"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Cultural Shift

Can't seem to let go of Brokeback Mountain. Aside from its artistic merits, I think it is going to show itself to be a profoundly important film. The early box office is encouraging, not so much as to belie the rabids' contention that it will flop if they ignore it (which we knew was bullshit anyway; reportedly, it has already made back its costs on foreign box office), but because of the demographics -- it outsold King Kong in advance sales in Plano, Texas, the first weekend it showed. It's a two-pronged sort of thing: there is a huge amount of buzz (Focus on the Family notwithstanding), so people want to see it. I'm sure the buzz generates a little bit of prurient interest -- or I was, except that the buzz is now focusing on the tremendous acting and the universality of the story. What people are being offered is a good movie about star-crossed lovers.

The other prong is that people are going to see this movie and get a very different idea of gay men than what they had in their heads when they walked in. And I think because of the emotional impact of the film, that new idea is going to take firm hold. And Hollywood is not going to be able to go back to the old stereotypes, not if it wants to be taken seriously, and Donald Wildmon is going to be pissing into the wind. (You have to understand that "Donald Wildmon" in this usage is just a catch-all term for the anti-gay Christianists. They all run together in my head, so whichever name pops up is the name that gets used. They're pretty much fungible.)

OK, so I'm predicting. I don't do that much, but I have a feeling about this one.

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