Andrushka

When I wrote about Transamerica, I wondered whether or not it was a good movie because of its literary value or simply because it's about a maligned and slighted segment of our population. I've been wondering the same thing about Brokeback Mountain, and when I heard this broadcast on NPR about the film, I thoroughly agreed. "If not for the twist of the two main characters being gay cowboys," says Betty Baye, "would Brokeback Mountain be stirring up such a fuss? Would the movie be being talked about as if it was the best thing since sliced bread and undoubtedly a shoe-in for Oscars? I mean, I guess what troubles me in this case is the deliberate hype perpetrated by the spin machines to strongly suggest that the movie contains lots of hot sex scenes between two men. And if I was gay, and I'm not, I wouldn't necessarily think of Brokeback Mountain as the great break-through movie that many suggest it is. It's a fine movie. It's better than average in fact. But I believe that gay people will really know they've arrived when their special relationships aren't treated as oddities for which movie oddities have to be conned into seeing with promises of soft porn. Sex isn't what Brokeback Mountain is about." I'm not sure about her "soft porn" statement, it didn't seem to me that anyone was selling it that way (perhaps condemning it for that). She is right though, it's not a terribly erotic movie. The average B horror flick is closer to homoerotica than Brokeback Mountain. Like Ms. Baye says, it's a better than average movie. But it's not all that and a bottle of ketchup. It never embraces the romance of its premise. It never comes to terms with its tragedy. Much of the movie exists is an emotional limbo, and don't get me wrong, I like limbo. But I've even seen limbo done better. What does this movie have that other GLBT movies don't? Stars. The only GLBT film I know of to have bigger names was Philadelphia. If I know my readership (and I probably don't), we need education on GLBT issues more than anyone because of our rather sheltered upbringings and conservative lifestyles. Movies are a great way of learning. They're just about the best things since books. Really. So you are probably saying, "Well, if not Transamerica and Brokeback Mountain, what then?" Don't get me wrong, you can still watch them, learn, and love it, but there are films that deserve more praise and a wider viewership. For example, Bad Education and Breakfast on Pluto both were much more memorable transgendered movies than Transamerica. And if any film, gay or straight, deserves an Oscar nomination this year, it's the Canadian film C.R.A.Z.Y (indeed, I dare say if you want to see gay-themed films that have artistic merit above and beyond their social statements, you had better get used to watching Francophonic cinema). Those are my thoughts du jour. The rest of this post will be thoughtless, yet related. Yesterday in class at Union we were discussing research-based poems and they had all (supposedly) read a handout I'd given them that featured poems written by some of my former classmates. One of the poems was the result of a research project on taxidermy and I was telling the students that, though I still loved the poem, it wasn't exactly my favorite from that writer. However, most of his taxidermy series had so much homoeroticism in the poems I'd probably be sacked for sharing it with students at Union, bastion of decency that it is. One of the students exclaimed, "You mean he's gay?" "Yes," I replied. "And a really great guy." "Oh. I didn't think a gay guy would write about hunting." Perhaps, if nothing else, Brokeback Mountain can teach America that "the gays" can shoot animals too.

Posted by Scott on 16 February 2006 at 2/16/2006 04:33:00 PM | Permalink