The Pandemic Soul

Hollywood Winds Down 2005 with Gay-Themed Pics

This is encouraging. There’s a lot of movies on this list that are out of the mainstream and won’t ever be available for wide-release, but it’s still good to see that the content is at least getting out there. The Capote movie, for example, has been out for five weeks now, and has grossed $3,492,551 in 165 theaters. (Source)

There’s one movie on that list that I’m super excited to see: Brokeback Mountain. Besides gay cowboys always being an exciting subject (especially when Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are the ones involved), there are a number of other reasons why people should see the movie:

1. It’s a movie with a short-story source. Why should you care? Because the translation of actual literature to the big screen is always important. It shows that writers can receive recognition for more than just a glossy screenplay.
2. It’s a major director/producer. Ang Lee directed The Hulk and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. While you may dispute the quality of those two movies, you can’t dispute that both have been successes. To see a director like Lee taking on a project like this, way out of the mainstream, is very encouraging.
3. It’s a risk for the actors. While it would be more encouraging to actually see two gay actors on screen, having two big named stars like Ledger and Gyllenhaal actually showing — *gasp* — real affection on screen is not all that common.
4. It challenges stereotypes. Cowboys are only gay in queer fantasies and pornos, right? Maybe not. And anything which challenges middle-America’s assumptions about its heroes is going to raise waves and be controversial. The only thing that could make this movie more controversial is if it was about two pro-football players.

I’m counting the hours! (About 760 at this point…)