Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

The Legacy of Brokeback Mountain?

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Aussie Chris:
Where to begin?  This is all really quite hard to put into words.  Brokeback Mountain started its run here in Australia, on Australia Day (!) on Thursday January 26th 2006, and I went with my sister the following weekend.  Several truck-loads of thoughts have crossed my mind since then, the scale of which have prevented me from posting much to date, especially since by the time I get the thoughts to keyboard, at least three or four similar posts on the subject have appeared already.  So from the outset I thank Phillip for doing exactly what I’ve been thinking for a couple of weeks, and started this site for those that desire to take a few post-BBM steps that require a little more thinking than are the characters of Ennis and Jack really gay.

Also, I'm not going to give you my opinion on specific elements of the film.  I’m sure you couldn’t care less what I think of the film’s specifics, and anyway, I've always thought that opinions are like a***holes, everyone's got one after all.  But just so you have a context for the words that follow, BBM has had an effect on me that has never occurred before in ANY other film, on any other subject.  Ok, if I absolutely must label myself, I guess I would say that I am gay (this almost seems an obsolete term though), and therefore the subject matter resonates with me on both a personal and historical level.  But to the best of my ability to string the most appropriate words together at this time, I sincerely believe that BBM has awaken something in me that, until now, I didn't even know existed.

I'll leave it for another thread to tell my theory about how this change has come about, and what it is in this film to have made this possible.  Right now I fear that any words that I might use would somehow diminish or belittle the film and its creators, but I can say that I recognise that the change is more to do with what's inside me than what was on the screen.  Bugger, even that statement somehow sounds like I'm giving myself the credit and that's not what I wanted to convey.  In my mind, this film is a near perfect example of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and in my current mental state, I just couldn't possibly do it justice.

Ok, so what am I going to say?  The thing that most struck me when I first saw this film, and the days and weeks afterwards, was that I understood that I had been deeply wounded by the experience, and I needed help to be healed.  In almost word-for-word exactness, just about everything that Phillip has written in his introductory posts also occurred to me.  The restlessness and distractedness was overwhelming, like a restored (or possibly inserted) memory that in my haste to get through this life, I had somehow left something precious behind!  And like many others, these feelings did not come to me while watching the film (the first time), they crept up on me from the depths of my mind several hours later, hitting me like the proverbial bolt of lightning, and I remember saying out loud “what the ***k, where did that come from”?  On subsequent viewings, just about every scene successfully re-launched me into that same state of grief and tears, and each time it was a different scene that did it.

So, after several viewings and after many, many hours of watching and participating in the IMDB message boards, and seeing some people "get" some things and "not get" others, I sensed that somehow we were all sharing because we all needed to be healed.  Even those pesky trolls served their purpose (ok for some) by giving us opportunity to see them for what they really are: a small and insignificant voice from the past that no longer has any bearing on how we have to think.  Mind you I must acknowledge that if it weren't for the moderators who ensured that I was spared the most vulgar of troll-posts, I may not have been as free to come to this conclusion.  But what truly inspired me was the many jaw-dropping-ly beautiful of posts from people from all walks of life (straight and gay) coming forward to tell their stories, or otherwise contribute in a meaningful way.  I am so indebted to them all, I just can't tell you how much hope this has given me.

So what’s next?  I confess to you here and now that I am an idealist that knows no bounds.  I feel that there is no reason why the world cannot be entirely free of any form of sexism, racism, or any other -ism that you may care to suggest.  The only reason why that world doesn't exist right now is because we as the human race, choose for it to not be that way.  Even those that would defend an individual group's “rights” often attack those that would try to keep it from them.  My own belief on this is that it is exactly that attacking-nature that is the problem with society, not the subject of the attacks, and this is true no matter which side is the perpetrator.  It's like we've not learnt a single thing from those destructive cold-war years, but instead of countries it's sexual orientations that look at each other with a kind of suspicion and mistrust that can only come from the most complete and disempowering state of ignorance that is possible.  If ever we are going to change this, we first need to forgive ourselves, then each other, and then give each other permission to come out of this ignorance finally, and at last.

My apologies if I have overstated or oversimplified anything here.  I realise that we all come from different backgrounds and have different histories, and these histories give us each a personal-perspective that may make this sound like wisdom or just foolishly-impractical, or maybe even both at the same time.  But I try to live this life, with all of my human failings and baggage in tow, and I share this perspective to the people that I meet, though rarely as full-on as in this post.  If you've made it this far, I thank you for your patience and endurance, and graciously encourage your reply.

This is my hope and my dream for the legacy of Brokeback Mountain.

Phillip Dampier:
My reply respecting the sexuality issues can be found in Safe Haven, which you can find beneath this forum if you are registered.


--- Quote from: cjwarren on February 18, 2006, 07:54:59 am ---Where to begin?  This is all really quite hard to put into words.  Brokeback Mountain started its run here in Australia, on Australia Day (!) on Thursday January 26th 2006, and I went with my sister the following weekend.  Several truck-loads of thoughts have crossed my mind since then, the scale of which have prevented me from posting much to date, especially since by the time I get the thoughts to keyboard, at least three or four similar posts on the subject have appeared already.  So from the outset I thank Phillip for doing exactly what I’ve been thinking for a couple of weeks, and started this site for those that desire to take a few post-BBM steps that require a little more thinking than are the characters of Ennis and Jack really gay.
--- End quote ---

Welcome aboard.  I actually replied to your entire message earlier and then botched it when trying to split the message up.  The part I moved into Safe Haven worked fine, but everything before that ended up disappearing... argh....  The software here is a learning curve for me too.

