Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Finally...
Mikaela:
I'm so glad when I hear of new people seeing the film, and being moved by it. It's good to know and to be reminded that it does still manage to reach and make an impact on new viewers.
Because heaven knows, the ridicule and belittling of the film is *still* ongoing. >:( Letterman airs here every day, with a time lag of one week after it airs in the US, and I very, very rarely watch it. Nevertheless quite incidentally I happpened to have the TV chattering in the background two days ago when to my surprise Letterman went and told another "gay = cowboy" joke. It wasn't especially offensive or anything, just utterly pathetic and lame. But the mere fact that a full 8 months and more after the film premiered it still serves as the habitual subject of moronic talk show jokes that will probably put people off watching it, make them think it's quite OK to maintain their prejudices, and to laugh at the film and its subject matter without even having made up their own minds directly........I hardly believed my ears. Enough already! I nearly blew a fuse. :blush:
I normally say that all PR is good PR, but not in this instance. This ongoing barrage must be creating a negative awareness that mainly keeps people away rather than making them curious.
(I tried to find out if the show might possibly, hopefully be a repeat from much earlier in the year, but there was nothing indicating that in the programme so I think it was in fact recent.)
dly64:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on August 16, 2006, 09:55:23 am ---It kind of surprises me in a way that your sister doesn't want to see it at least out of curiosity, in spite of her fear of its tragic ending. I also have to say that I don't get people who can't deal with a tragic ending in a movie. A co-worker of mine has been holding one of my two "loaner" copies of BBM for ransom for four months, now. She keeps not wanting to see it because she knows "it'll be so sad" but she doesn't want to give it back because she says someday she might "be ready" for it.
--- End quote ---
I have to admit that I have done that. One instance has been “Schindler’s List.” It took me a very long time to watch it because I knew the story was going to be wrenching. However, I knew it would be an important film to watch. After I did, it became one of my favorite films (Albeit I don’t watch it on a regular basis. I almost always get a crying headache afterwards).
--- Quote from: Momof2 on August 16, 2006, 09:59:25 am ---I guess sadly that this is true. This movie has really affected all of us. Any time someone does not understand something then automatically it is wrong. All it takes are a few lunatics to decide that something is dirty or immoral and it spreads like wildfire. So sad.
--- End quote ---
Needless to say, some of the worse offenders are people who consider themselves to be Christians. I call them “Right-Wingers” (yes, now I am exposing one of my prejudices). To use dogma as a way to impose one’s beliefs on someone else drives me crazy. I have not been put on this planet to judge another person for how s/he chooses to live his/her life. I am a Christian, but that doesn’t mean that the Muslim down the street is an evil person because s/he doesn’t share my faith. Or because I am straight and another person is gay, doesn’t mean I’m going to heaven and s/he is going to hell. Not to mention the numerous times Hispanics are referred to in derogatory terms. It drives me CRAZY!!! Where is the spirit of inclusion?
--- Quote from: latjoreme on August 16, 2006, 10:17:13 am ---Here's an idea: Invite your sister over, put the film on. Then just after "Just sending up a prayer of thanks." "For what?" "... For you forgettin your harmonica. I'm enjoying the peace and quiet" jump up and turn off the TV! Then say, "So did you like the movie?"
--- End quote ---
LOL! I should do that! But, if she got that far, she would want to see the whole thing. Then she’d say, “I like to watch movies to escape!” Her favorite movies tend to be things like “12 Things I Hate About You” and “Napoleon Dynamite.” (Can you tell she has teenagers at home?) C’est la vie! It takes all types ….
