The Aerie
Local writer Erik Lundegaard has an excellent analysis of 'Brokeback Mountain,' on MSNBC.com , about why a gay-themed movie can be so successful in these homofphobic times. One of his comments is
I have to admit that “Brokeback” didn’t look particularly appealing to me from that September trailer. A hopeless, doomed romance. Yay.
This is why I don't want to see 'Brokeback Mountain.' This is the same reason why I didn't want to see 'Boys Don't Cry,' (and when I finally did watch it I stopped halfway through).
I don't need a movie to convince me of the awfulness of the torture and death that Brandon Teena experienced. I already despair at the plight of those brutalized by society. And I spent too many years as a victim of brutality as a child to feel comfortable viewing it.
I applaud both of these movies, and I find it encouraging that they received cultural acceptance and helped move the social dialogue forward. But I have absolutely no desire to see the second half of 'Boys Don't Cry.' Neither do I wish to watch two tortured men responding to a culture of discrimination and violence.
Last week I took my daughter to see 'Last Holiday,' a movie which I would call "saccharine." I am not giving anything away, I think, by revealing that everything in 'Last Holiday' turns out fine, every bad person becomes a good person, everybody is redeemed. If you didn't know this from the premise, you aren't paying attention.
'Last Holiday' is no 'Boys Don't Cry,' but it said some good things about our culture too. It was a movie in which race was a non-issue (but class certainly was), and where a large-sized woman's size was never an issue. It said that we've come far enough as a culture that these concepts brought no tension at all to a movie intended to be relaxing. It was unrealistic (a department store medical clinic with a cat-scan machine?) but it was at least hopeful.
I am not comparing these movies, and I'm certainly not criticizing anyone who has the fortitude to see something with a richer emotional palette than that offered by 'Last Holiday.' All I'm saying is, I'm not strong enough to want to watch 'Brokeback Mountain' or 'Boys Don't Cry.'
I look forward to the day when these movies are not painful reflections of who we are, but historical documents about a barbaric time in history, now past. Maybe then I'll have the strength to watch them and shake my head and say "I'm glad we survived those times."
Posted by Albatross at February 3, 2006 5:44 PM | TrackBack