random: brokeback on the down low
Crossposting from Media Relations, just because I can:
All I can say is that I'm kind of impressed that both the Advocate and blacknews.com managed to report this piece of information without a shred of irony or richly deserved mockery. Advocate article reproduced in its entirety due to brevity.
Author files $250 million suit against makers of 'Brokeback Mountain' | News | Advocate.com
Janice Scott-Blanton, the author of My Husband Is on the Down Low and I Know About It, filed a $250 million lawsuit claiming copyright infringement against Universal and the studios that financed and distributed Brokeback Mountain, reports BlackNews.com. Scott-Blanton claims there are over 50 substantial similarities between her novel and the Academy Award-winning film. An early bar scene in the movie reminded Scott-Blanton of a scene from her novel, but she chalked it up to coincidence until further scenes, including the first sexual encounter between Jack and Ennis, reminded her of her novel.
In Brokeback Mountain Alma confronts her husband Ennis about his homosexual activity during Thanksgiving dinner and tells him she purposely wrote a note and put it on his fishing line for him but he never found it. According to Scott-Blanton, this scene is strikingly similar to a scene in her novel wherein her character Annette confronts her husband James about his homosexuality on their ninth anniversary. James tells her he wrote a confession in his journal purposely, knowing she was secretly reading it. Both scenes are set in a kitchen.
Scott-Blanton will argue in court that the film is strikingly similar to her novel in terms of characters, plot, themes, and sequence of events. (The Advocate)
See also: BlackNews.com - Brokeback Mountain is On The Down Low and Author Janice Scott-Blanton Knows About It
To be sure, the blacknews.com piece appears to be a straight-ahead press release from the author's publicist or lawyer or some such, so there's probably not a lot of room to squeeze a bit of, "We think our client is nuts, but she's paying us, so we'll go ahead and do what she wants" irony in.
Now, we wait for Annie Proulx to counter-sue (although, as she wasn't named in the original suit, technically, it wouldn't be a countersuit, but never mind). After all, given that her short story came first by some considerable amount of time ("Brokeback Mountain" was originally published in Close Range: Wyoming Stories in May 1999; My Husband is on the Down Low... seems to have first appeared in print in March 2005) and contained at least those two major events first, Ms Proulx can allege that Ms. Scott-Blanton copied her work.
Of course, the other question is: didn't Ms Scott-Blanton's lawyer do even rudimentary discovery before filing this case? Didn't anyone try to dissuade her or show her evidence? In any event, I would imagine the case will be thrown out of court; I don't know if it's even possible to dismiss civil cases with prejudice, but this would certainly seem to fit, if that's possible.
Kind of interesting to read the excerpt of My Husband... on Amazon. It doesn't seem at first that going to be dreadful, although there are moments that bring you to a screeching halt, even just in the first chapter. For example, what on earth was she doing in Germany when she was a girl? I assume her family might have had something to do with the military -- it says her husband is military on the back cover -- but it's a sufficiently unusual place for a young American black girl to live that you might want to talk about it. Either that, or don't mention Germany until you start doing the detailed background in the book proper, but to be fair, that's all something of a quibble.
The line that really does it for me, though, is when the narrator starts discussing her own bisexuality: When I was fifteen, I became a Christian through baptism, accepting Jesus Christ as my savior. That complicated matters quite a bit. ... well, yes, I suppose it would. (This, just in case you were wondering, is the point at which I got the feeling that "dreadful" is not an inappropriate word to describe the story.) The rest of the introduction kind of staggers on from there. The back cover copy is wonderfully lurid, as well. (She exposes the handkerchief code to the wandering eye of heterosexuals! Oh, no! Whatever shall we do? Wherever shall we go? What signs and signifiers can we use now that the code is exposed ... as it has been at least since the very early days of the world wide web, back when I found it on QRD.org nearly 10 years ago.)
I know, I know: I'm being relentlessly arch and snide and maybe even a bit snarky. But seriously, it's kind of hard not to be arch and snide and snarky about something as desperately misguided as this lawsuit, and anything that would inspire it.
