Not that there's anything wrong with it.
Comments from one of the best black newspaper writers, Leonard
Pitts. Proof that there is nothing so uncommon
as common sense.
Kirby McDaniel
www.movieart.net
Why 'Brokeback Mountain' is so frightening
Leonard Pitts
Salt Lake Tribune
I went to see ''Brokeback Mountain'' last week, mainly to prove to
myself that I could.
This was after reading a New York Times piece by Larry David of
''Seinfeld'' and ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' fame in which he wrote
that, though he loves gay people and supports both gay marriage and
gay divorce, he does not plan to see this critically praised movie
about gay cowboys. David said he's discomfited by the idea of
watching two men fall in love and fears it might make him gay by
osmosis.
''Not,'' he added, ''that there's anything wrong with that.''
It strikes me that David's essay amounted to the smiley-face
liberal version of what is being said more bluntly in conservative
circles. ''Gay love story carries a high 'ick' factor'' reads the
headline of a story on the American Family Association Web site. It
quotes a prediction that people will leave the theater vomiting.
How asinine, I think.
Yeah, says a little voice in my head, but if that's how you
feel, why haven't you been to ''Brokeback Mountain''?
Now look, I say, and suddenly there's this wheedling tone to my
voice, some of my best friends are gay. Heck, my own brother's gay.
But you know, we are talking about a love story between two guys, and
they might be kissing and, you know, touching and . . . stuff.
The little voice falls silent. It is a put-your-money-where-your-
mouth-is silence.
So I went to see ''Brokeback.'' And I can report that it was as
shattering and powerful as advertised. People were moved. Nobody
threw up.
Which brings me back to that ick factor.
I find myself wondering if this primeval revulsion doesn't speak
less to our antipathy toward homosexuality than to our fears about
masculinity. I mean, while a movie about two women in love would
surely be controversial, I doubt it would present the visceral threat
''Brokeback Mountain'' does for some of us. I doubt Larry David would
be scared to see it.
Indeed, the idea of women who can't keep their hands off each
other is a staple of so-called men's entertainment. Visit a magazine
stand if you don't believe me.
Point being, when it's women, we - meaning straight men - tend
to find it titillating, exotic, arousing in its very forbiddance.
When it's men, we - meaning straight men and women - tend to react as
if somebody dropped a snake in the bed. Small wonder the FBI reports
that while 902 men were reported victims of sexual orientation hate
crimes in 2004, only 212 women were.
We seem prone to find male homosexuality the more clear and
present danger, the more urgent betrayal of some fundamental . . .
something. Some will say it's - and I will finesse this for a general
audience - the nature of man-to-man sex some of us find off-putting.
I think it's more basic than that. I think gay men threaten our very
conception of masculinity.
The amazing thing about ''Brokeback Mountain'' is its
willingness to make that threat, directly and overtly. These are not
cute gays, funny gays, ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' gays. These
are ''cowboys,'' and there is no figure in American lore more
iconically male. Think Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, the Marlboro Man.
The cowboy is our very embodiment of male virtues.
In offering us cowboys who are gay, then, ''Brokeback Mountain''
commits heresy, but it is knowing heresy, matter-of-fact heresy. Nor
is it the sex (what little there is) that makes it heretical. Rather,
it's the emotion, the fact that the movie dares you to deny these men
their humanity. Or their love.
Ultimately, I think, that's what the Larry Davids among us
sense. And why for them, ''Brokeback Mountain'' might be the most
frightening movie ever made.
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