2008 Woodie Awards
Intolerance in 'Brokeback Mountain' spills off big screen into real life
Film explores relationships; doesn't promote gay agenda
Trent Orris
Issue date: 2/23/06 Section: Opinion
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I recently did something no man should ever do: I saw "Brokeback Mountain" alone at the theater.
Needless to say, the look I got from the Wehrenberg employee when I muttered, "One ticket for 'Brokeback Mountain,' please," was priceless. For the half-second he looked me in the eye I could tell exactly what he was thinking: 'He's a queer.'
It was certainly the same thing everyone else in that theater was thinking when they realized what movie I was going to without a member of the opposite gender. It's not like I could explain that I was going for my college newspaper and couldn't manage to find a female to travel along in order to avoid feeling people's paranoid stares on the back of my neck.
Does it really make me less of a man because I went to see "Brokeback Mountain"? (Don't answer that, wise guy.) It appears like some people think it does. I told one of my co-workers I had seen it over the weekend and he jokingly called me 'Homo.' I asked another of my co-workers if he'd seen it. He said he hadn't, and if he did, he wouldn't be telling anyone at work. This is a man who is married and has a baby girl.
Does he really need to be afraid of people at his job thinking he might be homosexual because he saw a movie about gay cowboys?
Perhaps this movie is causing so much controversy because people don't understand it. This isn't Carson from Queer Eye we're talking about here. Cowboys are about John Wayne shooting up the saloon and Clint Eastwood giving a sneer to the bad guy. It's the ultimate symbol of male toughness. The cowboys portrayed in "Brokeback Mountain" aren't sissies either. They shoot wolves, they sleep outdoors when it snows, they eat beans three meals a day and they have wives and children.
How could these true-blue, hard-working Americans love someone of the same sex? It's impossible. It must be part of another left-wing agenda trying to erode our family values.
Unfortunately, it seems like the people endorsing this theory are those who haven't seen the movie. It doesn't promote homosexuality. In fact, the cowboys try their best to hide it from the people they care about. They just want to live like normal people. When they are unable to keep their secret hidden, they pay the consequences because people can't accept them for who they are. The only thing "Brokeback Mountain" promotes is tolerance and understanding. It is tastefully and artistically done and everyone should go see it. Bring an opposite-gender friend along, if it makes you more comfortable.
The sad part is, I know someone in one of my classes will see that I wrote a "Brokeback Mountain" article and will ask me in a hushed tone if I'm gay. Then I will have to punch them in the face for making assumptions about my sexuality just because I saw a movie with gay cowboys in it.
Needless to say, the look I got from the Wehrenberg employee when I muttered, "One ticket for 'Brokeback Mountain,' please," was priceless. For the half-second he looked me in the eye I could tell exactly what he was thinking: 'He's a queer.'
It was certainly the same thing everyone else in that theater was thinking when they realized what movie I was going to without a member of the opposite gender. It's not like I could explain that I was going for my college newspaper and couldn't manage to find a female to travel along in order to avoid feeling people's paranoid stares on the back of my neck.
Does it really make me less of a man because I went to see "Brokeback Mountain"? (Don't answer that, wise guy.) It appears like some people think it does. I told one of my co-workers I had seen it over the weekend and he jokingly called me 'Homo.' I asked another of my co-workers if he'd seen it. He said he hadn't, and if he did, he wouldn't be telling anyone at work. This is a man who is married and has a baby girl.
Does he really need to be afraid of people at his job thinking he might be homosexual because he saw a movie about gay cowboys?
Perhaps this movie is causing so much controversy because people don't understand it. This isn't Carson from Queer Eye we're talking about here. Cowboys are about John Wayne shooting up the saloon and Clint Eastwood giving a sneer to the bad guy. It's the ultimate symbol of male toughness. The cowboys portrayed in "Brokeback Mountain" aren't sissies either. They shoot wolves, they sleep outdoors when it snows, they eat beans three meals a day and they have wives and children.
How could these true-blue, hard-working Americans love someone of the same sex? It's impossible. It must be part of another left-wing agenda trying to erode our family values.
Unfortunately, it seems like the people endorsing this theory are those who haven't seen the movie. It doesn't promote homosexuality. In fact, the cowboys try their best to hide it from the people they care about. They just want to live like normal people. When they are unable to keep their secret hidden, they pay the consequences because people can't accept them for who they are. The only thing "Brokeback Mountain" promotes is tolerance and understanding. It is tastefully and artistically done and everyone should go see it. Bring an opposite-gender friend along, if it makes you more comfortable.
The sad part is, I know someone in one of my classes will see that I wrote a "Brokeback Mountain" article and will ask me in a hushed tone if I'm gay. Then I will have to punch them in the face for making assumptions about my sexuality just because I saw a movie with gay cowboys in it.