My father is a closet homophobe.
Ever since I saw the film back in January and I proudly displayed Brokeback Mountain wallpaper on the family computer and talked of how I
need to see it over and over and over again, I've heard strategically placed comments about the film from him. It is never titled "Brokeback Mountain" -- it is instead titled,
"Bareback Mountain"
*look of disgust* ... and sadly, "the gay cowboy movie" is not his phrase of choice. It is instead, "the movie about the faggot cowboys."
He doesn't bombard the comments... again, they are strategically placed... they are subtle and they sort of fly under the radar. He tries his damnedest to make them sound as if they are just harmless jokes and whatnot, which I'm almost positive stems from the fact that he secretly believes I am a closet homosexual.
He's always seemed very... worried... about the fact that I
hate sports. And that I spent several years volunteering with community theatre productions. And that I love chick flicks like Titanic, The Bridges of Madison County, Terms of Endearment, Sleepless in Seattle, etc. I think he's one of those stereotypical products of 1950s America that had his heart set on his only son going out for football and to be so pumped full of testosterone that he'd be borderline rapist.
Instead he never got that... instead he got me... the guy who writes poetry and watches Brokeback Mountain obsessively. I think he's worried by things like that. And considering the era that he is from and how he is the closest you could come to a stereotype of a "macho man," it's hard to blame him -- but I still do, nonetheless.
Anyway, to get to my point... I've finally decided that I want to start my campaign to get him to watch Brokeback Mountain. Primarily because it isn't people like us that need to see the film... it is people like
him. People that have to refer to it as "Bareback Mountain"
to help them not deviate from their security perimeter. People that use the word "faggot" and think it's okay.
I'm just trying to come up with some sort of plan as to how I would like to do this. It's going to be a long battle, I assure everyone of this. It's going to take a lot of time before he allows himself to sit down with it -- or at least that is what I am anticipating. And I don't want to go about this in a "chicken with his head cut off" kind of way. I'm very sensitive to the fact that this is something he doesn't understand and has never understood... and thus, I shall be sensitive with this subject matter.
Luckily, I have my mother on my side (sort of)... she has seen Brokeback Mountain (and read the story) and has liked both of them. Not loved. But liked. *shrugs* I'll take it -- especially from someone who can't go a day without watching FoxNews. But now it's dad's turn. And this will take some work.
My first plan was to go through mom... get her to sort of plug it here and there... "you know, that movie surprised me, it's actually really, really good" -- you know, things like that. Just to peak his interest a little bit. Get him thinking, "I wonder what the fuss is all about." And I've pitched this idea to her today... I asked her to try to get him to watch it. She laughed and said, "hahaha, I dunno about that."
My next plan would be to plant a copy in his room on top of his DVD player... so this way it could just sit there and he could stew with it and see it lying there all the time until he just broke down and watched it -- of course, without anyone knowing. It'd be nobody's business but his. However, the downside to this plan is that I would have to suck it up, bite the bullet and abstain from my Brokeback Mountain addiction for however long it takes him to break down and watch it. Which could -- literally -- be months.
He doesn't watch movies that often... and so it takes some pressure to get him to watch movies that he actually thinks he will like -- point of fact: he still hasn't seen the third Lord of the Rings film, despite the fact that he loved the first two. And I own two copies of each installment... so it's not like they are unavailable to him. So you see, this Brokeback Mountain campaign is going to be very difficult. Very, very difficult. But I'm determined to get him to watch it.
Does anyone have any thoughts about how I should handle this? All input would be greatly appreciated.
David Thomas