Posted on 01/15/2006 11:00:14 AM PST by TFFKAMM
It's true, the movie "Brokeback Mountain" does provoke what one researcher calls "a very strong ick factor" in some straight men.
What is it in this story of two cowboy pals in 1960s Wyoming who find themselves in lifelong love -- yet go on to marry women -- that elicits this response from heterosexual males?
The answers are as complex as the plot.
A psychologist who coined the word "homophobic" said the revulsion is precisely that. A scientist who discovered genetic links to sexuality said he simply does not understand the response. The author of "The Sexual Brain" said there is nothing on a neurobiological basis to explain the aversion.
To film fan Eddie Hargreaves of Stockton, it's more like the "ick" of romantic drama. "I'm not going to speak for everybody," he said, "but I don't know a lot of straight guys who said, 'Oh, man, I can't wait to see "Bridges of Madison County," 1995's famous tearjerker.
"Brokeback Mountain," directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee and starring box-office hunks Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, is sparking both critical praise and water-cooler chatter. It's been nominated for seven Golden Globe awards.
But when movie critic Dave White, who is gay, wrote a humorous piece titled "The Straight Dude's Guide to 'Brokeback,' " "I got hundreds of messages, most of whom hated me for just existing," he said...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Uh, no, it's not.
I have a gay cousin.
He's blood, and I love him as blood.
From everything I've heard, he's a monogamous gay man and a good upstanding citizen.
And he's a good man in his personal life - he took care of his father who was dying of cancer, even though his father had given his a hard time all his life for being gay.
But I really don't care to contemplate his relationship with his partner.
I am sorry to hear that, I absolutely loved Lonesome Dove, I carried the book around with me for months, not to read it just to hold it. Pretty weird when I think about it now
But didn't Larry help with the screen play or something to that nature?
"They are NOT cowboys.
They are sheepboys."
and the article said they are "hunks".
HUNKY SHEEPBOYS!--no wonder everyone is rushing to see it!!!
"Imagine the POSITIVE response from heterosexual male movie-goers if "Brokeback" was about two lesbian cowgirls, and starred, say, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jessica Alba."
i think i have that one in my collection of "artistic" dvds:
"Hot Lesbian Sheep Girls of Madison County"
So this guy, who MADE UP THE TERM HOMOPHOBE wants hetero men to "acknowledge their problem"? I don't think hetero men have a problem. They just think the whole idea is ICK. They don't HATE, nor are they AFRAID of men who choose to have sex with other men, the whole idea is just repugnant to them, and that's natural.
Flip side of the coin. I doubt there would be a whole lot of WOMEN going to see that one, and for the same reasons.
Darn it I was going to post that, but with Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek.
*snort* Our 17 yr old daughter made a similar comment the other day. If it's truly genetic, how can that gene possibly be passed on if homosexuals don't reproduce?
The word "homophobe" actually means something else, it's been distorted through common use.
There is a difference between affection and wanting to bag your buddy.
I have affection for some men. My pastor, my brother, my father, some few good friends of long time aquintance.
I may give them a hug once in a while.
That DOESN'T mean I want to bag them.
the article leaves out the fact that many straight guys watched "Tombstone", a great western that had quite a bit of homosexuality in it. and the homosexuality actually added to Curly Bill's character.
there were probably lots of gay cowboys.
it all depends on how a film handles the subject. (I've always thought that there is some covert homosexuality in "Gunfight at OK Corral", between Wyatt and Doc; another great western. but no one else seems to see it there. Burt L was supposed to have been bi, so maybe he had a thing for Kirk.)
and if straight guys are so squeamish about unconventional sex, how come so many of us like "King Kong", which is pretty heavy on bestiality?
(but no, i don't plan to see "brokeback"--maybe if they re-edit it and put in some gunfights and a giant ape, i'll go.)
Earp and Doc????!!!
Doc was crazy (probably a sociopath) and hooked up with the insane Hungarian woman. Earp was chasing what's-her-name....
The answer is not complex, it is basic and simple. homosexuality is sick, immoral and just plain disgusting to a majority of people in general. What is being forced upon the population is a notion that one should view this as "ok". To most this is no different than asking us to believe that it's "ok" that Charlie Manson "chose" to be a murder conspirator. Hey, it's just another lifestyle decision - why should he be demeaned and discriminated against just because of your moral sense.
The issues here are not complex. They are simple. Complexity is heaped upon it purposedly to convolute the issue and confuse it. Homosexuals are people; but, they are people who have chosen a sickening lifestyle that no one is under any obligation to accept. It is a choice that they make and can unmake. It is not genetic. It is just perverse. And the war to change perversion to something acceptable is destined to be lost. Being a prostitute and a nice one doesn't make prostitution any less disgusting or any more wholesome. Nor does it make it any more legal. But, hey, it's a choice, right. Where are the marchers shouting for special rights for prostitutes. Right up the same alley, if you'll forgive the unintended pun. It's immoral sex and a health hazard just as is homosexuality.
Personally, I don't want to know what someone's sex life is like. I don't care and don't want to know about it. It is not proper to publicly discuss it. Standards have fallen to where liberals push this stuff in our faces knowing it incites moral people and flaunting it as though it were their right to do so. It needs to end.
This is a good example of how Hollywood desensitizes
people with traditional value systems.
If Jolie were in it, I'd stay home! Selma on the other hand...
So obvious, I'm embarassed I didn't think of it. I'll be using this one a lot.
in "Gunfight", the relationship between wyatt and doc seems much stronger than their relationships with the 2 women. Rhonda Fleming (i think it was)---wyatt's girl--plays almost no role at all, and Kate is mostly an excuse for doc to kill ringo. doc seems to be much more attracted to wyatt, and i think Kate even expresses some jealousy about the relationship.
watch the scene where wyatt comes up to doc's room before the gunfight and says something like; "doc, i need you".
but i don't think anyone else agrees with me on this.
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