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:
- 'BROKEBACK MOUNTA' USHERED A NEW ERA OF GAY CEMA
- WAS IT GOOD FOR THE GAYS: ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTA’
- JAKE GYLLENHAAL SAID THERE WAS A 'STIGMA' ATTACHED TO PLAYG A GAY MAN 'BROKEBACK MOUNTA'
- THAT “GAY COWBOY MOVIE”QUEER PEOPLE REFLECT ON 15 YEARS OF “BROKEBACK MOUNTA”
- WHY ARE THERE NO REAL GAYS "BROKEBACK MOUNTA"?
'BROKEBACK MOUNTA' USHERED A NEW ERA OF GAY CEMA
"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.
It has a Rotten Tomato sre of 87%, and most crics were enamoured wh the movie the moment first h 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.
WAS IT GOOD FOR THE GAYS: ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTA’
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 Johnson, the queer director of Netflix's "Alex Strangelove" spoke to Insir about the impact that Lee's movie had on him as a viewer as well as a filmmaker. "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. But also those feelgs of like 'if you're gay, you're gay.
"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.
JAKE GYLLENHAAL SAID THERE WAS A 'STIGMA' ATTACHED TO PLAYG A GAY MAN 'BROKEBACK MOUNTA'
"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. 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.
THAT “GAY COWBOY MOVIE”QUEER PEOPLE REFLECT ON 15 YEARS OF “BROKEBACK MOUNTA”
It's also full of tense passn, and the love scen let s queer characters enjoy beg gay. "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. Jack and Ennis’s homosexualy fi the mascule norms unr which they have been raised, leavg them unable to rencile their unrstandg of the liv they are supposed to lead as men wh the relatnships they want to pursue.
WHY ARE THERE NO REAL GAYS "BROKEBACK MOUNTA"?
Proulx explor the tersectn of masculy and homosexualy by illtratg the ways which society se any viatn om the very narrow tradnal notns of masculy as unnatural and servg of punishment.