Annie Proulx obvious dislike of the fans of BBM and the fanfic it has made

[ifyoucantfixit]

     
This story is moving around the internet and in places is being described as Annie Proulx's irritation, not just with Brokeback Mountain but with the fans of the short story and the film. As one of those fans, and as a reader of slash, I suffer conflicted feelings at such a statement from the author of the story that has changed my life. I can certainly understand that for an author to be sent slash reinterpretations, rewrites of your own story - presented as improvements - must be insufferable. And, as Annie says, this does miss the point of the original story.

However, the very fact that Annie has been sent these 'ghastly manuscripts and pornish rewrites' is sign that
people have been moved to create and they have been inspired. I would argue that they shouldn't have sent their writings to Annie herself, but the act of writing a contented ending for Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar is driven by affection for the characters created for us and given to us by Annie, as well as a need to know that, no matter what life throws at you, it can be all right. Maybe, as well as irritation, Annie should also feel flattered.

I think that more than that, the statement that made me stop and think was this: 'Brokeback Mountain has had little effect on my writing life'. The genius of Annie Proulx to have been the source and creator in sparse but perfect words a story that went to the heart of so many of us, and yet she herself appears to have survived its telling little affected. Maybe that's because we took it on ourselves to feel it all
 



 Courtesy of Wet Dark and Wild...a Jake Gyllenhaal fan site



    I find this very disappointing..

[Kd5000]

Here is the link for the full article. 

http://wetdarkandwild.blogspot.com/2008/09/consonants-and-vowels-gyllenhaal.html

Here is the first paragraph in the article...

The Independent today reported that Annie Proulx has told the Wall Street Journal of her 'irritation' with Brokeback Mountain: "There are countless people out there who think the story is open range to explore their fantasies and to correct what they see as an unbearably disappointing story. They constantly send ghastly manuscripts and pornish rewrites of the story to me, expecting me to reply with praise and applause for 'fixing' the story. They certainly don't get the message that if you can't fix it, you've got to stand it. Brokeback Mountain has had little effect on my writing life, but is the source of constant irritation in my private life."

[injest]

I can see that....she still writes as she always did. She didnt say the story had no effect on HER....just on her writing style.

[LauraGigs]

Actually, the Wet Dark + Wild link is a fan commentary. 

Here's the full Wall St. Journal interview:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122065020058105139.html

And the article strictly about her irritation, condensed and commented on from the WSJ interview in The Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/news/brokeback-author-says-says-film-is-source-of-constant-irritation-933036.html


This is all really interesting!  I can see how she might be annoyed in some way.  But it should be flattering, too.  What book in recent memory has sparked such fandom, outside of the Harry Potter series?

[Marge_Innavera]

The general impression I get is that they are bouncing off the film, not the story. There's more, but that is enough, ok?


It would be interesting to take a poll, just amongst our Brokies here, on what made them a Brokie.....

Was it the short story, or was it the movie?

Because I had not read the short story until several months, and several viewings, I have no hesitation in saying, for me, it was definately the movie. The genius acting of Heath and Jake, the magnificent screenply by Ossama and McMurtry, and the overwhelming direction of Ang Lee.

To me, they made the story that I became obssessed with.

I have never been a fan of Annie Proulx, and have always believed she has the fan base now, because of BBM.

The movie was what introduced the story to me.  Read the story afterward and while I liked it -- and liked it even better after hearing Rodney read it aloud -- it just didn't grab me the way the film did.  I've occasionally run across fans of the story who rather look down their noses at the film but sorry, that's how it happened for me.

IMO, her remarks are more than a little naive.  She's describing the experiences of a long line of writers whose work has been successfully translated to film; they often feel like that event has turned their life upside down.  Margaret Mitchell, who dealt with this with both her book and the movie that followed, once remarked in exasperation that "I made Tara (in Gone with the Wind) up, but people don't believe that."

On one hand I can sympathize but on the other, this is a tiresome routine we see regularly: someone works their butt off being successful and then when it happens starts telling all and sundry that 'I'm a very private person.'  WTF? ? ? ?   That's admittedly more understandable in a writer than in someone involved in performance art but it's still more than a little self-indulgent. 

If she's been getting inundated with fanfics, IMO it's understandable that she'd get pissed off after awhile. First, while I don't mind admitting that I'd love it if Annie read my own story, I don't know why anyone would think that she'd even be interested in BBM fanfics -- or that she wouldn't know how to find them if she was.  And second, some of the BBM fics do go way overboard with sex scenes: I've read some that were generally good stories but I just started skipping over those parts. It's one thing to read a porno story that clearly isn't intended to be anything else, but when you have an interesting story and characters, the principals having sex every other page can get irritating and distracting. 

Jean Auel (Clan of the Cavebear and the rest of the Earth's Children series) is known for that.  You kind of get the impression that people in the late Ice Age didn't do much else. (Well, after all, they didn't have TV, or books.....)

[Jeff Wrangler]

Jean Auel (Clan of the Cavebear and the rest of the Earth's Children series) is known for that.  You kind of get the impression that people in the late Ice Age didn't do much else. (Well, after all, they didn't have TV, or books.....)

That was one way to keep warm in an Ice Age, I guess. ...