Topic: News Coverage March 20 - 26

[ennisandjack]

The New York Review Of Books

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18846

Volume 53, Number 6 · April 6, 2006

Exchange
'Brokeback Mountain': An Exchange
By James Schamus, Joel Conarroe, Reply by Daniel Mendelsohn
In response to An Affair to Remember (February 23, 2006)

To the Editors:

Daniel Mendelsohn, in his finely observed review of Brokeback Mountain ["An Affair to Remember," NYR, February 23], sets up a false dichotomy between the essentially "gay" nature of the film and the erasure of this gay identity through the marketing and reception of the film as a "universal" love story. As one of the film's producers, I am grateful for his understanding of the unapologetic and unvarnished treatment of the specifically gay story we set out to tell; but as the co-president of Focus Features, the studio that is marketing and distributing the film, I take umbrage at some of the rhetorical shortcuts Mendelsohn takes in his depiction of our work.

Mendelsohn is rightly nervous about what happens when a gay text is so widely and enthusiastically embraced by mainstream hetero-dominated culture; and it is true that many reviewers contextualize their investment in the gay aspects of the romance by claiming that the characters' homosexuality is incidental to the film's achievements. Many reviewers indeed have gone out of their way to denounce the "gay cowboy movie" label (although, to be fair, they are mainly objecting to the fact that the label was used as a derogatory joke, a point I wish Mendelsohn had more fully considered). And it is true that we have marketed the film primarily as an epic, sweeping romance between two men, and do not append the words "gay" or "homosexual" to our marketing blurbs for the movie (although you never saw a poster or ad telling you that either Titanic or The Bridges of Madison County was the "greatest straight love story of all time"). Mendelsohn selectively quotes the film's director, Ang Lee, ignoring the mountain of press utterances he's made about what he thinks of the film's specifically gay content ("Brokeback Mountain is more gay to me. It's a romantic love story, and sexuality is at the center. I got extra juice from the gay love story.... They [Jack and Ennis] are both gay, but Jack is more knowing and less denying." Etc., etc.).

Mendelsohn also unfortunately mischaracterizes other aspects of our marketing too. One example: he points out that "the words 'gay' and 'homosexual' are never used of the film's main two characters in the forty-nine-page press kit distributed by the filmmakers to critics." That sounds pretty damning, as if we were trying to hide the centrality of the film's gay content. Regardless of the fact that thirty pages of the forty-nine-page kit are taken up with the list of credits and biographies of the filmmakers, I note that the press kit features the voices of two of the film's wranglers, out gay men clearly identified as such, who are active on the gay rodeo circuit. Their words are quoted at greater length and prominence than those of Heath Ledger, as it was important to us that critics understand the film directly in the context of real gay lives. And while Mendelsohn can find a couple of awards show clips or advertising images that don't highlight the two male leads' relationship, let's be serious: no mainstream film in history has been promoted with as open, proud, and insistent a celebration of the love between two men.

But Mendelsohn is correct to call our attention to a telling and disturbing logic that underlies and legitimizes a great deal of the public discourse surrounding the film, summed up in the oft-heard assertion that "it's a love story, not a gay story."

It is the "not" in that sentence, the idea of two mutually exclusive paradigmatic categories, the one replacing the other, that rightly gives pause. But I wish it were as easy as Mendelsohn appears to think it is to resolve that false dichotomy by simply asserting the gay identity of the text. To begin with, there is a very real sense in which the film is, or at least aspires to be, "universal," in just the way Mendelsohn describes it, as a "distinctively gay story that happens to be so well told that any feeling person can be moved by it."

One thing this means is that we solicit every audience member's identification withthe film's central gay characters; the film succeeds if it, albeit initially within the realm of the aesthetic, queers its audience. But in so doing, it paradoxically figures its gayness not just as a concretely situated identity, but also as a profound and emotionally expansive experience, understandable by all.

The power of a cultural moment such as that signaled by the reception of Brokeback is that in shattering the "epistemology of the closet" we run the risk of destroying the nonuniversal, specifically gay knowledge previously hidden inside it. Think of it this way: if the phrase "You wouldn't understand—it's a gay thing" is now met with the retort "But I think I do understand!," what, we need to ask, becomes of "the gay thing" itself? You see the problem: it is not that, with Brokeback Mountain, we made a great gay movie and then spent the next year insistently trying to stuff it back into the closet, as Mendelsohn argues. It is that, in the process of removing gayness from the closet and "mainstreaming" it, we disturb the given sites—some closeted, some not—from which gay identities struggle for recognition. Brokeback appears in the midst of new, and confusing, displacements of the sites of gay and, more broadly, GLBT identities—in the vast and disorienting space between the closet and the wedding altar.

So while I do feel Mendelsohn has been unfair to us, and while I believe the simple "gay versus universal" dichotomy should be nuanced, I am nonetheless grateful to Mendelsohn for raising what is indeed a thorny issue, one I hope he will continue to interrogate. Brokeback's legacy will be, I believe, a profoundly positive one; but to ignore Mendelsohn's disquiet at important aspects of its reception would be foolish.

James Schamus
Columbia University
New York City

[ennisandjack]

The New York Review Of Books

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18846

Volume 53, Number 6 · April 6, 2006

Daniel Mendelsohn replies:

Understandably discomfited by my argument that the often muddleheaded response to Brokeback Mountain derives in large part from the way it's being marketed by its makers, James Schamus tries to distract us with a display of theoretical wizardry. But his letter, like his marketing campaign, smacks everywhere of wanting to have his ideological cake and eat it, too—of wanting simultaneously to benefit from the mainstream even as he waves the banner of queerness. Talk about cutting rhetorical corners.