Don't worry if you think you're repeating yourself.  I found it very therapeutic to see so many people sharing the same feelings I had.  There is safety in numbers, after all.


--- Quote ---So, after several viewings and after many, many hours of watching and participating in the IMDB message boards, and seeing some people "get" some things and "not get" others, I sensed that somehow we were all sharing because we all needed to be healed.  Even those pesky trolls served their purpose (ok for some) by giving us opportunity to see them for what they really are: a small and insignificant voice from the past that no longer has any bearing on how we have to think.  Mind you I must acknowledge that if it weren't for the moderators who ensured that I was spared the most vulgar of troll-posts, I may not have been as free to come to this conclusion.  But what truly inspired me was the many jaw-dropping-ly beautiful of posts from people from all walks of life (straight and gay) coming forward to tell their stories, or otherwise contribute in a meaningful way.  I am so indebted to them all, I just can't tell you how much hope this has given me.
--- End quote ---

Based on my conversations with friends, the breakdown of "getting it" seems to be stereotypically:

under 30 - Great movie, felt strongly for the characters, maybe cried during movie, not a huge impact on their own life.
30-50 - Great movie, felt strongly for the characters, cried during the movie, after the movie, saw parts of oneself up on screen and that hurt more.
50+ - same as 30-50, but if applicable, the lost opportunity theme/nostalgic look back also slammed you hard as well

Hetero guys that don't get it are almost always the ones slamming the movie for being overrated and they don't see what the big deal is.  But I'm sure that reaction would be similar for a lot of dramas.  [/quote]

Rayn:
Well, Chris, I don't have much to say about the legacy of BBM, in fact, I'm sorry to say, I'm not quite sure what you mean by legacy.  Maybe you could help with that, but I will tell you that I experienced many of the same feelings during and after the movie that you did.  To be honest, I'm still having feelings about it or I wouldn't be here! 

I know that I felt a lot of grief after the movie, then I started to recover and evaluate my situation in life generally and also with an eye for specifics that need changing, and now, I am still kicking ideas and feelings around, but I'm not as sad anymore. 

I am beginning to feel some excitement about what the movie seems to have helped me do internally and I like that.  I'm sure each person has varied and different ways of experiencing BBM, but that's mine in a nutshell.  I just thought I'd weigh in and give a bit of what I've written about in other posts but in a shorter form here. 

Hope all is well.
Rayn

Aussie Chris:

--- Quote from: Rayn on March 30, 2006, 10:25:59 am ---Well, Chris, I don't have much to say about the legacy of BBM, in fact, I'm sorry to say, I'm not quite sure what you mean by legacy.  Maybe you could help with that, but I will tell you that I experienced many of the same feelings during and after the movie that you did.  To be honest, I'm still having feeling about it or I wouldn't be here! 

--- End quote ---

From the Websters Dictionary: Legacy: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past <the legacy of the ancient philosophers>

Hey Rayn, you know I'm so glad you asked why I titled this thread "The Legacy of Brokeback Mountain".  I guess it's one of my little quirks, when I was about 20 it occurred to me that no matter how strongly I felt about something in my past, I wasn't nearly so upset by it in the present.  Although you might say "well duh", the revelation was that no matter how bad things are now, the knowledge I gained from the experience would mean that one day I would look back and be grateful - eventually.

So the Legacy of Brokeback was my way of looking into the future and saying that BBM is so big, so important, that we would look back and remember that this was the moment that everything changed, and I see it happening all around us.  The Legacy of Brokeback is the message that contains a catalyst that causes a shift in how we think, and it's changing the world.  This is also why I made a follow up "BBM Legacy: the 6-week mark" to document how my consciousness had changed 6 weeks later.  I'm thinking of a third chapter (maybe the 12 week mark), but I'm not quite their yet.  At this stage the thoughts are a little raw and I suspect that they may be off the deep end for some, philosophically speaking.  By my nature, my heart and mind lives in a metaphysical world. ;)

Rayn:

--- Quote from: Aussie Chris on March 31, 2006, 06:58:26 am ---
So the Legacy of Brokeback was my way of looking into the future and saying that BBM is so big, so important, that we would look back and remember that this was the moment that everything changed, and I see it happening all around us. 

--- End quote ---

Ah, I see what you mean.  Well, in another post, I wrote about BBM being "a tipping point" and that addresses your question of legacy:  

"I'm becoming aware that BBM, this simple but profoundly moving and energizing work of art may very well be a turning point in my life.   I know I am in transition toward new and, I hope better, employment and social relations.  Much is changing, and it seems as if the movie marked some tipping point toward taking serious note of where I am in my life, a push to start making improvements instead of just staying with what I've been comfortable with for years. So, if I list what is changing, I can say, my job, friendships, where I live (because I will move to another job by autumn) my own writing/art and even music and books I enjoy are taking new forms!  I don't imagine I will be in cowboy hat and boots too soon!  That's just not me right now or necessary, but when I look at what has happened since seeing Brokeback Mountain, many things add up.  Of course, some might say that all those changes could have happened without BBM, but from where I stand and see my life, I don't think so."

There ya go Chris,
Rayn

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