You know it's crossed my mind from time to time why this relationship (Jack & Ennis) works for straight women. In general (forgive me please), I am of the understanding that most women are not "turned on" by gay sex, although that might be more about male's preoccupation with pornography. Do you think BBM is accessible to women simply because of the romance angle? Is this all that was needed to override any issues of gender/orientation?
I'm glad you asked this, Chris, because this has been an intriguing part of the experience for me. It IS difficult to explain, but I will try. I was surprised myself that I found the love scenes so thrilling. For one thing, I'm usually not hugely interested in watching people of
any orientation have sex unless one of the people is me. I don't find most movie sex scenes sexy. I only do if a) they're very aesthetically appealing: beautiful lighting and cinematography, beautiful actors (yes, I'm shallow), etc. AND b) the backstory is engaging -- usually that means romantic, and c) they are convincingly passionate (which right there excludes 90 percent of movies). Frankly, I did expect to find this one even less exciting than usual. I've never felt particularly interested in watching gay men together, no offense to anyone, not because I'm homophobic (I hope) but because that seems like something that by definition wouldn't include me. Also, when I HAVE felt engaged in love scenes in straight movies, I assumed it was because I identified with Julia or Gwyneth or whoever -- I put myself in the woman's place, she's my portal into the scene. With this there'd be no portal.
So anyway, obviously I was wrong. Brokeback passes all those tests for me. Aesthetic appeal? Check. Romantic story? Check. Convincingly passionate? Man, that's for sure. And as far as being able to put myself into the scene, turns out gender doesn't matter for this, so this movie actually TWICE as many portals, twice as many ways to be drawn in as straight movies do. When I previously assumed I was identifying with the actress as a fellow woman (so to speak), I now realize that actually I was putting myself in her place simply because I was attracted to the man. With Brokeback, I can put myself in either place and still have fun! And as for feeling drawn into the scene, hard to feel otherwise when the camera moves in so close you can see spit strings! I'm THERE.
Yes, it's unrealistic: I couldn't actually BE part of that scene because I'm female. On the other hand, I also couldn't be there because it's fictional and I'm allergic to horses. So what's the difference?
So that's what I learned about myself. That I actually CAN find movie sex scenes sexy regardless of orientation as long as they a) are well filmed, b) romantic, c) passionate and d) star Heath and Jake.
PS While I was writing this, you posted again, Chris. I've already droned on for a long time (I always feel like such a thread hog!), but my first thoughts are: certainly I think there is a fundamental need for humans to love that goes beyond sexuality. I would think anybody could connect with this movie in that way. But if you ask why I find the love scenes so erotic, well, there's my answer.
But also, I've wondered if, since 99.9999 percent of the movies ever made have featured straight characters, are gay people able to put themselves into those scenes? In other words, could you go through my process in reverse (reducing from two portals to one, unfortunately)? (BTW, in case anybody questions this, yes, that means men would have to put themselves in the actress' place and women the actor's. But again, what matters is not which person you IDENTIFY with, but which person you would rather TAKE THE PLACE OF.)