He begins by taking exception to a "false dichotomy" which, he claims, I made in my review: between the specifically gay element in the film and its potential reception as a "universal" story—between, as he puts it, the film as a gay story and the film as a love story. I did no such thing. My piece was a response, as he rightly notes, to those who denied that it was a gay story at all—who saw the film's homosexual themes as incidental to its artistic achievement. ("The lovers just happen to be two men," etc.) Because I am a critic (not an activist) the emphasis on the film's homosexual themes seemed necessary; as I wrote, it is impossible to appreciate the film's aesthetic attainments—a superior performance by an actor playing a closeted gay man, the elaborate and carefully considered details that underscore the theme of the closet—without acknowledging the specificity of its gay subject matter. That the film can appeal to a universal audience—rather a different point—is something that I not only don't deny, but stated quite flatly in my piece. ("Any feeling person can be moved by it.") Simply because a narrative has universal appeal, however, doesn't mean that the story it tells is universal—a distinction that sorely needs to be made in the current cultural climate, one in which everyone wants to lay claim to everyone else's pain. To say that the story of Brokeback Mountain is universal because in some general way it concerns "love" is to say nothing at all; it's like saying Schindler's List is a universal story because we all know what it's like to lose a family member. (And imagine the response if critics were to claim that the Holocaust were incidental to that movie, or slavery to Beloved.)

Mr. Schamus, who clearly wants to cast himself as friendly to "queer" ideological concerns, seems at once embarrassed by, and defensive about, the strenuous mainstreaming of the movie by its producers, who, as I pointed out, have cut rather a few rhetorical corners of their own in so aggressively marketing this gay story to the "heart of America." But in response to my arguments he offers little more than bluster. Brushing aside the evidence I cited— the evasive rhetoric at the Golden Globes, the print ads, the TV ads, none of which even mention (let alone "highlight," as Mr. Schamus rather hopefully puts it) the film's central gay theme—he merely asserts that his company's promotion of the film is the most open, proud, and insistent "celebration" of a love between men in mainstream Hollywood history. Here I must scratch my head and wonder where the insistence, pride, and celebratory openness are: in the TV commercial showing the male characters falling into the arms of their wives? In the print ads showing a lanky young cowboy grinning, or two young men with their backs to each other?

Mr. Schamus accuses me of selectively citing this and other evidence, but in adducing such examples in my original review (including the remarks by its director, who in his acceptance speech at the Oscars on March 5 declared that Ennis and Jack "taught all of us who made Brokeback Mountain so much about not just all the gay men and women whose love is denied by society, but just as important, the greatness of love itself"), all I did was to do what presumably millions of people did, which was to open the newspaper or turn on the TV. Try as Mr. Schamus might to camouflage what we found there with obfuscatory sophistries about "sites" of gay identity and Eve Sedgwick's "epistemology of the closet," the truth is plain: in order to get as many bodies into as many theater seats possible—a wholly understandable goal for movie producers, if not perhaps for subversive queer ideologues— the producers and promoters of the film toned down gay elements likely to be off-putting to mass audiences, to the point, as the ads I cited indicate, of actually falsifying its content.

With breathtaking disingenuousness, given his ostensible commitment to queer theory, Mr. Schamus suggests that Brokeback shouldn't advertise the sexuality of its characters any more than straight mainstream films do. But of course, those films do advertise, relentlessly, the heterosexuality of their characters—as even a quick glance at the posters used to advertise, say, Titanic and The Bridges of Madison County will confirm. There, one can see what is, after all, the standard visual representation of erotic love between two people, which is a clear image of two yearning lovers embracing. One wonders why, if Focus Features is so open, proud, and celebratory of its film's homosexual love story, such an image is utterly absent from its print and TV ads for the movie—just as the open, unashamed, and insistent use of the word "gay" is absent from the producers' promotional rhetoric, starting with the pages—any and all of them—of the press kit.

But then, Mr. Schamus's proffering of that same press kit as evidence of his company's celebration of gay identity clearly indicates that there are many things we understand differently—not least, the meaning of the word "clearly," a word of no small importance when the subject is lying and half-truths to which the closet condemns people. "I note," he writes, "that the press kit features the voices of two of the film's wranglers, out gay men clearly identified as such...." I can only assume that this refers to Tim Cyr and Shane Madden, who, in the introductory list of "Voices of Broke Mountain" on page 3 of the press kit, are "clearly identified" thus: "rodeo rider/technical advisor to film": only later do you realize the men are gay, and belong to a gay rodeo association. The evasive coyness typified by that tellingly blank description characterizes the entire document—and, as now seems obvious, so much else about the promotion of the film. Brokeback Mountain, like so many stories of the closet, is ultimately about living with the agonizing consequences of the compromises some men feel they have to make; to judge from James Schamus's heated but ultimately self-destructing protestations, it would appear that he is less than comfortable with the ones he had to make to get the movie seen.

[ennisandjack]

The New York Review Of Books

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18846

Volume 53, Number 6 · April 6, 2006

To the Editors:

"Gay cowboy movie" is an inapt description for Brokeback Mountain since its furtive lovers are not, in fact, cowboys. They are, however, as Daniel Mendelsohn points out in his luminously sensible corrective essay ["An Affair to Remember," NYR, February 23], gay, something a surpris-ing number of critics are unwilling to admit. Mr. Mendelsohn emphasizes that the young men are afflicted with the sort of self-loathing experienced by virtually all homosexuals, whether in Wyoming or Westchester, conditioned to think of themselves, even as recently as thirty years ago, as perverted.