--- Quote from: ednbarby on August 16, 2006, 09:55:23 am ---….she'll turn around and tell me all the gory details of the latest killings in Lebanon or Israel or about the batshit crazy woman down here who murdered a grandmother and her six-year-old grandson in cold blood last week. Is there some kind of problem with the ego-formation in people like this? Or am I just tougher/colder than most people? Seriously - I need to know.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: latjoreme on August 16, 2006, 10:17:13 am ---Hmm ... Well, I think there's a different kind of empathy involved. I like to think I feel some empathy for strangers in the news ... I think humans are wired to feel saddest about the fates of people they know well or are related to. And watching a movie gives you the sense of knowing the characters well. Feeling sad about people in a different part of the world, or even closer to home but whom we've never met, takes a larger sense of empathy and justice. It's a good trait, but I think for most people it's a less emotional reaction.
--- End quote ---
I like your analysis on this, Katherine. Ironically, my sister is one of those news junkies! She loves NPR … listens to it all of the time and is very up on news from all over the world. I think she sees that being a Christian requires her to know what is going on in the world and to be able respond to it in a peaceful activist way. But as I stated above, her motivation for watching a film is strictly for escapism. Oh well! My sister and I …. Yin and yang. She’s the oldest, I’m the youngest. She’s the realist, I’m the dreamer. She’s academically brilliant, I am artistically driven. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
ednbarby:
I think that's a good analysis, too, Katherine. I'm a bit of a news junkie, too. But once I get the gist, I don't want to know every gory detail. I'm not one of those people who goes in much for the "Up Close and Personal" stories, either. Anything that's purposely sensationalistic in the news turns me off. Just the facts, ma'am. But at the same time, I sat through "Schindler's List" weeping just about the entire time. I don't mind an emotional catharsis in the movie theater. But I reckon I shy away from them just about everywhere else.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Mikaela on August 16, 2006, 10:57:32 am --- But the mere fact that a full 8 months and more after the film premiered it still serves as the habitual subject of moronic talk show jokes that will probably put people off watching it, make them think it's quite OK to maintain their prejudices, and to laugh at the film and its subject matter without even having made up their own minds directly
--- End quote ---
That is ridiculous. I never watch those late-night talk shows, either (except the Daily Show, which I love). But I happened to see Jay Leno one night in late April and he made four BBM jokes in, what, an hour and a half? Appalling. And I'm afraid you are exactly right about the effect that has on people's perceptions.
--- Quote from: ednbarby on August 16, 2006, 11:48:59 am ---But at the same time, I sat through "Schindler's List" weeping just about the entire time. I don't mind an emotional catharsis in the movie theater. But I reckon I shy away from them just about everywhere else.
--- End quote ---
I don't mind sad movies, but I'm not fond of depressing movies. For instance, I love BBM (duh!) but was kind of sorry I saw Leaving Las Vegas. Schindler's List is an exception -- it's certainly depressing, but it's inescapable history, vividly depicted. But LLV was just bleak. I was depressed for four days. One year, my mother and brother decided to rent a movie on Christmas Eve (I wasn't going to be there) and they talked about getting LLV! I had to step in and forbid it.
dly64:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on August 16, 2006, 01:03:30 pm ---I don't mind sad movies, but I'm not fond of depressing movies. For instance, I love BBM (duh!) but was kind of sorry I saw Leaving Las Vegas. Schindler's List is an exception -- it's certainly depressing, but it's inescapable history, vividly depicted. But LLV was just bleak. I was depressed for four days. One year, my mother and brother decided to rent a movie on Christmas Eve (I wasn't going to be there) and they talked about getting LLV! I had to step in and forbid it.
--- End quote ---
Whoa! I agree ... LLV is not the kind of movie you would want to watch on Christmas Eve. :o The "depressing" reality is that I am often attracted to films that are very tragic. BBM would be one. Then there are a litany of others including “Schindler’s List,” “Munich,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Out of Africa,” etc. (It is for that reason my sister says, “Oh no! Diane loves it so it must be sad!”) Believe it or not, I really liked LLV, but it was purely depressing. There was really no redemptive element to it at all.
BTW …. I am not purely masochistic. I do enjoy a lot of films with pleasant themes and happy endings! ;D
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