Whitney Crothers Dilley
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231167734
- eISBN:
- 9780231538497
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231167734.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter analyzes Brokeback Mountain (2005). Based on the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain is about the romance between two uneducated farmhands. Throughout 2006, the “gay ...
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This chapter analyzes Brokeback Mountain (2005). Based on the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain is about the romance between two uneducated farmhands. Throughout 2006, the “gay cowboy story” was both hailed as a vehicle for gay activism and vilified by American conservatives. An initial reading of the narrative through the lens of modern gender theory demonstrates, however, that the story is not overtly political, but rather seeks universality in the experience of human longing for affection and acceptance. This chapter first reviews the history of the representation of homosexuality in mainstream American film before discussing the true-to-life language and idioms used in Brokeback Mountain. It then considers how Brokeback Mountain conjures bittersweet yearning for lost love and lost opportunity, transcending any narrow issues of sexuality or gender, and becomes a more universal love story between two men.Less
This chapter analyzes Brokeback Mountain (2005). Based on the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain is about the romance between two uneducated farmhands. Throughout 2006, the “gay cowboy story” was both hailed as a vehicle for gay activism and vilified by American conservatives. An initial reading of the narrative through the lens of modern gender theory demonstrates, however, that the story is not overtly political, but rather seeks universality in the experience of human longing for affection and acceptance. This chapter first reviews the history of the representation of homosexuality in mainstream American film before discussing the true-to-life language and idioms used in Brokeback Mountain. It then considers how Brokeback Mountain conjures bittersweet yearning for lost love and lost opportunity, transcending any narrow issues of sexuality or gender, and becomes a more universal love story between two men.
