In honor of the ten-year anniversary of the release of the inic gay Wtern, we spoke to B. Ruby Rich, the film scholar who ed the term 'new queer cema,' to discs the evolutn of gayns on the silver screen.
Contents:
- WAS IT GOOD FOR THE GAYS: ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTA’
- 'BROKEBACK MOUNTA' USHERED A NEW ERA OF GAY CEMA
- 'BROKEBACK MOUNTA' AT 15: JAKE GYLLENHAAL ON HOW FILMG GAY ROMANCE 'WAS UNFORTABLE AT TIM BUT WE KNEW THE BIGGER PICTURE'
- THAT “GAY COWBOY MOVIE”QUEER PEOPLE REFLECT ON 15 YEARS OF “BROKEBACK MOUNTA”
WAS IT GOOD FOR THE GAYS: ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTA’
* is brokeback mountain a gay film *
"However, the directors warned uld lose 's stat as the ultimate gay movie as queer cema evolv and the film dtry starts to embrace LGBT reprentatn Insir's homepage for more stori. We've had the first-ever mastream LGBT rom- "Love, Simon, " cultural juggernts like "Call Me By Your Name" and "Carol, " about three Disney movi featurg Disney's "first-ever" LGBTQ character ("Bety and the Beast, " "Onward, " and "Zootopia"), and "Moonlight, " which did what "Brokeback Mounta" uldn't and beme the first-ever queer movie to w bt picture at the Amy "Brokeback Mounta" is still viewed as the go-to gay movie.
David Calhoun, wrg for Time Out, said: "Lee has taken a story of gay love and placed where should be — the mastream.
"Strikg a siar was Roger Ebert, wrg for the Chigo Sun-Tim: "'Brokeback Mounta' has been scribed as 'a gay wboy movie, ' which is a cel simplifitn. "Brokeback Mounta" straddl this le expertly, prentg their leadg queer characters and their forbidn love wh so much sympathy that turns to are gay, and while most dience members may not unrstand exactly what is like to love someone, and be somethg, that is emed so taboo uld lead you to tastrophe, or, "Brokeback Mounta's" se, ath, Lee's movie picts forbidn love, somethg a lot of people know of, so expertly and touchgly that 's hard not to get sucked to rg thoroughly about the characters — whether you're gay or Lee is rponsible for that. The gay nversn mp drama "Boy Erased, " while ably acted by s st (particularly Lus Hedg), almost seems sred of the subject matter.
'BROKEBACK MOUNTA' USHERED A NEW ERA OF GAY CEMA
“Brokeback Mounta” ma history as the first gay romance film to cross over to the mastream, eventually grossg $178 ln worldwi. * is brokeback mountain a gay film *
It felt tailored to straight dienc, whereas "Brokeback Mounta, " while not exactly tailored to queer dienc the way that a morn TV show like "Pose" is, is so direct s pictn of queer love and the dangers of beg gay that feels absolutely thentic. "I me out as gay durg the time 'Brokeback Mounta' me out, so cid wh this time of me feelg like I uldn't live a lie anymore and wantg to fally embrace fully who I am, " Johnson told Insir. "I remember before me out, I was nervo, and people were jokg about 'oh, 's the gay wboy movie.
Jam Wilby, who starred as one half of an inic gay uple himself Jam Ivory's 1987 masterpiece "Mrice, " told Insir that he was "irrated" by the movie spe also thkg was "remarkable. "In "Mrice, " Hugh Grant's Clive reprs his sexualy and liv life as a straight man, whereas Wilby's tular character embrac his inty as a gay man Edwardian England. "I thought the way that Jam Ivory handled Clive's transn om, if you want to ll him or gay or if you want to ll him somethg oteric, to beg straight was better [than 'Brokeback'], " Wilby told Insir.
Of urse, 's themselv that they actually hate bee of their reprsed homosexualy, so anger is an unrstandable rponse those circumstanc.
'BROKEBACK MOUNTA' AT 15: JAKE GYLLENHAAL ON HOW FILMG GAY ROMANCE 'WAS UNFORTABLE AT TIM BUT WE KNEW THE BIGGER PICTURE'
We serve Disney-like happy endgs'"Philalphia" follows a gay man wh HIV (Tom Hanks) tryg to sue his former pany for wrongful dismissal. "A Sgle Man" follows a gay man (Col Firth) preparg for suici followg the ath of his boyiend. "Love, Simon" was a groundbreakg movie purely for exisg, but gave the fun and happy gay rom- we've been dyg for, for years.
Craig Johnson's "Alex Strangelove" followed su — a reee, upliftg edy that also wisely picts one gay man's journey to "Moonlight" and "Carol, " both set reprsive societi, manage to squeeze posive moments, upliftg msag, and hopeful endgs to their artfully ma stori. 'Brokeback Mounta' will lose s stat as the go-to gay movie, but that's a good thgWhat will never change is the qualy of "Brokeback. Before this, Ennis spoke about two men who were chased down and killed for beg gay when he was jt a boy.
This may seem to be a rather extreme example of homophobia, but speaks to the bigotry that ran rampant throughout the Southern Uned Stat at the time. The unfortunate realy is that homophobia still exists worldwi today and, many plac, beg gay is still nsired a crime that uld land you prison.
THAT “GAY COWBOY MOVIE”QUEER PEOPLE REFLECT ON 15 YEARS OF “BROKEBACK MOUNTA”
This unfortunately was a remr of the long-standg homophobic attus wh Hollywood and (some of) the Amy members.
In this regular lumn, we’ll look at pictns of queers cema and ask, Was It Good For The Gays? G Van Sant had tried to direct (he pched to Matt Damon, who turned down bee he had already played a gay man and a wboy before and didn’t want to do both aga); Mark Wahlberg was once nsired for the lead, but he turned down bee, duh, ’s about gay guys.
Conservative groups issued boytts of the film, polil punds acced of phg a gay agenda, and notorly lost the Amy Award for Bt Picture to Crash; many crics acced Amy voters of homophobia, as the film was the bt-reviewed release of the year, and, spe the Osr loss, was also the year’s most honored film. It’s fluence on popular culture nnot be nied, for better or for worse — ne years later, people are still makg gay wboy jok.