Wayne Besen observes some resentment brewing over the unavailability of “Brokeback Mountain,” thus far, outside of a few major cities.
Is America nearly as red-state as Hollywood seems to think? Besen says no, based on his own observations.
An article in the Sunday New York Times finds real gay cowboys in Wyoming both identifying with the struggles of the movie’s characters, and asserting that there has been improvement in their lives since the early 1980s. Among these cowboys, and in gay-tolerant urban pockets, the demand for “Brokeback” exists.
But according to these cowboys, unholy prejudice and discrimination remain the rule, not the exception, in the rural heartland.
Brokeback just was selected as best picture by the Southeastern Film Critics Association.
While I’m sure that film critics are more liberal than some of their neighbors, this is definitely red state country. A sample of the type of papers these critics review for includes:
The Montgomery Advertiser – Montgomery, AL
The Asheville Citizen-Times – Asheville, NC
The Knoxville News Sentinel – Knoxville, TN
The Richmond Times-Dispatch – Richmond, VA
This from an article about the long waits to mail packages at the post office:
“Susan Theurkauf of Rancho Mirage said her family joked that she wouldn’t get out of the post office in time to make an afternoon showing of “Brokeback Mountain.” She proved them wrong.
“This is fabulous,” the 59-year-old said as she addressed some Christmas cards at the counter.”
Rancho Mirage is where President Ford just was hospitalized and where Laura Bush read books to school children in the last election.
Hmmm… 59 year old straight women in Republican country.
Update:
Monday’s box office stayed at 8th place with $405,000, for a per-theater average of $5,870.
And Bill O’Reily had Michael Medved on to argue how awful it was for spreading a pro-gay-marriage agenda (I must have blinked when it did that). He was countered by Jeanne Wolfe, aparantly a “celebrity reporter” who – from what
I’ve heard – mostly just said it was a good movie. Which (if I have this correct – I’ll watch later tonight) Medved admits.
In any case, this sort of thing can increase the movie’s visibility with the moderate Fox watchers. Focus Features just got their movie talked about on one of the highest rated cable shows with Bill saying (in his condescending way) that he doesn’t object to the movie and hopes it does well. Thanks, Bill, so do I.