[lbo-talk] watched Brokeback Mountain last night

[Colin Brace]

Ok, I am a little behind the curve on this one, but BMt hasn't even
officially opened on this side of the pond. I thought it was achingly
beautiful, the story no less than the spectacular photography (in
Alberta?). The only disappointment for me was the way the demise of
Jack was introduced. Since there was no apparent inevitability to it,
it came across more as melodrama than true tragedy; IOW, just a sad
accident.
The way the narrative unfolded, it became apparent these two lovers
were doomed, but doomed to live apart, not necessarily to die violent
deaths. At this point, however, I am not sure how else the writers
could have handled it; if he had been killed for promiscuous sexual
activity arising from sexual frustration, for example, that might have
been interpreted as "just" societal retribution, hence simplistic
moralizing.

(I hope this wasn't tackled here in the discussion over the past few
weeks, which I read only in part as to be able to view the film with
fresh eyes when I was eventually able to see it. Of course, I could
try to go back and reread the messages now, but certain lbo-listers
compulsively start new threads when they post replies, hence the
conversation fragmented into many slivers. That makes it very
difficult to retrace, even in a mailer like gmail which handles
threads so well.)

--

  Colin Brace

  Amsterdam