I watched “Brokeback Mountain” a couple of months ago, and I have never been affected by a movie as deeply and as long as I have been by “Brokeback Mountain.” I am having a hard time figuring out why - I’m not a gay man, I don’t have any particular reason to identify with the characters, but I still find myself, three months later, thinking about this movie and trying to figure it out daily. I feel like this story has gone deep within me and taken residence in a place that I didn’t even know I had before watching it. I just have to think about certain scenes to tear up again. I am so sad for the characters that I think I’m having a hard time resolving it. How silly does that sound? I’m grieving for movie characters?
Is it just a case of what a really, really well-done (written, acted, and directed) film can do to an audience member? What’s going on with me? I’m sure other people have experienced this with other movies before. I’m not just crazy for cowboys who are frequently secretly fond of other cowboys, right?
At first blush (if you’ll forgive the armchair psychology from a complete stranger) it seems reasonable to guess you may have a love of your own that you simply cannot have. Lord knows you don’t have to be a particular gender nor sexual persuasion to experience that.
I can’t know why it’s affecting you personally, but I will agree that it’s an exceptionally well done illustration of a sad situation that happens around you every day. Perhaps the universality of it, that this has been going on right under your nose . . . ?
Maybe living in Calgary has something to do with it. I find some movies resonate with me more if I’m intimate with the landscape it was filmed in - the air, light, breezes, scents, etc.
If you want the feeling to go away, maybe you should see it again. I get obsessed with bits of movies and find that I actually make stuff up. When I see it again I’m like “okay, that was good, but it wasn’t that good.”
Yes, I am actually a gay man living as a straight woman.
Enfant Terrible, I’m asking for armchair psychology from strangers - knock yourself out! No, I don’t think I have any unrequited love situations - I love my husband deeply, and he loves me back.
mack, I’m thinking of watching it over and over until it doesn’t affect me so much - sort of an over-exposure kind of therapy. Maybe part of it is that it was filmed in areas that I’ve hiked in, but that doesn’t sound like the whole reason to me.
The movie affected me too, but in a very different way. After seeing it and The Libertine in the same week, I nearly lost all hope that I’d ever see a new movie (starring any of my favorite actors - Johnny and Heath badly let me down) that I’d like again. Luckily Running Scared soon arrived in the mail and set my mind at ease.
Snarkiness aside, maybe you were affected by the injustice? If you have the same reaction to this movie too, I’d say that you’re just struck by how unfair it is that people ever feel the need to hide what they are least there be severe consequences. Or you secretly have a slashy side waiting for you to start writing fanfic
I have an idea that I think might make a good story.
Chronos, I have no problem admitting that the gay action does turn me on. Maybe it’s that simple - I’m just really drawn to these two GORgeous men together.
I’ve seen some decent answers, and some shitty ones. I’m a gay gay guy, and I put off watching this film for more than 10 years, mainly because I was involved in a toxic destructive relationship when it came out, and I knew better than to watch it then. The reason it has affected you so much is because it is a profoundly beautiful and tragic piece of cinema. It’s a love story, not just a gay one, but a human one that anyone who has suffered or who recognizes their own damage can identify with. The score tugs at the heartstrings. The unfinished nature of the relationship and the self-inflicted torture are universal romantic themes (though complicated by societal 1960s rural sexual norms that exist to this day. I grew in small town Ontario - believe me, I know). I’ve only just allowed myself to watch this film, and I weep uncontrollably every single time, because it’s tragic, and because I recognize aspects of my own experience. Call me Ennis.
It IS a tragic love story, for all concerned. I cannot understand people who AREN’T affected by this film. How can you not be moved by all the sadness, alienation,loneliness, hopelessness, heartache, longing, not to mention the length of time the film is supposed to encompass. Have you ever heard of William Shakespeare? He did it first, way before Proulx and Lee. “Brokeback Mountain” is “Romeo and Juliet.”
63 year old straight male here, and this was one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. It was beautifully written, cast and filmed, and it affected me on a visceral level.
I have never seen the ending of any production of Romeo and Juliet with dry eyes, (Oh, happy dagger! This is thy sheath…) and Ennis carefully smoothing Jack’s clothing on the hangar affected me the same way.
I have not seen the movie, not for any particular reason there are a lot of movies that I haven’t seen. But it seems to me that added to whatever emotional impact the movie itself imparts, there is also the knowledge of the tragic, young death of one of the stars. That would add a level of emotion that you might be feeling, without even recognizing that as the source, hence your bewilderment.
I’m curious about whether you have seen a lot of gay love stories. It is by no means an unknown phenomenon, particularly on the internet, that some straight women are intensely, deeply moved by love stories between two men. There are quite a few blogs and websites devoted to the topic, some of which get a little scary in their intensity, particularly when they are discussing real-life gay couples rather than fictional ones.
I’m a straight woman, and I have had my share of gay love stories that deeply affected me. I wasn’t particularly affected by Brokeback, but I think that was because I was seeing it in the context of a whole range of gay love stories that had impacted me, and that movie had particular elements that didn’t resonate with me.
If you want to see another gay love story that has had a similar impact on a lot of people, and has a much happier ending, check out Shelter, which was chosen over Brokeback as the best gay love story ever in a Logo poll.
Straight man here. I was very moved by the film. It certainly didn’t hurt to have ‘The Wings’ by Gustavo Santaolalla, which is a strangely haunting piece.
Heath Ledger’s performance was wonderful. In the final scene, where he came across Jack’s old jacket, I could feel the sense of loss and horrible regret at the life he passed up. I got choked up.