Homophobia, of course, remains rampant (think "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"), but society's acceptance of gay men and lesbians has recently progressed with such lightning speed that younger moviegoers apparently have trouble imagining a time when one's personal safety and professional well-being preordained a life of erotic self-repression.

Mr. Mendelsohn suggests that those who insist on seeing the film (and the fiction on which it is based) as a "universal love story" rather than as a distinctly gay tragedy are shoving the characters back in the suffocating closet so powerfully exposed by Annie Proulx, Ang Lee, and the film's screenwriters. This is an especially trenchant observation in an altogether brilliant essay.

Joel Conarroe
President emeritus, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation
Former president, PEN American Center
New York City

[ennisandjack]

'Brokeback' DVD to cash in on buzz
Greg Hernandez, Staff writer

http://www.dailynews.com/business/ci_3622322
 
A stunning Best Picture loss at the Academy Awards has not prevented "Brokeback Mountain" from being rushed out on DVD next month even as it remains among the top 20 highest-grossing movies playing in theaters.
The controversial film about two cowboys in love, starring Oscar nominees Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams, is scheduled for release April 4, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced Monday.

"As one of the most talked about movies of the year, `Brokeback Mountain' has not only established a new benchmark in filmmaking but it has also permeated the public consciousness to an unprecedented level," Universal Studios Home Entertainment President Craig Kornblau said in a statement.

"Brokeback," which had grossed $82 million as of Sunday, did win three Academy Awards for Best Director for Ang Lee, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score.

Studio sources said Universal had decided on the DVD release date some time ago but kept it under wraps in order to ride the Oscar wave at the box office. But the film's theatrical run is clearly losing steam with "Brokeback" in just over 500 theaters last weekend and a more than 50 percent drop in ticket sales from a week earlier.

Now "Brokeback" will attempt to benefit from the post-Oscar buzz that has turned surprise Best Picture winner "Crash" back into a top seller despite being released on DVD in September.

"The Best Picture win kind of gave it a second wind," said Ralph Tribbey, editor of DVD Release Report, an industry newsletter. "Plus, a lot of people never saw this film."

"Crash," rereleased on a limited number of big screens after the Oscars, had grossed just $54.2 million domestically as of Sunday, extremely low for a Best Picture winner. But revenue from DVD is expected to dwarf its theatrical take.

As of Monday afternoon, "Crash" was No. 3 on the Amazon.com hot seller list behind "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "Good Night, and Good Luck," a film co-written by and co-starring George Clooney and nominated for multiple Oscars.

A two-disc special edition of "Crash" featuring a director's cut of the film goes on sale April 4, the same day "Brokeback" is out.

The "Brokeback" DVD will come with several bonus features including a profile on Lee, interviews with Ledger and Gyllenhaal and screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, and a feature on the making of the film.

"We are confident that this DVD will profoundly resonate among consumers and that (it) will quickly become an integral part of every DVD collection," Kornblau said.


 

[tpe]

Thanks ennisandjack for the posts.

I shall NOT hide my extreme contempt for 'Trash' as a movie.  I make no apologies.  I wish it a speedy oblivion and a final abode in hell, where it most certainly belongs (DVD director's cut and all.)

[bnjmn3]

Many comments have been made concerning the joking about homosexuality in the media and its impact on BMM. Well, here's an example of homophobia from today!!

March 21, 2006 8:20-8:30am on MSNBC
Why does Imus not want to see the Broadway show Ring of Fire?

(who wants to…)

“See some gay waiter see Johnny Cash songs…”

“See some fruit sing Johnny Cash songs…”

“Probably plenty of male-male duets…”

Free speech is fine. This bigotry is unacceptable.
Why does Universal and NBC embrace this?

[dalemidex]

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18609,00.html?fdnews

I like how this one speaks of the loss as best picture actually creating MORE buzz, plus how weak the rerelease of Crash has been.  Crash has spiked in DVD sales, but just wait until BBM hits.


"Brokeback" Rides Early to DVD

by Natalie Finn
Mar 20, 2006, 7:00 PM PT



Audiences will get their chance next month to bring Brokeback Mountain home to the range. But they'll still have the opportunity to turn around and appreciate the film's sweeping vistas from a stadium-style seat.


In a rare plot twist, the triple Academy Award winner will be riding onto DVD Apr. 4, overlapping with the film's theatrical run, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced Monday. Brokeback Mountain was released Nov. 30 and has grossed about $82 million. The film still has some life at the box office, finishing in the top 20 last weekend with $546,000.  The dual availability is unusual, says a rep from Universal, but Oscar hype surrounding the film has led to an extended stay in theaters. The DVD release has been rushed to capitalize on award season buzz as well.

"As one of the most talked-about movies of the year, Brokeback Mountain has not only established a new benchmark in filmmaking but it has also permeated the public consciousness to an unprecedented level," Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, said in a statement.

The epic about the tragic affair between two male ranch hands was the critics' darling, snagging Independent Spirit and Golden Globe awards right and left, as well as three Oscars. But it may have been the prize Brokeback Mountain didn't win that set the buzz-meter a notch higher. When the film failed to win the Oscar for Best Picture, a debate erupted about whether the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was too conservative to award the top prize to a gay-themed film.

On the flip side, in a bid to capitalize on Crash's Best Picture win, Lions Gate Entertainment rereleased the film Mar. 10 for an open-ended engagement on 150 or so screens. Crash has failed to bring in much traffic so far during its second run, earning barely $1 million (including just $317,000 last weekend). The ensemble drama raked in about $53.4 million during its initial run.

