you probably haven’t noticed but there’s been a steady conversation going on in the comments on my brokeback mountain – wondering what’s redemptive post. i love the latest riposte from ian…
why on earth would you think that a movie that has gay characters at
its core is trying to ‘convert’ you to something? Is King kong trying
to convert us into giant apes? Is Big Mommas House trying to make us
into robust black women?
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You speak it, ian!!!!! People need to get a life!
mmm…I think ian’s comment is rather tactical: surely there are serious movie-makers who wish to present a point of view (sometimes with the aim of persuasion), and then there are movie makers who wish to gather the money of folks who want to spend two hours watching anything with special effects. Does Michael Moore, for instance, merely wish to entertain folks with war stories for an hour or so, or does he wish to persuade? Does the Terminator wish to promote serious thinking about international relations & the time/space continuum, or is he content to blow things up? We have both/and in the film industry. The comparison ian makes is clever, but maybe not altogether accurately reflecting what the medium is about, and the varieties of film makers that are out there.
While the original poster to whom ian is replying used the term “convert” (a word with built in baggage), I suggest that it would not be unfair to say that the film offers to “persuade”; some films do, implicitly or explicitly. Is there an intentional effort at persuasion to a certain point of view? If so, a] what is that point of view; b] what are the merits of that point of view?
blessings
Inclined to agree with Joe – also, King Kong and Big Momma, really!! The “Bad Boys” films made it cool to shoot people and not care about the consequences; “40 Year Old Virgin” implies that you are a complete freak if you have been pure for 40 years of your life – there is a life perspective that is going to be skewed in the production of ANY film, Brokeback Mountain included – because it is only through Jesus that we can have life to the full – not, as in Brokeback Mountain, have your cake and eat it – also, regardless of the gay thing, the film encourages us to think sympathetically about those who commit adultery.