Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Brokeback as an Anti-Gay Polemic : essay by W.C. Harris
Artiste:
Thanks again ifyoucantfixit!
Re-reading your comment, may I say that it (the many questions you pose within your brave comment) depends on the light or lights you put about the movie.
You want further details? As examples?
Your views are new to me and they are appreciated greatly by me. May I ask you many questions?
Hugs!
Clyde-B:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on January 15, 2008, 10:00:35 am ---It wouldn't have been "Hollywooding up" the screenplay for McMurtry and Ossana to write scenes of "closeness, kissing, holding, etc." that aren't in Annie Proulx's text to begin with?
--- End quote ---
Yup! A happy ending would also have been very Hollywood.
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: HerrKaiser on January 14, 2008, 01:50:34 am ---
It has been stated on this thread that BBM is a tragedy; 20 years of a loving relationship a tragedy?
Ennis and Jack didn’t “have to hide from the world”. They made choices that actually worked out well for a long time. I am quite sure they were not the only two gay men in WY in the 60s and 70s. They had a deep and lasting relationship and considering all the people in their lives, their choices seemed to have been good ones.
There have been many comments made over the last two years on this site and Cullen about Ennis’ failure as a man because of his adultery and non commitment etc. This is way off and I won’t get into an Ennis speech here, but I find such negative attitudes to be actually anti gay. Gay men do have to tweek the mainstream lifestyle to live; they do have to make adjustments and choices that perhaps straight folks may not have to make. To criticize Ennis or gays for making such choices is to me the anti gay possibility.
--- End quote ---
But, Herr Kaiser I think that BM is a tale of the unique type of tragedy which affects gays in the closet.
To me,the Brokeback story is a tragedy of unfulfilled potentials. The potential of happiness for Ennis and Jack's life was prevented by homophobia and a closet created by an intensively heteronorming society. The Brokeback story is about two fictional characters, but it can reach deeply into the lives and hearts of real men and women who have had their happiness thwarted by the closet. I can't watch the film without painful regrets over what might have been between Chris and myself.
Yes, Ennis and Jack did have to hide from the world and from each other.
They were forced to hide their feelings because of not only the judgement of a homophobic world, but also because of their own relentless internal judgements.
"I'm not no queer." "Me neither."
I agree with you that many of those who have been harshly critical of Ennis are copping out on facing the real challenges in his life.
From the fictional character Ennis's point of view, he had no choices at all. He couldn't fathom another life path. Only from our point of view in 2008 are we able to see the alternatives. Now that I am retired, I am making it one of my missions to help closeted men see that there are really can be choices. Why?
I survived that type of closet and lived both to tell the tale and to love again.
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: Clyde-B on January 14, 2008, 01:55:15 am ---
The original story was not long enough to make a two hour movie. Two hours is the average movie length today. Some material had to be added.
So you are asking for things to be expanded upon that didn't even exist in the short story. These elements of gay life were fabricated by the screen writers and added also.
--- End quote ---
Yes Clyde, it is very clear the Proulx short story is not long enough to fill out a 2 hour screen script for a major motion picture.
Of course the screen play had to be expanded over the short story, the question posed here concerns not the expansion, but the choices the screenwriters made in creating the expansion. And, I've been working part-time/off-and-on in the screenplay vineyard for some while now. Because of the length issue, turning great short stories into great screen plays can sometimes be a job of delicate cuttings and massive slathering pastings. Also, many scenes will read well in literature but fall flat on the camera, back stories have to be told in some fashion, hopefully other than the 'voice of God' over-narration - not every director can be as resourceful as Billy Wilder in handling a run thru narration.
But, what a screenwriter chooses to cut and especially what he or she chooses to expand may make statements about their predispositions towards certain subjects, or it may tell us what is their target audience.
You and I will disagree about the Arellano essay, and that is OK as we both see BM as a powerful film.
Clyde, you bet I'm aware of the divergences the screenplay makes from the short story, I'm kind of obsessed with it in fact.
In offering examples of potential additions to the dialog in the screenplay that were not used, I offered Jack's closeted life (away from Ennis) only as a counterpoint to the vastly expanded scenes of his heterosexual life. Choices were made by these screenwriters to only lightly touch on Jack's closeted life (away from Ennis), but to emphasize his life with Lureen. Those decisions speak of something beyond what is immediately obvious.
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: bradINblue on January 14, 2008, 02:34:49 am ---
Gay has become to mean way more than a guy who wants to be in the arms of another guy. A way to dress and decorate. A way to vote. Political correctness at all cost. Relating to females more than men. Rainbow flags and parades. In later years viciousness and resentment. Youth and sex.
--- End quote ---
Brad, I think that you may be talking about much more than just labels and word choices here, am I right?
Or are you just saying that your choice is to not label homosexual and bisexual men who do not adopt the lifestyle you describe above as gay?
Help me with your thoughts here. I may be very close to your point of view, but I have chosen for convenience sake to use the word gay to describe all homosexual and bisexual men.
Is this perhaps not the best choice to make when describing men such as you talk about in your essay in "Beyond Brokeback"?
Are we in fact doing them a disservice by labelling them as gay?
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