Presumably, the conflict was that Crash had been available on DVD since September, with a Special Edition version due out next month.

However, the week after Crash upset Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture honors, DVD sales of the film spiked six-fold to 207,000 copies (totaling about 4.2 million sold since September), Variety reported.

The time period between the announcement of an upcoming DVD release and the actual release is usually longer, totaling about six weeks, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which says that the shrinking window could be attributed to the growing clout of big-box retailers that stock massive quantities of popular new releases.

As one unnamed insider told Hollywood Reporter, "You don't need six weeks to sell to Wal-Mart."

[Miss Nice]

I found this on CNN teletext (page 131) just a while ago. Wasn't there a couple of hours ago. Here goes (I typed it manually from the tv screen...   ):
=========
’BROKEBACK’ IN THE COMFORT OF HOME

Those who have yet to see “Brokeback Mountain”, or those looking to see it again, will soon have a choice. The DVD will hit stores April 4, even with the film still in theatrical release.

That’s a rare overlap, said a spokeswoman for DVD distributor Universal Studios Home Entertainment. But, she explained, with the film still riding high on its eight Academy Award nominations and three Oscar wins, its thater run has been extended, bumping into the scheduled DVD release. The DVD is expected to sell for $29.98.

=========

[scruffy]

I found this interesting.  It's an article on why the NFL said no to allowing one of their football games played on the TV druing a Brokeback Mountain Thanksgiving scene.

http://outsports.com/nfl/2006/0302nflbrokeback.htm

[tpe]

I found this interesting.  It's an article on why the NFL said no to allowing one of their football games played on the TV druing a Brokeback Mountain Thanksgiving scene.

http://outsports.com/nfl/2006/0302nflbrokeback.htm

Yes, very interesting.  Thanks scruffy

[dalemidex]

Personally I think the NFL's reasoning sounds pretty weak.  That scene doesn't have any stronger language than you can hear on regular US network broadcast television.  And they are worried that the assertion "you want your son to grow up to be a man, don't you daughter? Boys should watch football" is laughable.  First, that IS what the NFL wants you to believe.  (What's next, will they also deny using female sex appeal in the form of so-called 'cheerleaders" to attract male viewers??)  Second, the scene clearly paints the objectionable opinion of L D Newsome as WRONG...just what the NFL is supposedly saying. 

I would be more understanding and convinced if the NFL simply said they were generally heistant and conservative about allowing game footage to be used in movies.  That *might* be closer to the truth than any kind of overt homophobia.  But to be all offended about some PG language and un-PC sentiment?  That's a bunch of it.  As Ms Ossana said in a jarringly un-PC way...we're not retards.

[tpe]

Personally I think the NFL's reasoning sounds pretty weak.  That scene doesn't have any stronger language than you can hear on regular US network broadcast television.  And they are worried that the assertion "you want your son to grow up to be a man, don't you daughter? Boys should watch football" is laughable.  First, that IS what the NFL wants you to believe.  (What's next, will they also deny using female sex appeal in the form of so-called 'cheerleaders" to attract male viewers??)  Second, the scene clearly paints the objectionable opinion of L D Newsome as WRONG...just what the NFL is supposedly saying. 

I would be more understanding and convinced if the NFL simply said they were generally heistant and conservative about allowing game footage to be used in movies.  That *might* be closer to the truth than any kind of overt homophobia.  But to be all offended about some PG language and un-PC sentiment?  That's a bunch of it.  As Ms Ossana said in a jarringly un-PC way...we're not retards.

Yes, I agree.  I think we know the subtext here... 

[ennisandjack]

I don't buy the NFL's excuses for one minute. They must really think we are dumb 

[ethan]

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN…TIDBITS BEHIND THE PHENOMENON

You’ll Never Guess The Movie: Name the movie that in June of 1998 the Hollywood trades reported was to be directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), released by Columbia Pictures, and produced by Scott Rudin? Believe it or not it was Brokeback Mountain which was directed by Ang Lee, released by Universal’s Focus Features and produced by James Schamus & Diana Ossana.

Brokeback’s 1998 Win!: Before the Golden Globes, the Oscars, and countless other accolades the story of Brokeback Mountain garnered, Ann Proulux’s story was first awarded “Top Fiction Magazine Story” at the 1998 National Magazine Awards.

The Early Oscar Buzz: On December 17, 2003, over two years before the 78th Annual Academy Awards, a piece in the Ottawa Citizen includes a quote from Jenny Stewart, the entertainment editor at Planetout.com, a major U.S. online homosexual site. Ms. Stewart, was the first to speak of the buzz surrounding Brokeback Mountain and Oscars in the same sentence: “Not a single second of footage has been shot, but already the film (Brokeback Mountain) is being touted as Oscar material, says Ms. Stewart, who predicts the film will draw the biggest names in Hollywood to play a gay role since Philadelphia.”

A Few Good Other Men? “Casting of the two leads has been the subject of heated speculation since the project (Brokeback Mountain) was announced late last year, with a number of high-profile young actors circling the roles. Colin Farrell, Josh Hartnett and Billy Crudup have been mentioned, the latest indicator that one-time reticence of Hollywood actors to take on gay roles is fading.” Variety (January 14, 2004)

Believe it or not…The South China Morning Post reported in January 2004 that Shanghai, Beijing and Yunnan province were scouted by Ang Lee as possible filming locations for Brokeback Mountain, the story of two American cowboys who fall in love in the Wyoming mountains

Two ‘Mountain’ Projects: Calgary Sun reported in February 2004, that Brokeback Mountain wasn’t the only ‘Mountain’ project to film around Calgary. Production offices opened that month for the short lived WB drama “The Mountain,” from McG, the former music-video director “The Mountain” was about a young man who inherits a Colorado mountaintop resort when his father dies. Also, filming in the same area during the Spring of 2004, the ABC miniseries, “Little House on the Prairie.”