All I can say is that I'm kind of impressed that both the Advocate and blacknews.com managed to report this piece of information without a shred of irony or richly deserved mockery. Advocate article reproduced in its entirety due to brevity.
Author files $250 million suit against makers of 'Brokeback Mountain' | News | Advocate.com
Janice Scott-Blanton, the author of My Husband Is on the Down Low and I Know About It, filed a $250 million lawsuit claiming copyright infringement against Universal and the studios that financed and distributed Brokeback Mountain, reports BlackNews.com. Scott-Blanton claims there are over 50 substantial similarities between her novel and the Academy Award-winning film. An early bar scene in the movie reminded Scott-Blanton of a scene from her novel, but she chalked it up to coincidence until further scenes, including the first sexual encounter between Jack and Ennis, reminded her of her novel.
In Brokeback Mountain Alma confronts her husband Ennis about his homosexual activity during Thanksgiving dinner and tells him she purposely wrote a note and put it on his fishing line for him but he never found it. According to Scott-Blanton, this scene is strikingly similar to a scene in her novel wherein her character Annette confronts her husband James about his homosexuality on their ninth anniversary. James tells her he wrote a confession in his journal purposely, knowing she was secretly reading it. Both scenes are set in a kitchen.
Scott-Blanton will argue in court that the film is strikingly similar to her novel in terms of characters, plot, themes, and sequence of events. (The Advocate)
See also: BlackNews.com - Brokeback Mountain is On The Down Low and Author Janice Scott-Blanton Knows About It
To be sure, the blacknews.com piece appears to be a straight-ahead press release from the author's publicist or lawyer or some such, so there's probably not a lot of room to squeeze a bit of, "We think our client is nuts, but she's paying us, so we'll go ahead and do what she wants" irony in.
Now, we wait for Annie Proulx to counter-sue (although, as she wasn't named in the original suit, technically, it wouldn't be a countersuit, but never mind). After all, given that her short story came first by some considerable amount of time ("Brokeback Mountain" was originally published in Close Range: Wyoming Stories in May 1999; My Husband is on the Down Low... seems to have first appeared in print in March 2005) and contained at least those two major events first, Ms Proulx can allege that Ms. Scott-Blanton copied her work.
Of course, the other question is: didn't Ms Scott-Blanton's lawyer do even rudimentary discovery before filing this case? Didn't anyone try to dissuade her or show her evidence? In any event, I would imagine the case will be thrown out of court; I don't know if it's even possible to dismiss civil cases with prejudice, but this would certainly seem to fit, if that's possible.
Kind of interesting to read the excerpt of My Husband... on Amazon. It doesn't seem at first that going to be dreadful, although there are moments that bring you to a screeching halt, even just in the first chapter. For example, what on earth was she doing in Germany when she was a girl? I assume her family might have had something to do with the military -- it says her husband is military on the back cover -- but it's a sufficiently unusual place for a young American black girl to live that you might want to talk about it. Either that, or don't mention Germany until you start doing the detailed background in the book proper, but to be fair, that's all something of a quibble.
The line that really does it for me, though, is when the narrator starts discussing her own bisexuality: When I was fifteen, I became a Christian through baptism, accepting Jesus Christ as my savior. That complicated matters quite a bit. ... well, yes, I suppose it would. (This, just in case you were wondering, is the point at which I got the feeling that "dreadful" is not an inappropriate word to describe the story.) The rest of the introduction kind of staggers on from there. The back cover copy is wonderfully lurid, as well. (She exposes the handkerchief code to the wandering eye of heterosexuals! Oh, no! Whatever shall we do? Wherever shall we go? What signs and signifiers can we use now that the code is exposed ... as it has been at least since the very early days of the world wide web, back when I found it on QRD.org nearly 10 years ago.)
I know, I know: I'm being relentlessly arch and snide and maybe even a bit snarky. But seriously, it's kind of hard not to be arch and snide and snarky about something as desperately misguided as this lawsuit, and anything that would inspire it.