Yes, I'm posting again and it's so gay

Sorry for the absence. I had a note but the cats ate it.

Today's topic is Brokeback Mountain. You're right. This is terribly overdue. However, I only saw the film last weekend, in the company of a straight but not narrow friend whose taste in film is so bizarre he deserved to see something quality for a change. I had wanted to get him to watch some John Waters movies, but after viewing some of his top film choices, I think Waters might be too Disney for him. Besides, he took some of my pizza home so I don't want to talk about him too much.

Yes, about the film. I read Annie Proulx's short story last summer at the insistence of another friend, a huge 'mo and all-around good guy, who distributed photocopies of the tale like confetti, such was his enthusiasm. He's a country boy and has had half the men between here and Red Deer, so he related to Brokeback Mountain's themes and characters. I thought the story was OK, though I was put off somewhat by the hayseed dialogue and the slow pace. I thought the film was better than the short story, and not just because the protaganists were played by two guys I enjoy seeing naked (my 'mo friend has the same smile and the same expression in his eyes as Heath Ledger, by the way). The director brought the story together in a way that made it much more vivid and emotionally intense than it was on the page, at least for me. The actors did a great job too, and I won't soon forget the scene where Jack and Ennis met after their first long separation and kissed like they would never ever let go, no matter what.

They did let go, of course, and without giving away too much to those who have yet to see the film, this is not a happy story. That's the main reason I avoided seeing it for so long my countryboy friend threatened to revoke my gay card. As if he has the authority - he wears solar-strength orange shirts with bright red pants. I am sick to death of sad gay films. I'm grateful we've reached the stage where not every gay-themed movie has to be about AIDS, but I don't see that we've made much progress since the bad old days described by the late Vito Russo in his book & film The Celluloid Closet: "In twenty-two of twenty-eight films dealing with gay subjects from 1962 to 1978, major gay characters onscreen ended in suicide or violent death."

That's pretty heavy stuff. It sends a powerful negative message, and the trend continues. For every Beautiful Thing, Prom Queen, or But I'm a Cheerleader, there are ten films out there about gay people where it all ends in tears or death or both. I don't expect every film about us to be a recruitment poster for happy homo-osity, but this is gross misrepresentation that heteros would never tolerate. Imagine, straight readers, if almost every film about het romance ended like Fatal Attraction or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Or even better yet, Carrie or The Shining. I like all those films, but wouldn't it grate on your nerves to know that every onscreen protaganist you came to appreciate ended up permanently scarred emotionally, axed, bludgeoned or shot to death, or killed after being bathed in pig's blood? How would Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts or Jennifer Aniston ever sustain a film career?

My other objection to Brokeback is its timidity in portraying gay romance. There was more onscreen hetero humping than gay humping, but the little gay action there was was too much for some in the small audience the evening I attended. The male halves of two 60-something couples sitting behind us sputtered with outrage at the first how-do-you-do between Ennis and Jack and left the theatre. My friend told me he found the man-on-man kissing and sex "shocking," as he had never seen any before. There really wasn't much in that film that could reasonably be described as graphic. You want graphic, watch an episode of the recently retired Queer as Folk. We need more gay sexual imagery, not less - it's a substantial part of the world we live in.

And filmmakers need to remember that 'gay' is a synonym for 'happy' - I'd like to see that reflected back at us more often. For example, a better ending for Brokeback would have seen Jack and Ennis opening up a B&B in the Montana foothills, with two-stepping classes on Thursdays and special camping trips into the mountains. Now THAT would have won the best film Oscar for sure!