GAH! Just heard from another (ex?
) online friend at another forum today that she just saw the movie and thought it was "just another love story, and if it had been about a straight couple, no one would have cared."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
That's like a combo of two or three of my least favorite criticisms all at once. An Idiot Trifecta, if you will.
I said, "Well, it *isn't* about a straight couple. That's the point. Idiot." (Well, not that last part, but I wanted to. Bad.) I then went on to say that the obstacle in this case isn't just their families or their ethnicity or society - it's themselves. Ennis has had homophobia (and self-loathing, since he is a homosexual) so deeply ingrained in him since childhood by his family and society that he can't overcome it, and that's what keeps them apart and ultimately causes Jack's death, both spiritually and physically. I said that Jack was able to overcome all of that not in small part through the unconditional love of his mother (I figured this ought to appeal to her since she is the mother of two pre-teen boys, and it's the truth), the mean-spiritness and lack of acceptance on all levels from his father be damned. And I said that I'm sorry if she missed that, because that's what makes the movie so powerful.
She had also compared it to Crash (and of course very unfavorably), when no one asked her to. Boy, these Crashies sure feel behooved to defend that movie at every opportunity even when no one was attacking it, don't they? Kinda reminds me of - oh, I don't know - a certain administration? Protest too much... much?
Sorry - just needed to vent. Again.