Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Article: "Brokeback Mountain Author Slams Movie's Fans"
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: oilgun on September 20, 2008, 01:06:51 pm ---I see your point but why expect her to change her personality when faced with obsessive fans. Even I've been embarrassed by the antics of some of them, the audience members dressed up in cowboy drag when Jake hosted SNL comes to mind. I guess I just don't take her comments personally because I'm not the one who's been harrassing her with god-awful fanfic (let's face it most of it is terrible), or pestered her about BbM at readings of her other work.
--- End quote ---
Just speaking for myself, I don't expect her or anybody to change their personality. But if you're what is often euphemistically described as "blunt and honest", then people are likely to be blunt and honest right backatcha, and that's the way it is. And apart from fanfiction, IMO these quotes do suggest that she's painting everybody with the same brush.
I'm not sure we're actually disagreeing here; just looking at it from different sides. The only thing I'd specifically disagree with is that I'm not sure how many people are taking it personally.
And yes, a lot of fanfiction is pretty bad, although to be fair so is quite a lot of published fiction. On another venue, I read a post in which the poster used Annie's remarks as an occasion to slam types of fanfics that the poster personally disliked; which she "had a right" to do but that doesn't obligate anybody to consider that admirable.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: LauraGigs on September 20, 2008, 12:29:58 pm ---Obviously, Proulx planted the seed — the original concept from which Ossana and McMurtry worked for the brilliant screenplay. No Proulx, no Brokeback. But if fiction writers are riffing more off of the film (and I imagine 99.9999% of them are), Ms. Proulx would probably appreciate it if they sent their stuff to Ossana and McMurtry instead!
--- End quote ---
So, true, friend Laura. I remember when we asked Annie to come to our Roundup. She replied that she was sure Diana would be happy to come. Diana makes a good nurturer of the fan base, but that would be a role that Annie would be totally uncomfortable with. Also, she does not want or need fans. She appreciates readers, people who "get" her message. Her mission is to tell the stories of rural people and rural geographies. She is not there to glorify them or create pastoral fantasies or get people off. She is more a reporter than an author.
All the uproar about the movie has obscured the facts that Brokeback Mountain was published on October 13, 1997 (we're coming up on the 11th anniversary) in The New Yorker to immediate acclaim and recognition of its strong impact. It won the highest award a short story in a magazine can get (of course AP had already won a Pulitzer Prize). Her peers such as Larry McMurtry immediately realized upon reading it what she had achieved. No directors and few actors felt they could do justice to the work. I was not familiar with Ang Lee at the time that I heard they were going to make a movie, and my heart sank because I thought they were going to ruin the story. Particularly when I heard that teenybopper heartthrobs were going to be cast. I refused to go see the movie when it came out, until my daughter dragged me to it, and the rest is history!!
LauraGigs:
Personally, I see people's points here though. I think she sounded rude and ungrateful to a large bloc of her fans. But I also understand how irritiating it must have been to be asked to vet a lot of horribly-written crap.
I think she may have been venting some long-building frustration to the WSJ interviewer. It could also be that while she was "nurturing and supporting" to individuals as a way to be polite, it may have been the same individuals who — all put together — irritated the heck out of her.
There's the saying "well-behaved women never make history". And a lot of great creators are also great assholes. I guess it took a prickly little pain-in-the-ass like Proulx to get under our skins... 8)
CellarDweller:
Well, maybe it's just me, but I don't blame Annie one bit for what she said.
We need to keep a few things in mind, I think.
We were all hit very hard by the movie based on her story. I know a number of people who didn't read the story until after the movie came out. I was one of them. I new it existed, but I'm the type of person who always likes the book better. Rather than ruin the movie, I held off reading the short story until after, so I could enjoy them both for what they were.
Annie, however, wrote that story over 10 years ago. Any emotional connection she had to the story or characters has long faded. I'm sure she's written a lot of stuff since then that she's equally proud of, but instead must deal with a constant barage of questions on Brokeback. Artists evolve, and improve. I'm sure that while she's still fond of Brokeback, her other work shows different facets of her abilites of an author, and they're being overlooked for work she's done over 10 years ago.
On top of that, other writers are sending remakes of that work, having characters she's created doing things she's never intended them to do.
I write poetry, but have started a slash story. It's been on the back burner for a while, and I would never even think of sending it to Annie Proulx for her review.
Almost a year ago, The New Yorker was hosting a book signing, and Annie Proulx was one of the featured authors. The day before there was also a reading featuring Annie. She read her short story "The Sagebrush Kid", and she answered all questions (including ones regarding Brokeback) very good naturedly.
The next day at the signing, she had the longest line of fans to have their books signed. We noticed one man on line with approximately a dozen copies of the Brokeback Mountain short story. We all just looked at each other, knowing they would end up on Ebay. She graciously signed them all.
When I reached her, she signed my copies of "Bad Dirt" and "Brokeback Mountain" I asked her about "The Sagebrush Kid". The first thing she did was enthusiastically thank me for attending the reading, and then went on to tell me it was from her next collection of shorts, called "Fine Just The Way It Is".
When MaineGirl (Sue) reached her with her books to be signed, she looks Sue in the face and complimented her on her beautiful eyes.
Here is a group shot of us after Annie signed all our books! If you look carefully, you can see her in the background, signing someone else's. Thanks to Meryl, who spotted this shot.
(L to R) Meryl, Teresa, DejaVu (Debbie), CellarDweller (Chuck), MaineGirl (Sue), Dal (Steve), JMMGalagher (John).
*Picture from MaineGirl's collection*
"Fine Just The Way It Is" is out in stores now. I haven't had the chance to read it yet, but I got my copy.
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: CellarDweller on September 24, 2008, 11:08:45 am ---Almost a year ago, The New Yorker was hosting a book signing, and Annie Proulx was one of the featured authors. The day before there was also a reading featuring Annie. She read her short story "The Sagebrush Kid", and she answered all questions (including ones regarding Brokeback) very good naturedly.
The next day at the signing, she had the longest line of fans to have their books signed. We noticed one man on line with approximately a dozen copies of the Brokeback Mountain short story. We all just looked at each other, knowing they would end up on Ebay. She graciously signed them all.
--- End quote ---
Wish I'd been there last year -- so far I haven't been able to hear her lecture or meet her in person, though I did attend a very good Q&A session Diana Ossana hosted at a nearby college. Unfortunately, if I do get the chance, I'll now feel like I have to be sure and keep being a Brokeback fan a secret.
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