Has anybody else read William R. Handley's recent book: "The Brokeback
Book - From Story to Cultural Phenomenon". If so, any observations? I
finished it a couple of days ago so thought I'd pass on some observations
of my own:
In general, I found some of the essays in this collection of interest but,
overall, I found the book of less interest than some earlier Brokeback
books. This is because the main focus here is not the movie or short story
itself but a number of cultural "contexts" into which the movie can be
slotted. For instance, Part 2 is entitled "Miles to Go and Promises to
keep: Homophobic Culture and Gay Civil Rights."
Because my interest is more in the movie and short story themselves than
in such contexts, I found the two essays which constitute the final
section, both of which do deal with the movie itself, the most appealing.
Susan McCabe's essay "Mother Twist" is a thoughtful discussion of various
aspects of the "maternal" that can be found in the movie. Equally
thoughtful is Calvin Bennett's "Passion and Sympathy in Brokeback
Mountain" in which he explores the concept of "sympathy" and the ways in
which Ennis may have changed towards the end.
I also enjoyed Patricia Neil Warren's survey of historical cowboys,
rodeos, and gay rodeos though, bizarrely, she has Jack dying at the age
of 43. Likewise, Judith Halberstam's essay "Not So Lonesome Cowboys" is a
persuasive investigation of the homoerotic overtones in the Western in
general though, very strangely, she believes that Ennis is a Latino who
is transformed into a white in the movie.
Indeed, it is mistakes like this which at times made me question whether
some of the writers had actually studied the movie or the short story with
due care. You'd expect the editor, William R. Hadley to get things right
but no, he has both tent scenes taking place specifically in the "pup"
tent whereas we all know in which tent it was that those two scenes
took place.