I’ve been in Alberta for over 15 years now, and I mostly like it just fine, but it is a redneck haven, and every once in a while I get reminded of that. We were discussing “Brokeback Mountain” at work one morning this week, and I mentioned how it sounded like a very good movie, and my male co-worker made a clear point of stating how he would not be going to see it; to paraphrase him, he doesn’t care what THOSE people do, but HE doesn’t need to see it. It always startles me when I leave these boards and go out in the real world and people are just so damned … ignorant is the best word, I guess.
This isn’t the first time I’ve run into this kind of attitude, from apparently nice, normal people, who just have a touch of the homophobia. Of course, the king of all the Alberta Homophobes, Ralph Klein, is leading the way with his stance on gay marriage and how he plans to opt Alberta out of any federal plan (without asking us, mind you).
So, in closing, I just wanted to express my disappointment in my adopted home. You got a way to go yet, guys. (But for the record, I don’t imagine that my birth province, Saskatchewan, is much better.)
Although I never made any rendezvous back in the summer, I remember summarising Calgary to others as ‘equal parts money-hungry business centre, small-town feel, and redneck territory’. I’m guessing my assumptions were not so very wrong?!
Re: Alberta — yep. I know folks who shoot animals by sticking the gun out the kitchen window. (And no, that isn’t legal.)
Re: Not wanting “to see two guys go at it” —
In general, that’s one thing. But regarding films? If it’s a part of the story (i.e. not gratutious), why is a gay sex scene any different than a straight sex scene?
If it’s not, and you just don’t like sex scenes, I agree that there’s no homophobia.
But if you have a different standard for straight / gay sex scenes, I call homophobia, at least a mild version.
I think it depends where you live. I find most people quite tolerant that I know. I live in Saskatoon and am connected with the university. When I was in rural Saskatchewan though I felt people were a bit more homophobic. Much more conservative at any rate.
Hey we have an NDP provincial government, so I guess not everyone here are rednecks.
There are pockets of that sort of thing everywhere. You might think that Maryland (which is now my home after moving from Alberta), which borders Washington DC, is much more progressive. Not as a whole. There’s a city/town (unsure, believe it’s a city) up the way called Frederick - it’s referred to as Fredneck.
And believe me, sister. You think the conservativism there is strong? Hooo boy, you oughta come see some of the churches around here. There are fundies everywhere.
Not a bad summary, broadly. “Soulless pile of concrete” was my impression on moving here, and not much has happened to change it. But the bike trails are nice, the winters fairly mild, and being minutes from prime hiking territory makes me willing to put up with a city that only has one festival it sees fit to support, and one involving chuckwagon races and “hoe-downs” at that.
That was going to be my comment, too - you pretty much got it in one, Gorilla.
Was his comment homophobic? It sounded that way to me. Not just a “That movie really isn’t my thing” kind of comment, but a “I’ll watch a movie about gay guys when you hold me at gunpoint.” There’s a difference between a preference and a prejudice, and I got the prejudice vibe.
Ginger, I was almost afraid to post this, after hearing about how incredibly intolerant so many areas of the States are, and our little bit of homophobia paling in comparison. I figure, though, just because it’s not as bad doesn’t make it good.
Yeah - as much as I love my province and my city, there are still definitely pockets of less than enlightened folks.
As there are everywhere, I am certain.
Try working on a floor where everyone but you and one other person is a male between the ages of 25 and 40. That’s fun.
. . . because, there are still many many folks who somehow feel that feelings and relationship dynamics are boring or not masculine enough to show any interest in. And you’re right, you don’t have to be a redneck for that attitude to apply.
Why can one have an opinion about ‘sex scenes’ in general, but not about the genders of the folks engaging in the sex scenes? I don’t see why a person should be labeled homophobic because he/she doesn’t want to watch a gay sex scene.
A huge percentage of people watch movies specifically for the eye candy. Sex sells, sexiness sells, and it gets a lot of people into the theaters. It makes perfect sense to me that for these people, Brokeback Mountain would not interest them at all, specifically because in place of something that those audience members would usually find arousing is something that is decidedly un-sexy to them. No harm, no foul, IMHO.
Now, that’s not to say that the folks in the OP are or are not homophobic, but not going to a movie because it contains gay sex scenes does not immediately label a person as a homophobe.
I think for most people it’s the fact that it is first a feelings movie. For many, that fact can be redeemed by some good sex scenes or hot starlets. Since this doesn’t even offer that, the interest is minimal.
Put a gay sex scene in a kick-ass Bruce Willis movie (or whatever the kids are watching these days) with lots of guns and explosions and action and stuff, and a lot of the people who are avoiding Brokeback Mountain “because of the gay sex” would probably go see it. The “not wanting to see gay sex” excuse is the easy excuse for not wanting to go to a movie that makes them think about relationships and serious aspects of feeeeelings.
I watched GODS AND MONSTERS because of my interest in Old Hollywood & Universal Classic Monsters, and also because Christian conservative magazine CORNERSTONE recommended it as a movie about friendship & loneliness first and gayness second. And I was moved greatly by the movie.
But if Brendan Frasier & Ian McKellen had been shown getting it on, I’d have been poking an ice pick up my nose to get those images out of my brain.
Nah. My cousin born in Montreal and raised in the suburbs of Vancouver is a redneck. Hunting, fishing, drives a pickup truck, put a nail through his hand redneck.
I would distinguish between “love scenes” and “sex scenes,” actually.
There is no explicit sex in Brokeback Mountain. It’s about people and their relationships. Sex is implied, but not shown; the point of the scene is the emotional mindset of the characters involved. As such, I’d call it a love scene.
Contrast this with, say, porn, where the point of any given scene is to display sweaty boinking. Those are sex scenes.
Note that it doesn’t have to be explicit to be a sex scene. Madonna and Willem Dafoe with candlewax and broken glass in Body of Evidence? Sex scene.
I’m about as non-homophobic as it’s possible to be and still be straight, but a few years ago my wife and I asked a gay friend if it would be possible to borrow one of his movies to see what it was like. He thought it was sort of odd, but gave us a couple to check out. I found to my surprise that I was not able to look at a man blowing another man for very long.
On the other hand, the scenes in Brokeback Mountain didn’t bother me in the slightest.
So that’s how I distinguish them. Love scene? No problem. Sex scene? No thanks. Doesn’t make me homophobic at all.
But from my point of view, a desire to avoid Brokeback Mountain does, indeed, just cross over the line.