Saturday, January 28, 2006

Brokeback: a Chick Flick?

Brokeback Mountain is being touted as an issues film of the kind that divides red-staters from blue-staters, and is considered likely to raise the temperature on debates about gay marriage and other related issues.

I haven't seen it nor do I intend to. Not because of its theme, or because of its political subtext. No, I'm avoiding Brokeback because it sounds like a chick movie. Consider: a movie about "relationships," with passions running high, emotions oozing all over the place, and at the center of it two hunky guys displaying all the "googly feelings" (my wife's phrase) that women wish their husbands and boyfriends would emit on a more regular basis. You think that Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are going to show up on testosterone-fueled venues like SportsCenter or The Man Show? Unlikely; but they've already been on Oprah, the primary cultural authority on all things womanly in our land. And who wrote the original story? Yep, a woman. This is not a movie about gay men as much as it is a wish-fulfillment movie about men for women.

As for me, when I go to a cowboy movie, there better be lots of shooting (with guns), and hopefully the bad guy will wind up getting killed (guess I better not say "blown away"). Throw in some Indians, too, and if the love that dare not speak its name wants to be there, it can buy a ticket like the rest of us.

So, you ladies enjoy yourselves. Hey, what time's the Super Bowl?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Higgins, in "My Fair Lady" said, "Why can't a woman be more like a man?"

Oprah might say (but not in so many words), "Why can't a man be more like a woman?"

I have no intention in seeing "Brokeback Mountain" either and don't enjoy chick flicks. But I do tolerate going to some chick flicks for the sake of being with my wife and she will go to some of my movies. (But I go to more of the other kind of movies with my son.)

In marriage counseling, there are a lot of women that would appreciate more of the "googly feelings" from their husbands. Perhaps if husbands worked a little more at that, some other physical aspects of their relationship would go better as well.

Chris Weimer said...

I think it starts at 6.00 pm CST.

Pablo said...

"blown awa"

Funny stuff!
I won't be seeing that movie either. After all, what would John Way do?

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately I didn't see this posting earlier to make a more timely comment, but aren't you all being drama queens in your stance on chick flicks? I've seen the film and it's hardly a chick flick. First of all, there is almost NO dialogue. All of the speech in this film wouldn't fill more than a few pages. This diqualifies it from being a chick flick by traditional standards--women "like" men who talk and are interested in women who talk.
Second, herding sheep and drinking beer are hardly hotsellers in the chick flick market. Most scenes of the film have beer, cigarettes or sheep. Finally, there is no happy ending. The star-crossed lovers don't end up together in a loft in Greenwich Village. Another strike against being a chick flick.

EMC said...

I guess I'd better come right out and say it: my post was written with tongue firmly in cheek. Anyone who knows me knows that the Super Bowl interests me not at all (by the way, who was in it? anyone remember?). I do tend to avoid "important" movies, though, and my post was intended only to dispel, with exaggerated snarkiness, some of the solemn preachifying that seemed to gather around this particular flick.

Anonymous said...

Very perceptive post.

The corollary is also true. Most lesbians in movies are for men!