What does Brokeback Mountain & Star Wars have in Common? Visual Effects: According to IMDB, there were 75 visual effects shots created for the film by Canada’s Buzz Image Group. Of these visual effects, 15 were of CGI sheep. The film called for about 2,500 sheep, but only 700 were on-set, necessitating the additional woolly creations. Also created for the film were sky replacements, set additions, erasures and the hail in the hailstorm.

Ang Counting Sheep: According to IMDB, in her book "The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film", Emma Thompson writes that after a particularly difficult day filming a sequence that involved a flock of sheep, Ang Lee swore that he would never again use the animals on a movie set. Brokeback Mountain, however, is about two young men who meet while sheep herding.

The “Brokeback Mountain” Discount: The success of ‘Brokeback Mountain’ at the Academy Awards has provided a new opportunity for tourism in Canada. The film was shot almost entirely in and around the town of Fort Macleod, Alberta. A travel agency in Taiwan is the first to offer package holidays to the region. While not marketed solely to gay travelers, if you can illustrate you’re gay or lesbian, you’ll receive a $200 discount. Source on this - Chinese Daily News


This Just In… Brokeback Mountain is a News Phenomenon: Based on searches on the news database LexisNexis, to date there has been over 18,000 mentions of Brokeback Mountain in major print, wire, and television pieces.

On July 1 1998, The Baltimore Sun was the first major newspaper to mention “Brokeback Mountain”. The second? The Birmingham Post two days later. They both picked up wire stories reporting that Gus Van Sant was to direct Brokeback Mountain.

On October 30, 1998, Elizabeth Snead first mentions “Brokeback Mountain” in USA Today. This was the first of 165 “Brokeback Mountain” mentions in the national newspaper

On November 17, 1999, journalist Jennifer Jordan first mentions “Brokeback Mountain” in an Associated Press article interviewing Anne Prolux. This is the first of 224 times Associated Press mentions the film. To put this in perspective, the infamous Natalee Holloway story generated 215 AP mentions.

LA Times included the first of 242 “Brokeback Mountain” mentions on October 18, 1998
http://www.heathbaby.com/news/index.php?Action=Full&NewsID=483

[*Froggy*]

I found this interesting.  It's an article on why the NFL said no to allowing one of their football games played on the TV druing a Brokeback Mountain Thanksgiving scene.

http://outsports.com/nfl/2006/0302nflbrokeback.htm

Thank you. V. interesting article.

I don't buy the NFL's excuses for one minute. They must really think we are dumb 

Neither do I.

[*Froggy*]

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN…TIDBITS BEHIND THE PHENOMENON

You’ll Never Guess The Movie: Name the movie that in June of 1998 the Hollywood trades reported was to be directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), released by Columbia Pictures, and produced by Scott Rudin? Believe it or not it was Brokeback Mountain which was directed by Ang Lee, released by Universal’s Focus Features and produced by James Schamus & Diana Ossana.

Brokeback’s 1998 Win!: Before the Golden Globes, the Oscars, and countless other accolades the story of Brokeback Mountain garnered, Ann Proulux’s story was first awarded “Top Fiction Magazine Story” at the 1998 National Magazine Awards.

The Early Oscar Buzz: On December 17, 2003, over two years before the 78th Annual Academy Awards, a piece in the Ottawa Citizen includes a quote from Jenny Stewart, the entertainment editor at Planetout.com, a major U.S. online homosexual site. Ms. Stewart, was the first to speak of the buzz surrounding Brokeback Mountain and Oscars in the same sentence: “Not a single second of footage has been shot, but already the film (Brokeback Mountain) is being touted as Oscar material, says Ms. Stewart, who predicts the film will draw the biggest names in Hollywood to play a gay role since Philadelphia.”

A Few Good Other Men? “Casting of the two leads has been the subject of heated speculation since the project (Brokeback Mountain) was announced late last year, with a number of high-profile young actors circling the roles. Colin Farrell, Josh Hartnett and Billy Crudup have been mentioned, the latest indicator that one-time reticence of Hollywood actors to take on gay roles is fading.” Variety (January 14, 2004)

Believe it or not…The South China Morning Post reported in January 2004 that Shanghai, Beijing and Yunnan province were scouted by Ang Lee as possible filming locations for Brokeback Mountain, the story of two American cowboys who fall in love in the Wyoming mountains

Two ‘Mountain’ Projects: Calgary Sun reported in February 2004, that Brokeback Mountain wasn’t the only ‘Mountain’ project to film around Calgary. Production offices opened that month for the short lived WB drama “The Mountain,” from McG, the former music-video director “The Mountain” was about a young man who inherits a Colorado mountaintop resort when his father dies. Also, filming in the same area during the Spring of 2004, the ABC miniseries, “Little House on the Prairie.”

What does Brokeback Mountain & Star Wars have in Common? Visual Effects: According to IMDB, there were 75 visual effects shots created for the film by Canada’s Buzz Image Group. Of these visual effects, 15 were of CGI sheep. The film called for about 2,500 sheep, but only 700 were on-set, necessitating the additional woolly creations. Also created for the film were sky replacements, set additions, erasures and the hail in the hailstorm.

