WHAT if they held a culture war and no one fired a shot? That's the pellg tale of ''Brokeback Mounta.'' Here is a heavily promoted Amerin movie pictg two men havg sex -- the precise sex act that was still a crime some stat until the Supreme Court stck down sodomy laws jt two and a half years ago -- but there is no ntroversy, no Fox News tar and featherg, no roar om the relig right. ''Brokeback Mounta'' has stead bee the unlikely Osr favore, propelled by s biastal sweep of crics' awards, by s unexpected domance of the far ls highfalut Goln Glob and, perhaps most of all, by the lure of a gold sh. Last weekend opened to the hight per-screen average of any movie this year. Those screens were New York, Los Angel and San Francis -- hardly natnal bellwethers. But I'll rashly predict that the big Hollywood qutn posed on the ont page of The Los Angel Tim after those stunng weekend gross -- ''Can 'Brokeback Mounta' Move the Heartland?'' -- will be answered wh a roundg y. All the signs of a naway phenomenon are prent, om an stant parody on ''Saturday Night Live'' to the report that a multiplex Plano, Tex., sold more advance tickets for the so-lled ''gay wboy picture'' than for ''Kg Kong.'' ''The culture is fdg ,'' Jam Scham, the ''Brokeback Mounta'' producer, told USA Today. ''Grown-up movi have never had that kd of per-screen average. You only get those numbers when you're vacuumg up enormo tert om all walks of life.''
Contents:
- WAS IT GOOD FOR THE GAYS: ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTA’
- JAKE GYLLENHAAL SAID THERE WAS A 'STIGMA' ATTACHED TO PLAYG A GAY MAN 'BROKEBACK MOUNTA'
- GAY COWBOYS ARE COMG TO THE WT END WH THE THEATRE ADAPTATN OF ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTA’
- “BROKEBACK MOUNTA”: THE MASCULE GAY COWBOY
- THAT “GAY COWBOY MOVIE”QUEER PEOPLE REFLECT ON 15 YEARS OF “BROKEBACK MOUNTA”
- TWO GAY COWBOYS H A HOME RUN
- GAY WBOYS? ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ DO NOT STAND ALONE GOG THERE
WAS IT GOOD FOR THE GAYS: ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTA’
In this photo, two wboys embrace. Is love or jt iends? From Brokeback Mounta, a movie about two gay wboys fallg love, Heath Ledger hugs Jake Gyllenhaal; the movie, they're lovers and iends. Use this meme template for anythg your life that is beloved and that you may fact be fallg for. Add a ctom ptn above or labels the photo to create your own Brokeback Mounta Meme. * gay cowboys brokeback mountain *
"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.
JAKE GYLLENHAAL SAID THERE WAS A 'STIGMA' ATTACHED TO PLAYG A GAY MAN 'BROKEBACK MOUNTA'
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.
GAY COWBOYS ARE COMG TO THE WT END WH THE THEATRE ADAPTATN OF ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTA’
The gay nversn mp drama "Boy Erased, " while ably acted by s st (particularly Lus Hedg), almost seems sred of the subject matter. 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. 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.
“BROKEBACK MOUNTA”: THE MASCULE GAY COWBOY
"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.
We serve Disney-like happy endgs'"Philalphia" follows a gay man wh HIV (Tom Hanks) tryg to sue his former pany for wrongful dismissal. "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.
THAT “GAY COWBOY MOVIE”QUEER PEOPLE REFLECT ON 15 YEARS OF “BROKEBACK MOUNTA”
'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. Although people don't readily thk of gay wboys, one woman at the tra show said, "You have to kd of look past that and see what the whole story is about.
TWO GAY COWBOYS H A HOME RUN
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. ) And what better way to stoke the classic homophobic fire by makg wboys (OK, technilly they’re “ranch hands, ” but, you know, they’re wboys) — the most classic image of good old Amerin masculy — a ltle queer?
GAY WBOYS? ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ DO NOT STAND ALONE GOG THERE
After all, prents the gay experience as somethg that is normal and ordary; the only extraordary thg about , fact, is that there are people out there so disgted by the ia of men havg sex wh other men that they take their homophobia to such extrem — eher issug verbal or physil asslts on those they have emed unsirable bee of their own private sexual practic.