Brokeback Mountain
During my sophomore year of college, my English professor introduced me to Taiwanese filmmaker, Ang Lee. The Wedding Banquet was a brilliant commentary on sexuality in cross-cultural experiences. Lee's other films have aided in introducing American movie-goers to Asian culture and experimental cinematography. Always cutting edge (in a variety of ways), Lee has created what I find to be the most amazing film I've seen in years.
Brokeback Mountain is what IMDB calls "an epic love story set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas" in which two men forge a relationship "whose complications, joys, and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love."
After seeing Brokeback the first time, it took about five minutes for this story of unrequited love to sink in. During my second viewing, some themes developed that I offer for discussion.
So many fundamentalists have been critical of Brokeback Mountain because of the open and frank ways in which the ebb and flow of sexual exploration is portrayed. Many progressives have praised Brokeback Mountain for the exact same reason. The story is culturally based, though. Would the same individuals that praise Brokeback for the gritty and honest portrayl of same-sex relationships in rural America say the same thing if this was a film about African American men on the "down low" in urban and suburban settings?
As well, Brokeback makes an interesting commentary on men and faith. Ennis DelMar comments that he "don't know nothing about the Pentecost" because he's Methodist, and proves it by equating the Pentecost experience with the final judgement. Religious understanding always seems to be initiated by women in this film. Ennis' wife and daughters ask him to go to a church picnic; he shrugs it off as a"fire and brimstone" bunch. At the end of the film, Jack Twist's Pentecostal parents show differing approaches to their meeting of Ennis Delmar. Jack's father is stoic and cold; his mother gives knowledge of the love shared between her son and Ennis. Her demeanor is one of grace, even in the midst of grief and confusion. For the men of Brokeback Mountain, faith is something that is negative, cold, confused, and harsh. Is this the faith we have today, or do we seek a faith that is creative, compassionate, and engaging?
At any rate, these are the questions that are on my mind. See Brokeback. Let the questions that lay just beneath the surface bubble up.
Brokeback Mountain is what IMDB calls "an epic love story set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas" in which two men forge a relationship "whose complications, joys, and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love."
After seeing Brokeback the first time, it took about five minutes for this story of unrequited love to sink in. During my second viewing, some themes developed that I offer for discussion.
So many fundamentalists have been critical of Brokeback Mountain because of the open and frank ways in which the ebb and flow of sexual exploration is portrayed. Many progressives have praised Brokeback Mountain for the exact same reason. The story is culturally based, though. Would the same individuals that praise Brokeback for the gritty and honest portrayl of same-sex relationships in rural America say the same thing if this was a film about African American men on the "down low" in urban and suburban settings?
As well, Brokeback makes an interesting commentary on men and faith. Ennis DelMar comments that he "don't know nothing about the Pentecost" because he's Methodist, and proves it by equating the Pentecost experience with the final judgement. Religious understanding always seems to be initiated by women in this film. Ennis' wife and daughters ask him to go to a church picnic; he shrugs it off as a"fire and brimstone" bunch. At the end of the film, Jack Twist's Pentecostal parents show differing approaches to their meeting of Ennis Delmar. Jack's father is stoic and cold; his mother gives knowledge of the love shared between her son and Ennis. Her demeanor is one of grace, even in the midst of grief and confusion. For the men of Brokeback Mountain, faith is something that is negative, cold, confused, and harsh. Is this the faith we have today, or do we seek a faith that is creative, compassionate, and engaging?
At any rate, these are the questions that are on my mind. See Brokeback. Let the questions that lay just beneath the surface bubble up.
posted by Chett Pritchett at
11:08 PM
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