Ang Counting Sheep: According to IMDB, in her book "The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film", Emma Thompson writes that after a particularly difficult day filming a sequence that involved a flock of sheep, Ang Lee swore that he would never again use the animals on a movie set. Brokeback Mountain, however, is about two young men who meet while sheep herding.

The “Brokeback Mountain” Discount: The success of ‘Brokeback Mountain’ at the Academy Awards has provided a new opportunity for tourism in Canada. The film was shot almost entirely in and around the town of Fort Macleod, Alberta. A travel agency in Taiwan is the first to offer package holidays to the region. While not marketed solely to gay travelers, if you can illustrate you’re gay or lesbian, you’ll receive a $200 discount. Source on this - Chinese Daily News


This Just In… Brokeback Mountain is a News Phenomenon: Based on searches on the news database LexisNexis, to date there has been over 18,000 mentions of Brokeback Mountain in major print, wire, and television pieces.

On July 1 1998, The Baltimore Sun was the first major newspaper to mention “Brokeback Mountain”. The second? The Birmingham Post two days later. They both picked up wire stories reporting that Gus Van Sant was to direct Brokeback Mountain.

On October 30, 1998, Elizabeth Snead first mentions “Brokeback Mountain” in USA Today. This was the first of 165 “Brokeback Mountain” mentions in the national newspaper

On November 17, 1999, journalist Jennifer Jordan first mentions “Brokeback Mountain” in an Associated Press article interviewing Anne Prolux. This is the first of 224 times Associated Press mentions the film. To put this in perspective, the infamous Natalee Holloway story generated 215 AP mentions.

LA Times included the first of 242 “Brokeback Mountain” mentions on October 18, 1998
http://www.heathbaby.com/news/index.php?Action=Full&NewsID=483

Fantastic find! Thankx

[glacier1]

‘Brokeback’ blazes trails to small towns
By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star

Now that the Oscar upset is behind us and supporters of “Brokeback Mountain” have quit grumbling that they were robbed, it’s time to take a dispassionate look at what Ang Lee’s “gay cowboy” movie actually accomplished.
    First (because Hollywood measures success not in art but in cold, hard cash), “Brokeback” made a load of money on a modest investment. It cost a measly $14 million to produce and has earned nearly $81 million in the U.S. alone.
    It’s playing on 506 screens, down significantly from the 1,200 it held a couple of weeks ago but way ahead of what your typical art film or gay-themed movie can boast. And after more than three months in release it’s still the 20th most popular film in America.  When you factor in the movie’s worldwide ticket sales, “Brokeback” has grossed $140 million.
    No film makes that sort of green by catering to a limited target audience. Those figures say that lots of people — straight as well as gay — have plunked down their money to experience this movie.
    And not just the decadent urban types who you would expect to patronize a sad movie about two conflicted men who want to love one another but can’t be themselves in a suffocating environment. The real news about “Brokeback Mountain” is that it made a lot of its money in the sticks.  “Brokeback” did particularly well in college towns, according to Brad Bills, whose Independent Film Services books movies into 300 small-town theaters in several Midwestern states.
    Cities with populations of less than 10,000 generally didn’t play the movie, he said, explaining that a theater operator needs at least six screens at a location to justify booking a “specialty” film like “Brokeback.” That way the remaining five screens still can be dedicated to the mainstream Hollywood fare that are a small theater’s bread and butter: family pictures, animated features, romantic comedies, action and horror.
    Had “Brokeback” won the best picture Oscar, Bills said, it most likely would have played in even the smallest towns regardless of the subject matter.  Even so, Bills said, “Brokeback Mountain” saw more small-town action than best picture winner “Crash,” which was regarded as a film for city folk and never played in many rural communities. And it won’t now, since “Crash” was released on home video before its big Oscar win.
    What interests me, though, isn’t “Brokeback’s” financial fallout but rather its emotional and cultural impact on those who viewed it. In a recent report from the Los Angeles Daily News, small-town theater operators attending last week’s ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas were asked whether their booking of the film had generated much controversy.
    Remarkably, the answer was no. The movie played without incident. Undoubtedly there are people who prefer to live in small towns because, among other reasons, they’ve convinced themselves that there are no gay people in small towns. Perhaps they believed that ignoring the movie was the best way to combat it.
    But the fact remains that the picture was seen. It was talked about. And because it’s a very well made production it had an emotional impact on people, many of whom had never before considered what it means to deny one’s own identity to fit in.
    I’m not suggesting “Brokeback Mountain” has turned rural America into a bastion of liberalism and gay friendliness. But it got people thinking. And feeling. It took them where they’d never gone before.
    And when small-town exhibitors at ShoWest were asked if they’d be open to showing other films with gay themes and characters, the answer was yes.
    “Brokeback Mountain” didn’t win Hollywood’s highest honor. But it may have done something more important.

[*Froggy*]

    And when small-town exhibitors at ShoWest were asked if they’d be open to showing other films with gay themes and characters, the answer was yes.
    “Brokeback Mountain” didn’t win Hollywood’s highest honor. But it may have done something more important.

Great article, thank you very much Glacier1 x

[glacier1]

Wow, I mean wow.

Domestic violence law to include homosexuals

BREAKTHROUGH: Legislators agreed that gays and lesbians should be listed among those who can seek protection under the Domestic Violence Protection Law
By Jean Lin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Mar 23, 2006,Page 2

Homosexuals will now be officially listed and protected under the Domestic Violence Prevention Law (家暴法) after a breakthrough was made yesterday during a review session of draft amendments to the law at the legislature.

