"A bunch of preverts that're ranchers? We're not gonna see that. Play some Johnny Cash, will ya? And tell Cookie to get some grub goin'."
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.
Why even use the word 'homophobic' ?
The intent of the word is to place disgust at the sodomite lifestyle as akin to and as bad as racism. To be called a 'homophobe' is exactly akin to being called a racist and it is an attempt to throw you immediately on the defensive. Why concede that point ? Why even accept such an equation as valid ?
. . . "Little HOMO on the Prairie" . . .
Maybe their theme song could be something like, "Homo, homo on the range, where the deer and the antelope play."
I think the word came into to use because of early claims that fear that one might be homosexual is a common factor among those who most oppose homosexuality and the name stuck.
Two men cannot be close friends without wanting to screw each other, the "gay" thinking goes. Male friendship is under attack by the homosexual lobby, and this film is only the latest example. It is a truly diabolical worldview that's being pushed on us, imho.
Let's see: A movie about two males cheating on their spouses, lying, and compressing each others' fecal matter (by implication).
Gosh, I must be screwed up because I don't want to pay money to see that. Call my shrink. Oh wait, I don't have one. They are probably all too busy dealing with the drama queen homo- and bi-sexual males to treat me for my raging homophobia.
Oh, man. She would have had you two watching "Mad About You" so fast your head would spin!
I explained that we had seen him take a shower and seen the inside of his truck and I couldn't figure out where his guns were "for when the killin' starts."
Oh, that is absolutely hilarious!
These activist gays just can't accept that there can be deep, meaningful friendship between men without it being about stuffing a you-know-what in a you-know-where.
Rush says Hollywood could increase their ticket sales by making more gay-themed movies, just like their yearly Oscar 'Hate-Bush' Orgy does! lol:)
The answers are as complex as the plot.
No; they aren't!
Trust me, it is not a chick flick.
You can also sugar-coat a turd, but it doesn't make me want to eat it....
"This is a threat to most men because it opens up the possibility that two men who are friendly may become affectionate,"
To become affectionate with my friends isn't even a remote possibility, let alone at all likely. Some ideas are just revolting on a "gut" level.
You are right, We are not straight guys that don't want to see this stuff, we are normal guys and normal women and normal people that don't want to see any of this stuff.
Ah, but microflora can't hear them.
The suffix "-phobe" is from Latin, meaning "afraid" or "fearing". I am not afraid of homosexuals--I am disgusted and grossed-out by them.
I'm going to break out my Latin dictionary and find a suffix that means "disgusted by" and use that. It's far more accurate.
No shit, Sherlock!
Do it the Greek Way: Come from Behind.
Not my joke -- just repeating it for posterior, I mean posterity.
;)
I don't have Showtime and I've never seen that series.
Let me guess. All lipstick lesbians. No bull d*kes in cropped hair and flannel shirts.
Right ?
There is no way I would ever go to a movie with a woman unless the tickets were "pre-purchased" , well in advanced.
The con game is to get the guy to the movie theater, and then say, "Hey, this looks interesting".
Next thing you know, you`re sitting in the theater watching two guys humpin eachother.
Happened to me once........Just once. It was a movie called "Muriel's Wedding".
Me and that gal only lasted a few months.......
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