Posted on 01/05/2006 4:21:21 PM PST by Incorrigible
BY DRU SEFTON
It's true, the movie "Brokeback Mountain" does provoke what one researcher calls "a very strong ick factor" in some straight men.
What is it in this story of two cowboy pals in 1960s Wyoming who find themselves in lifelong love -- yet go on to marry women -- that elicits this response from heterosexual males?
The answers are as complex as the plot.
A psychologist who coined the word "homophobic" said the revulsion is precisely that. A scientist who discovered genetic links to sexuality said he simply does not understand the response. The author of "The Sexual Brain" said there is nothing on a neurobiological basis to explain the aversion.
To film fan Eddie Hargreaves of Stockton, Calif., it's more like the "ick" of romantic drama. "I'm not going to speak for everybody," he said, "but I don't know a lot of straight guys who said, `Oh, man, I can't wait to see "Bridges of Madison County,""' 1995's famous tearjerker.
"Brokeback Mountain," directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee and starring box-office hunks Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, is sparking both critical praise and water cooler chatter. It's been nominated for seven Golden Globe awards.
But when movie critic Dave White, who is gay, wrote a humorous piece titled "The Straight Dude's Guide to `Brokeback,"' "I got hundreds of messages, most of whom hated me for just existing," he said.
An excerpt from the column: "The good news -- there's less than one minute of making out. It's about 130 minutes long and 129 of them are about Men Not Having Sex."
We're not talking here about rejections of homosexuality based on moral or religious grounds, though the film has provoked its share of those. It's that some men who pointedly won't see "Brokeback" are social liberals who generally find no fault with people being gay.
"I didn't write the piece with the homophobe in mind," said White, a Movie.com reviewer in Los Angeles who wrote the column for MSNBC.com. "I wrote it for the liberal guy who just can't see this movie, because they know that reads as socially uncool."
White's theory on straight-male queasiness centers on self-identification. "These characters are too close to being regular guys," he said. "That's part of the freakout."
Timothy Shary also noticed that. He's director of the Screen Studies Program at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., and examines masculinity in movies.
"This is a threat to most men because it opens up the possibility that two men who are friendly may become affectionate," Shary said. "That's something men just do not want to consider."
Countless movies feature characters who marry (or are married to) someone but linger evermore over feelings for another -- think "Casablanca."
"But this is about two men who are attracted to each other and keep that connection. That's especially troubling for some men," Shary said, adding, "but that's what makes this a truly revolutionary film."
George Weinberg said this aversion is "definitely homophobia." He is the New York City psychologist and researcher who invented that term in the 1960s, and broke ground with his 1972 book, "Society and the Healthy Homosexual."
"This is the idea of one man's adoration for another," Weinberg said. "A love affair more deep and lasting and romantic" than with their wives.
His advice for straights uneasy about "Brokeback" is to "first understand you have this problem. At least by acknowledging it, that's a start. It's like saying, `I have a fear of heights."'
Research into a physical source of these feelings is lacking.
"It does seem to be almost culturally universal that heterosexual men can have a deep repulsion to overt homosexuality," said Dean Hamer, scientist and author of "The Science of Desire: The Gay Gene and the Biology of Behavior."
"But there is no study I know of to ascertain whether this is a biologically based trait," Hamer said.
Simon LeVay agreed. He is a lecturer on neuroscience and author of "The Sexual Brain," a biological overview of sexuality.
"From a neurobiological basis, I just don't think this response has been researched at that level," LeVay said, "although it's something that should be."
Movie buff Hargreaves, who is straight and married, still isn't going to see "Brokeback Mountain." Not that there's anything wrong with that.
"To say that straight guys are missing out because they're unjustly turned off by the plot, well, there wasn't anything to turn them on in the first place," Hargreaves said. "At least `The English Patient' had a plane crash."
Jan. 5, 2006
(Dru Sefton can be contacted at dru.sefton@newhouse.com)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
Communist Goals (1963)- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
this straight guy says: Hell NO!
In most workplaces these days, if you don't "accept" homosexuality as a "valid, alternate lifestyle," you will be forced to undergo re-education (euphemistically referred to as "sensitivity training") under pain of dismissal if you do not comply.
The Soviet gulag is already here. It flies under the banner of "political correctness."
Given that situation, there's no way that I'd want to see a piece of crap like this, a movie featuring a couple guys swooning at each other. I rarely gag but that one would surely induce it.
No, thanks. I'll pass.
From what I've been reading and hearing on the news, it's not JUST straight guys who are not going to see the movie, it's just about everybody.
"Many straight men say no"?
How bought ALL Straight men say no? Scum is what you find growing naturally on a pond. That description may be a little too nice.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
It would have been vehemently denounced by the National Organization of Wymyn. Even perky Katie Couric would have frowned on live TV over that one.
There's nothing homophobic about not wanting to see this movie. I don't want to see it either. Two guys falling in love simply doesn't interest me, just like two women falling in love would also bore me to tears.
How big a federal research grant did he need to come up with that?
Is that the next technical term? Ick factor? I must admit I find it more accurate than "homophobia."
Many conservatives are tolerant of the homosexuals in American society. What this article says is that tolerance is not enough for the gay advocates. If you do not "accept" homosexuals as part of society then you are a homophobe. If that is to be the line then I guess many of us will have to be proud to say we are homophobes and are proud that we have moral standards that we will not compromise...
Which of course makes sense as the term "Political Correctness" originated in the U.S.S.R. to describe adherence to the currently accepted dogma of the day.
Just to turn the question around, how many gay men would go out of their way to watch heterosexual love scenes? I don't know the answer, but wonder if a lot of them wouldn't be "turned off" by normal man-woman sex scenes.
Wait a minute. These are the same liberal goobers who are forever demanding tolerance of homosexuality because "Gays can't help it. They were born gay."
So what are these characters in Brokeback Mountain? Are they "born that way gay," "try anything bi-" or just a couple of close hetero buddies who got too affectionate?
The liberal community is absolutely nutz. They adopt, discard, and juggle illogical and inapposite theories daily to protect their perversions.
I'm a woman and I wouldn't go see that piece of trash for all the tea in china. Two men....gross, gross, gross.
Its not just men. Actual quote from my Mom: "I would rather die than see that movie."
Of course, anyone that isn't interested in seeing my film is a close-minded bigot that hates animals and small children. Why don't we ask a pay-per-view psychiatrist if there's some reason that some people hate animals and children to the point of not wanting to see such an exquisitely made film that tells the age old tale of survival of the fittest, and the circle of life?
No kidding!!!! Ya Think!!!!!
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