Two lawmakers cited the movie Brokeback Mountain in arguing for the change.

The existing law defines "domestic" as "husband and wife relations, spouses and ex-spouses, parents, family members, or blood and non-blood relatives."

Legislators from the Judiciary Committee questioned that definition, asking whether homosexuals were included in those categories and protected by the law.

Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said that homosexuals were included under the category "family members," although the current law does not explicitly note that.

According to the Civic Law (民法), those who plan to live together over the long term are considered to be "family members," with no strictures against homosexuals.

Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Kuo Lin-Yung (郭林勇) said that homosexuals had long been neglected in a society where heterosexual marriages were dominant.

Although gay marriages are not yet legal in the country, more attention should be paid to gay rights, Kuo said.

"They [homosexuals] have been derided, persecuted and constrained in the past, but now they have begun to speak out, allowing their problems to surface and be known," he said. "Therefore, they must now be equally protected by the law."

The amended law should explain clearly that homosexual couples are included under the category of "family members," so that social workers, police and other authorities would understand, Kuo added.

He said gay relationships were often more intense and gay individuals may easily become victims of domestic violence. Without protection from the law, many end up committing suicide because they have no way to seek help, he added.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) added that the concept of "family" traditionally referred to heterosexual couples and that the decision made at the review session was a breakthrough for gay rights.

Huang said the new amendments should add that members of families could be composed of any sex.

Both Kuo and Huang said the award-winning movie Brokeback Mountain had positively influenced the public to be more aware of homosexual issues and problems.

[*Froggy*]

Thankx for the article Glacier1...again

[scruffy]

http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid28194.asp

Brokeback's Czech debut


Deep in the heart of Prague, far away from the cattle ranches of Wyoming, Zkroncena Hora (Brokeback Mountain) continues to move audiences
 
We happened to notice it in the Saturday movie listings for Prague: Zkrocena Hora, literally “broken (as in tamed) mountain.” My boyfriend, David, has been here since October and knew Brokeback Mountain was coming and what its Czech title would be—but we were surprised to find it already playing in this city of 2 million, with no publicity or fanfare.

So we went. Like most Americans on our end of the Kinsey scale, we saw Brokeback months ago when it debuted in the States. I’d even been interviewed about it on TV in Wisconsin on behalf of our state’s gay rights organization. So the movie was old news to us, but we wanted to see it again anyway—and to see how it would play here in another country.

It’s hard to believe that 16 years ago the Czech Republic was a communist country with its economy scraping the bottom and a barbed-wire border to keep people in. As just one sign of the way the Czechs have wiped away those dismal aspects of Soviet rule, Brokeback was playing near the center of Prague in a gigantic gleaming new shopping mall. We passed our time before going into the theater by looking at the latest iPods.

But one thing that maybe hasn’t changed as fast here is the attitude toward being gay. On one hand, this is a country relatively free from the puritanical sexual hang-ups that hold America back. But still, it’s a country where the borders between male and female gender roles are closely patrolled, where two men walking down the street can still attract unwanted stares or worse, and where gay and lesbian people sometimes still cling to the idea that they don’t need to be out, so why make a big deal out of it.

In other words, it’s a country that might just waiting to be shaken up a little by a film like Brokeback Mountain.

We got to the theater, and found out why Brokeback had gotten so little attention—this was a predpremiera, a sneak preview before the official rollout. The audience would be a largely self-selected group who knew about the film from its foreign buzz.

When we bought our tickets, the girl behind the counter looked up and asked to confirm our choice, curious, as if she hadn’t been sure exactly who would come. As the theater filled up, the teenage staff spent more time than needed checking out the audience as well: some foreigners like us, but mostly Czechs, especially young guys in their 20s and 30s, paired off, or with two or three girlfriends. With barely any seats left, a pregnant woman arrived, and the movie started.

It was even more riveting than the first time I saw it. The film played in English with Czech subtitles, and people leaned forward with their chins in their hands and with their bodies tensed in uncomfortable positions during dramatic moments. People laughed at the film’s few jokes, like the noisy electric knife scene at the awkward Riverton Thanksgiving, and then, especially as the movie came to an end, they cried. Women in front of us dabbed at their eyes with tissues. A trendy boy next to me wiped away tears with his hands. I did too—for some reason, much more than when I saw Brokeback Mountain at home.

At the end, people sat in silence till the credits ended, then filed somberly out. We easily spotted audience members on the subway platform, small groups sticking close together, still talking about it. It’s hard to know whether this will be as big a film here as in America or whether the Brokeback effect will be the same. But in a crowded 700-year-old city that’s about as far from Wyoming as it gets, Brokeback Mountain still grips its audience, maybe precisely because it tells a story that is universal even in a place so different.

[scruffy]

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid28230.asp

Poll: Opposition to same-sex marriage on the decline


The public backlash over same-sex marriage has receded since a controversial decision by the Massachusetts supreme court in 2003 to legalize those marriages stirred strong opposition, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Same-sex marriage remains a divisive issue, however, with 51% opposing it, the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in Washington found. But almost two thirds—63%—opposed same-sex marriage in February 2004.

"Most Americans still oppose gay marriage, but the levels of opposition are down, and the number of strong opponents is down," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "This has some implications for the midterm elections if this trend is maintained. There are gay marriage ballot initiatives in numerous states."

Same-sex marriage got intense media coverage in 2004 after the Massachusetts court case, the decision by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom to issue thousands of marriage licenses to gay couples, and similar cases. But the intense focus on same-sex marriage has declined in the past year.

