Comments | caras_galadhon: Minor Brokeback Location Rant. Mind the Grousing--

caras_galadhon

Minor Brokeback Location Rant. Mind the Grousing--

Mar 06, 2006 14:29

You know, I love my Flist, I really do, but if one more person talks about how Alberta doesn't look like Wyoming, I'm going to have some sort of large fit. *sigh* Wyoming does not look like Wyoming circa 1963 anymore. Alberta doubles for a heck of a lot of places a heck of a lot of the time, and I'm willing to bet that if the locations for ( Read more... )

fandom:media:movies, canada:griping, fandom:meta:rants, canada:nature

Comments 10

lilithilien March 6 2006, 21:49:37 UTC

I was shocked that BBM didn't get best cinematography, because it was truly breathtaking.

You know, PSH didn't look exactly like Truman Capote ... and Reese? Please. I think what you just said about the scenery standing in for emotion is such a valid point, especially when we give leeway to *actors* to allow them to go beyond their actual selves. Maybe the scenery should be believed in the same way.

Or maybe I'm just blathering because I've got waaaaaaaay too much work to do and want to kill all my clients. Besides, I drove through part of Wyoming once. Meh. No, it didn't look like Alberta. Alberta was pretty.

tournevis March 6 2006, 21:57:19 UTC

You know, you could pretty much replace Alberta for Montréal and Rockies for Laurentians and it would amount to the same thing. Sure it sucks that Université de Montréal stands for Bethesda Hospital when the buildings look nothing alike, but who cares!

I usually look for Quebec flags in the distance when I know a film was shot in Montreal. I ALWAYS find one. And I laugh my butt off.

brokeback laceymcbain March 6 2006, 21:58:22 UTC

I haven't seen the film yet, but I can't see that people would notice a huge difference ... some perhaps, but hey, prairies and mountains really don't look that different the world over. Besides, it's about the suspension of disbelief. When I watch something, I know that I'm seeing a representation of place for the most part. Watching MASH, it's amazing how California becomes Korea. (OK, maybe not so much, but you know what I mean. *g*) From what I've seen of the trailers and clips, it looks like a gorgeous sweeping film, aside from the central love story.

Re: brokeback lilithilien March 6 2006, 22:20:21 UTC

*nodnod* And funny how every planet the Enterprise crew ever visited looked amazingly like So.Cal. You just go with it.

Re: brokeback cathexys March 6 2006, 23:02:08 UTC

not to mention how every planet in this and the pegasus galaxy bears a remarking resemblance to BC (oh and to a few too many XF eps :-)

Re: brokeback lilithilien March 6 2006, 23:11:38 UTC

Dude, what are you saying? The flora of the Pegasus galaxy isn't all ferns and Douglas firs? I'm shocked!

cathexys March 6 2006, 23:00:56 UTC

That'sa really good point!!! Plus, we all know that many places look nothing in reality as they do in our imaginary, so unless you'er dealing with specific landmarks, I think getting the proper feel/atmosphere is much more important!!!

hederahelix March 6 2006, 23:54:19 UTC

Erm, I don't think I've said anything lately, but I have made the complaint. But here's the thing. I thought the landscape was beautiful, but I've also spent about a month in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. I mean, the movie mentions by name the nearest town to the place I flew into on a puddle jumper. And one of the things I was most looking forward to was seeing that landscape again. The part of Wyoming I was in didn't even feel the same in a lot of ways as the part of Alberta. In fact, my main gripe was that Alberta was too pretty in the film--too green. My recollectin of Wyoming is that it was all brown and dry--if you haven't had your legs attacked by sagebrush, that might not matter, but my memory of the place is very much this dry, desolate, landscape made up of all these desolate mesas. Okay, so there was some green stuff in the mountains we went to, but not all of them, and the movie felt too wet to me. My recollection of Wyoming is much more about water being scarce even as the altitude and dry air make you require ( ... )

caras_galadhon March 7 2006, 08:39:56 UTC

the movie felt too wet to me.
I find that especially interesting since Southern Alberta is classified as a semi-arid climate -- we're by no means a total desert, but we certainly aren't the wettest place in Canada, not by any means. Now, I haven't been to Wyoming, so I cannot directly compare, but still... When I think wet, I think one province over: B.C. As you pointed out, though, that's personal experience talking.

We have very little rainfall in general -- I suspect most of the "green" and "wet" you saw in the movie is primarily a result of the runoff when the snow melts; that'd be where most of the water is coming from most of the time.

the scene in Brokeback that most closely echoes that actually felt more like my memories of Wyoming than the rest of it.Ah, that's interesting. That'd be what they filmed either down near Lethbridge or closer to Drumheller, both of which are part of the drier strip you hit as you move east towards Saskatchewan. I believe Drumheller and surrounding areas (colloquially known as Dinosaur Country, ( ... )