Brokeback Mountain
From USA Today:
The movie has earned positive reviews from nearly 90% of reviewers, according to rottentomatoes.com. And Brokeback has won more than a dozen pre-Oscar awards.
Those raves "helped open the door for box office, and the movie has really taken advantage of it," says Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo. "It's gone from being 'the gay cowboy movie' to being the must-see film of the awards season."
Foley says the studio had hoped to have the film in more than 30 major markets by the end of January. But the film has played so well, it is now in more than 80 cities. (emphasis mine)
I love the image of the wildmons standing in front of a steamroller. Makes my day.
Misty Irons, who has my vote as one of the greatest people I've ever met, even though we've only met electronically, has finally come out with her review of Brokeback Mountain, "Brokeback Mountain: Hollywood Finally Gets It Right," at MusingsOn. Read it -- it has nearly the impact of the film itself, and is a great example of what I always thought Christians shoud be about. She picks up on a lot of things I didn't address (some I missed, some I didn't think about deeply enough), and lays them out with great love and compassion.
Naturally Gay
The inimitable Alex posted an interesting article on a gay cowboy near Phoenix. Aside from the fact that I want to marry him after reading the article, this little subhead struck me: "For Valley man, being gay and a cowboy are natural."
I pointed out to Alex that for all of us, being gay and being whatever else we are is natural, and that people should just leave us alone to create our lives just as anyone does, as best we can. What does it cost anyone? (A similar sentiment, although couched with much less anger, comes from Misty Irons at the end of her BBM review.) Which leads me to two trains of thought:
First, take away the so-called "moral" objections to homosexuality (and there's an area where I have a fundamental difference with the monotheisms and their received truth: morality too easily becomes a set of empty rules that reflect no real moral thinking), and what do you have: you have a bunch of people who are trying to do the best they can to make their lives mean something and for the most part not doing such a bad job of it, in spite of everything. And for those who have given up on meaning in their lives, how much of that is due to hostility from outside? Mmmm? If someone who is different than you are doesn't have to deal with your hostility and contempt, what kinds of possibilities does that open up for them? Like the cowboy in the article, most of us ("us" being gay men) have to go through a lot of soul-searching, a lot of fear, a lot of pain, and a lot of anger (more on that in a minute) just to be able to accept who we are. Just sit down and ask yourself why and what you did to contribute to it. (It's not unique to us -- we just happen to be the hate object du jour.)
Second, anger. Someone (actually, several people) have commented to me that I'm very angry. My response is simply that I'm a gay man -- it goes with the territory. I'm no saint, and if you think I'm bad now, you should have had to deal with me as a teenager, when I began figuring it all out and realized that there were people in the world who didn't know me and hated me anyway because of something over which I had no decision-making capacity. I deal with the anger as best I can, and sometimes I run into people who give me some clues as to what I should be aiming for -- it's ironic that good Christians, like Misty Irons and my pal Bridgette from Epinions Addicts, are doing so much to make me a better Witch. After all, the goals are the same -- "Harm none" and "Do unto others" are not so far apart.
The problem is, though, that I so thoroughly enjoy taking potshots at pretentious buffooons. It's hard to let go of that, particularly when they're being hateful on top of everything else.
Scootmaroo takes on my favorite target. A nice summary of the wingnuttery of the week.
My only comment on Sam Alito: If he said he believed in things he doesn't believe in on a "job application" in 1985, why should we believe what he says on a job application in 2006?
Sidebar: Sometimes it's hard to know if you're reading The Corner or The Onion. It seems that now it's the Democrats' fault that Harriet Miers was shot down. (Courtesy Tbogg)
I will get back to something more substantial soon. Right now I'm taking a break by reading another book that hasn't been published yet. It's very strange -- I'm starting to think of myself more and more as a reviewer. Now maybe if I could figure out a way to get paid for it.
Later. . . .
2 comments:
Bob
I was just reading your blog and amongst all the excellent things you've said in there, I found this:
"The inimitable Alex posted an interesting article on a gay cowboy near Phoenix. Aside from the fact that I want to marry him after reading the article, this little subhead struck me: 'For Valley man, being gay and a cowboy are natural.'
"I pointed out to Alex that for all of us, being gay and being whatever else we are is natural, and that people should just leave us alone to create our lives just as anyone does, as best we can. "
Gosh Bob - I'm just so flattered by that word you used to describe me. Gosh - that's the nicest thing anyone said to/about me.
As for the comments about being gay is natural - I must have missed that when you said that - or it was within a lot of other stuff.
Anyway - I quite understand what you mean and believe you. I mean, I don't know from personal experience, but do believe it from what everyone says - and being predominately straight is natural for me, so [shrug] I assume being predominately gay comes natural to you.
I recently read a stat that said 10% of the world is left handed. That is about the same stat as for gay people. Interesting isn't it. Just nature's little quirky diversity.
I tried telling my daughter that left-handed people used to be considered 'wrong', 'sick', 'badly brought up', 'defiantly choosing to do it' and even 'had the devil in them', FOR BEING LEFT-HANDED!
I ask you, who are the sick ones?
Here's another thing to consider. If you view sexual orientation from an evolutionary view - then there are more heterosexual people in the world (and animals) simply because heterosexuals reproduce more.
Image a primeval situation, where humans have evolved with sexual desires and no consideration made as to which gender they prefer - after all, why would it matter? So - much mating goes on as would in a world where there is no TV or football or 'moral majority' to stop it. Mating between same genders and opposite genders, on an equal level.
But the mating between opposite genders produces children, and those children inherit the genetic traits of their parents. So - after a number of generations, the number of humans who have an orientation toward opposite gender will be greater than those who like the same gender.
Nothing to do with which is "morally" correct, just a matter of numbers.
Alex.
I have to say, I have trouble dealing emotionally with the idea of BBM being "controversial," even though I know intellectually that it is, to many. It's simply that to me, and any gay man you want to talk to, the idea of two men displaying affection, trust, passion, and everything else that goes with love is perfectly normal. When they don't do that, it's time to worry.
As for the evolutionary part, Edward O. Wilson dealt with possible genetic bases of homosexuality in his comments about altruism in Sociobiology. I'm sure others have commented on it as well, but my reading in that field is sadly behind. But take also into account, for the sake of the argument, that any "gay" gene may be recessive or sex-linked or both (I would be very surprised if only one gener contributed to sexual orientation, but for matters of simplification, that example will do). That simply means that transmission of that gene will not necessarily depend on sexual orientation at all. That's another example of the wildmons passing along misinformation -- gay men certainly can father children, and homosexual inheritance doesn't necessarily manifest itself in behavior.
Since homosexual behavior seems to be a general mammalian trait (and shows up frequently enough in birds as well), I suspect it's here to stay.
Post a Comment