From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

[ednbarby]

I had two disparate experiences today with people regarding this movie.

The first one was with a longtime online friend at another forum who said she "has zero interest in ever seeing Brokeback" and who, in the same post, said that she was "tired of people labeling her as 'homophobic' just because [she] has a different view of homosexuals than Ang Lee."

It was like, "I'm sorry, but WHAT?"  I wrote this whole diatribe the gist of which was "Well, if the shoe fits..."  Then I deleted it because I figured why beat my head against the proverbial wall again?

Then, tonight, Ed's sister in Atlanta called me.  She goes, "I just had to call you because Ron and I finally watched your movie last night (LOL that people always refer to it as 'my movie').  Oh. My. God.  You were right.  WHAT a beautiful film!  I can't stop thinking about it.  Is it just me, or do those characters seem totally real to you?"

I laughed.  And said, "Yes.  So much so that I wear a necklace with two cowboy hat charms on it so that they can always be together."  She goes, "I can completely understand why.  Where did you get it?"

Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck.

[Front-Ranger]

You are courageous to be out there with your love of the movie!!

[Jeff Wrangler]

And Bravo to Ed's sister! 

[ednbarby]

You are courageous to be out there with your love of the movie!!

Oh, I'm out there, all right.

[RouxB]

I think I need some tokens of love as well-hats or horses or Heath and Jake (cuz there is no Heath without Jake!).

 

[bbm_stitchbuffyfan]

A Brokeback lover in Atlanta, huh?  I'm from Atlanta! How cool.

As for the ridiculous... I am getting so tired of homophobes who deny that they're homophobic. I mean that "tired of being labeled [homophobic]" bullshit is exactly what I'm talking about. This movie has taught me a lot about homophobia and really opened my eyes to just how many homophobes I know (again, I'm from Georgia) -- it's a startling number.

That's why I really appreciated this one episode of Family Guy that delt with gay marriage. At it's start I was thinking, "Oh, Jesus Christ, Family Guy and gay marriage? Here comes the stereotyping." I was pleasantly surprised to see, however, that they addressed the issue from all sides. One character (Brian) was a heterosexual, avid supporter of gays' rights. Other characters such as many of the people in their town, the politicians, and the family's grandparents were Republican homophobes. And then there was Lois, who repeated "I've never had any problems with gays before... but I just don't think they should be allowed to marry."

(Her character was redeemed, by the way; she realized the err of her ways.)

Sorry for that tangent but I just wanted to share.

[ednbarby]

I hear ya there, Buff.  I am *beyond* tired of that mentality of "I'm not a homophobe - some of my best friends are gay.  But..."  GAH!

And Ruby, funny you should mention the tokens of love in the way that you did.  Tonight, my son goes, "What are these?" referring to my cowboy hat charms.  I said, "They're cowboy hats."  He goes, "Why are you wearing them?"  I said, "Because they represent my favorite movie characters."  He goes, "Oh.  OK." (as if that was all the explanation he needed to be satisfied.  God love 4-year-olds.)  Then he said, "Why are there two cowboy hats?"  I said, "Because you can't have one without the other."  He goes, "Oh.  OK."

[Lynne]

I am *beyond* tired of that mentality of "I'm not a homophobe - some of my best friends are gay.  But..."  GAH!

Echo that, Barb...

Just thought I would chime in here with another 'homophobe' story...A few days ago a guy I know peripherally asked what I'd been doing the past few months...Before I got 'BrokeBack Mountain' into one sentence, he's saying 'You know how homophobic I am.'  And proceeds to give me a list of examples/reasons/etc...My only answer was 'I hope you'll give it a chance one day; it changed my life.'

That's the first time I've heard homophobia expressed in the positive, as opposed to 'I'm not homophobic, but...'.  Actually I did NOT know that about him.  But I could have guessed because he's made extremely classist comments to me before.  All this happened in northern Alabama, if that matters.

BTW, I liked that Family Guy episode - Family Guy tickles my funnybone just the right way.

-Lynne

[ednbarby]

Hey, Barb, I love your son's questions and the way he accepted your answers. My son's three, and he loves the soundtrack. ("Cowboy hat music," he calls it. Favorite song: "I Will Never Let You Go.") We had a conversation about why Jack and Ennis were sad that went about the way your conversation did. ("Oh." I love that response. Though I suspect that we'll be moving onto "But why?" very soon.)

That's what's so stunning about his acceptance of my answers - he's *totally* in the "But why?" stage.  He's also doing this thing where he'll ask me what something is, I'll tell him, (e.g., "What's that animal on the TV, Mommy?"  "It's a hippopotamus.") and he'll go, "No, it isn't."   

[ednbarby]

That's the first time I've heard homophobia expressed in the positive, as opposed to 'I'm not homophobic, but...'.  Actually I did NOT know that about him.  But I could have guessed because he's made extremely classist comments to me before.  All this happened in northern Alabama, if that matters.

That's a new one - I've never heard someone admit to it like that.  But it's also quite disturbing, and just proves the point Kirk, I think it was, made here the other day - that it's no longer socially acceptable to be a racist, but it's still socially acceptable to be a homophobe.  I'd bet you a million dollars this same guy would *never* say "You know what a racist I am."