In 2004 opponents of same-sex marriage were able to pass ballot initiatives banning the practice in 13 states, from Georgia to Oregon. Those initiatives also helped conservatives rally their voters to the polls.

The number of people who say they strongly oppose same-sex marriage has dropped from 42% in early 2004 to 28% now. Strong opposition has dropped sharply among senior citizens and Republicans.

People are now evenly split on allowing adoptions by gay couples, and six in 10 now favor allowing gays to serve openly in the military.

Legal challenges of laws on same-sex marriage could result in more court decisions that stir public opinion, but this midterm election year is starting with far less public anxiety about one of the nation's most volatile social issues. The telephone poll of 1,405 adults was conducted March 8–12 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. (AP)

[ethan]

Thanks scruffy for posting this article. Love is indeed universal no matter where the movie is played.

[ennisandjack]

Randy Quaid Sues Over 'Brokeback'
Actor claims producers defrauded him

http://tmz.aol.com/article2?id=20060323195809990001

By TMZ.COM STAFF
(Mar. 23) -- Randy Quaid has filed a lawsuit claiming he was done in by producers of 'Brokeback Mountain.'

TMZ obtained a copy of the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming producers falsely represented the movie to him as \"a low-budget, art house film, with no prospect of making any money.\" Qauid claims the representations were a ruse from the beginning. 'Brokeback' has grossed around $160 million.

Quaid's suit claims that in 2004, he met with director Ang Lee, who offered him the role of Joe Aguirre. The suit alleges that Lee told Quaid: "We can't pay anything, we have very little money, everyone is making a sacrifice to make this film."

The suit does not specifically state how much Quaid made, but it does claim that the defendants "were engaged in a 'movie laundering' scheme designed to obtain the services of talent such as Randy Quaid on economically unfavorable art film terms..."

The suit asks for $10 million in damages as well as punitive damages. It also seeks "restitution for all ill-gotten gains."

[tpe]

From http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/news/8219212/detail.html

A link to the online petition has been posted in this forum. 


-------------------------------------------------------------------------



Vermonter Starts Petition To Name Mountain 'Brokeback'
Should Vermont Name Mountain After Controversial Movie?

POSTED: 9:18 pm EST March 23, 2006
UPDATED: 9:25 pm EST March 23, 2006

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- We name our kids. We can name a pet. And, a few times each year, someone files a petition to name or re-name a geographic place in Vermont.

On Thursday, there's a small but growing effort under way to get a Vermont mountain named after the controversial movie, Brokeback Mountain.

In the movie, Brokeback Mountain is in Wyoming. But the film is actually shot in Canada. The so-called "gay cowboy" movie is a big hit here - theaters sold out for weeks. And Vermont was the first to pass equal rights for gay couples. Still, fans seem mixed.

"Why do we have to name a mountain 'Brokeback Mountain' just to be accepting?" one movie fan said.

The organizer of the petition has not returned messages, but on the Web site www.brokebackmountainvermont.com, he writes, "Since Vermont is the coolest state, full of open-minded people, why shouldn't we have our own Brokeback Mountain (minus the cowboys)?"

A lot of hills and mountains don't have specific names, but getting the ball rolling on changing that can be as easy as getting 25 signatures on a petition.

"I would sign it rather than not sign it," said a Burlington resident.

A spokesman for Vermont governor Jim Douglas-R, said they'll take no position, saying "we're completely neutral about the idea."

[scruffy]

Jack Twist's truck is being sold on eBay


http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=adf20798-0941-4364-a06e-23a09f22eb67

[scruffy]

Pro-Family Group Rips Wal-Mart for Promoting Brokeback

By Allie Martin
March 24, 2006

(AgapePress) - An official with a pro-family advocacy group is encouraging concerned Christians to contact Wal-Mart regarding the upcoming home video and DVD release of the movie Brokeback Mountain. He claims the retailer's plan to distribute the pro-homosexual film is evidence Wal-Mart has strayed from its family-friendly roots.

Wal-Mart stores nationwide will carry the controversial movie when it is released on DVD. In-store posters and billboards are already advertising the upcoming release, scheduled for April 4. The movie, which opened in a limited number of theaters in early December, tells the story of two cowboys who carry on a homosexual relationship while maintaining traditional marriages. By Hollywood standards it was not a huge box office success (less than $90 million in the U.S. as of March 12), drawing much of its viewing audience in cities known to have large homosexual populations.

Randy Sharp, director of special projects for the Mississippi-based American Family Association, says the movie -- despite winning three Academy Awards earlier this month -- is not "family-friendly." And it does not belong on the shelves of a store that has marketed itself to middle America, he adds.

"It's quite obvious to anyone who shops at Wal-Mart that they're no longer the family-friendly company that they used to project in their image," says Sharp. "We've seen a downward spiral trend by the Wal-Mart Corporation in which they are more and more becoming like the world rather than the family-friendly company we grew up with."

The pro-family activist contends the giant retailer is abandoning its core principles and moving "further and further away" from its historical family-friendly image. "It's becoming now more important for Wal-Mart to make money than to serve consumers," Sharp observes.

And that approach to business, he believes, is outside the scope of anything Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton ever dreamed. "His business purpose was to supply a good product at a good price," the AFA spokesman shares. "And now ... it seems [that Wal-Mart is saying] 'We're going to do everything we can to make another dollar, regardless of how our customers feel.'"

Believing that turnabout is fair play, Sharp encourages concerned Christians to let their local Wal-Mart managers know how they feel and that they are not pleased over the chain's decision to promote and carry the pro-homosexual movie.