Brokeback Mountain

[celandineb]

Went and saw this, finally, with SO today. I enjoyed it a great deal - in part because of the scenery, which is perhaps odd, but I spent enough of my childhood summers in the Rockies that I love these vistas. Not going to write a proper review of it. But have a few related thoughts to put down, mostly on the aspect of sexuality at this time.

Comments

[edoraslass]

SPOILER

And how does one define "gay"? Does it mean the preference, or the act?

I've kind of been wondering the same thing. It didn't appear that Ennis was interested in men at all,except for Jack. Ennis could be referred to as "gay" when he and Jack were together, but not at any other time (from what we saw).

I would prefer the term "queer," personally, as being less limiting and more inclusive - although it has the drawback of being specifically denied as a valid descriptor by both characters

See, I don't factor them denying the specific term at all, for perhaps bizarre language shift reasons. In the 60s,it seems people tended to use "queer" more than "gay" -- if my father were to refer to homosexuals at all, he would call them "queer", because that was the mode of speech when he was younger. (Not that he has referred to gay or queer at all since I was about 14 and he flipped out that I was watching "Hello, Sidney" with Tony Randall) Nowadays, the word "queer" seems to have become a more academic term, i.e., queer theory, queer cinema, rather than a descriptor for sexual preference. Although I admit that my number of gay friends has dwindled drastically in the past few years and therefore, I may not be totally up on what's being used in the community. Let's put it this way -- I haven't heard a straight person under the age of 40 use the term "queer" rather than "gay" in I don't know how long.

I'm sure I had some other point, but it's late and I had a very weird day. Maybe tomorrow I can discuss the thing more coherently.

[celandineb]

You're right, I think, that "queer" was the catch-all word in the era, and that is what they would have used even if accepting it, rather than "gay." I use "queer," myself, but then I am one - and an academic to boot, although I don't go in for queer history. ;-)

If I absolutely had to label them with more-defining terms, I'd call Ennis bi and Jack gay, I think. Because Jack has sex with several other men, so it's pretty clearly that he likes men, categorically, for sex, whereas Ennis likes Jack only.