2006年NPR美国国家公共电台二月-'Brokeback Mountain'

The latest issue of Time Magazine features an article on the film "Brokeback Mountain". With this kind of mainstream 1 attention, some are wondering, have gay Americans finally reached a point of acceptance on the big screen? Here is commentator 2 Betty Baye:



There are lots of black folks in the movies and on television today. But I m old enough to remember the days when if the TV guide brought news that some black person was going to appear, say, on the Ed Sullivan Show. Every Negro with a television set tuned 3 in. And every Negro without a TV found someplace to be that had one. When Sammy Davis Jr. , Lola Falana, Nipsey Russell or Bill Cosby showed up on the Johnny Carson show, Negroes stayed up late to watch.



Such appearances were seen as signs of racial progress, and that TV producers and advertisers had discovered that black audiences were worth cultivating. Surveys did show after all that black people tended to be fiercely brand loyal to advertisers who paid them some attention.



And today I'm wondering whether or not the movie "Brokeback Mountain" might be evoking 4 similar feelings among gay Americans that they 've arrived. Though it cannot honestly be argued that gays have been absent from Hollywood, I dare say that if gays had taken a leave of absence that Hollywood might have died in the birthing process. Gays weren t absent, but they sure were hidden. And not until years later did the world learn that many of Hollywoods and early television s leading men were as gay as Paris. But that fact was carefully hidden to protect careers, advertisers and also to protect the fantasies of millions of female fans that Rock Hudson, for example, really was the macho man of their dreams.



As for "Brokeback Mountain", I didn't make it to its opening night here in Louisville. But friends say there were long lines at the Baxter. That's the favorite movie house locally for the mature audiences. And those long lines at the Baxter , I'm told, were filled with many joyful 5, openly gay couples, being openly affectionate, hugging and kissing, I'm told.



When I went to see "Brokeback Mountain" Monday, the crowd was more subdued 6, but the theatre was still unusually full for a weeknight. I enjoyed the movie, but I must confess that I left the Baxter wondering if not for the twist of the two main characters being gay cowboys; would "Brokeback Mountain" be stirring up such a fuss? Would the movie be being talked about as if it's the best thing since sliced bread and undoubtedly 7 a shoo-in for Oscars. I mean, I guess what troubles me in this case is the deliberate hype perpetrated by the spin machines to strongly suggest that "Brokeback Mountain" contains lots of hot sex scenes between two men. And if I was gay and I'm not, I wouldn't necessarily think of "Brokeback Mountain" as the great breakthrough movie that many suggest it is.



It's a fine movie. It s better than average in fact. But I believe that gay people will really know that they ve arrived when their special relationships aren't treated as oddities for which movie audiences have to be coned 8 into scene by promises of soft porn. Sex isn t what "Brokeback Mountain" is about.