that as society gets faster, BBM will lose some appeal as many will find it a very slow paced movie.
Brokeback Mountain was a landmark film. The only mainstream gay film I could compare it with would be MAKING LOVE. Sure, there have been films like THE BIRD CAGE or PHILADELPHIA, but they weren't really about same sex love or desires. In PHILADELPHIA, his relationship with his lover was just so downplayed, so passionless. THE BIRD CAGE, I didn't even go to see it in the theater as it rehashed every sterotype possible.
In MAKING LOVE, you have a successful doctor with a nice wife, who seems to have it all, but leaves her for a MAN! Even then, it's more of a coming out story then a gay love story. However, given how Hollywood used to portray gays as being swishy and holding marginal jobs, MAKING LOVE was an icebreaker. Unfortunately, it was still a mediocre film and didn't garner much attn at the boxoffice. Many did watch it on HBO or SHOWTIME from what I remember.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version