Brokeback Mountain

I'd sort of purposely avoided writing about Brokeback Mountain for the simple reason that a) everyone else was already writing about it and b) I didn't know exactly what i'd say. Well they still are and I still don't but here goes anyway.

I really enjoyed the movie. I thought it was very tastefully done and was probably one of the best love stories that i've ever seen. Definitely Titantic-esque. It certainly brought back memories of relationships that i'd had that ended because there was no real other way they could end.

I think BM is a big step for gays and lesbians. I have to say that the majority of the gay themed movies I have seen (which admittedly is not a lot) have not been very good. The characters are often campy, effeminate, overly sarcastic and can be more likened to being a 'character' rather than a person. And I have enough gay friends to know that there does in fact exist a whole other group. One like the men portrayed in Brokeback Mountain.

Don't get me wrong though, characters like Will and Jack from Will and Grace and the guys from Queer Eye for the Staight Guy, David from Six Feet Under, have paved the way for this kind of movie. They helped make homosexuality non threatening. They helped some people realize they really had nothing to fear. Brokeback Mountain will hopefully make those people that no longer fear gays to now want to sit down and understand them.

At first when I saw that some were likening the gay marriage thing to the plight of minorities I balked at the idea. In the fifties we were talking about what I deemed to be basic human rights that were being taken away from people simply because their skin was darker. This was just about marriage right? It's really not. It's about having the right to visit your partner when they are lying in a hospital bed. It's about being able to collect their social security checks after spending an entire lifetime with them. It's about making sure they are being taken care of after you are gone. It's about being able to put them as a spouse on your health insurance. It's about the government giving you the tax break that every other married couple gets. That's what gay marriage means. Those are basic human rights that everyone else has. I didn't get that at first...

Hopefully the movie will show more of America that two PEOPLE, regardless of sex, can truly love each other. And that just because that happens, it's not going to ruin 'family values' or make baby Jesus cry.