Ride him cowboy!

Finally saw "Brokeback Mountain." What a fabulous film. Totally worth seeing. The cinematography is amazing, the acting is incredible, the script is excellent. Although there is not as much, nor as explicit, hot gay man-on-man action as I would have liked, probably some of you would consider that a good thing. Still, it's definitely a romance movie.

So I got to thinking about romance movies, because I have a grand total of one in my Netflix queue and it's "Pride and Prejudice," the new one with Keira Knightly (meh, I think she's gorgeous but conventional) and Matthew McFayden (hot MI-5 guy, I particularly appreciated his unwaxed back that was on display in the episode with the IRA guy, I mean, that's confidence) and I was thinking to myself — gosh, every time I read P&P or watch some permutation of it I have to think historically. Because the kind of sacrifice the audience needs to be aware of on Darcy's part, the kind of social pressures on Lizzie, are just so alien to today's world. If romance movies are boring and cheesy, I'm not saying it's the fau lt of feminism for giving women the freedom of choices about their lives — careers, family planning, marriage, etc. — but there's just no story line anyone can buy that articificially keeps hetero lovers apart.

So the gay romance movie is about the only outlet for a truly ROMANTIC movie. That is where the tension and angst is. All of society is clutching at pearls at the gay thing, the parents can be horrified, people can truly be upset. There are actual obstacles for the protagonists to overcome.

The other romantic aspect that I really liked about BBM is that it addressed class issues. The working class is where dramatic tension lives, people. Screw the lifestyle porn that passes for the contemporary romance movie, with the pottery barn furniture, the La Perla undies and the distressed, glassed-in dishware cabinets near airy breakfast nooks. And screw the magazine editrixes, music industry reps, ad agency execs, lawyers and would-be politicians that litter the romcom landscapes. No, it is the working class — the loggers, longshoremen, diner waitresses, truckers and trailer park managers — that are the repository of the torpor and lack of mobility that makes for obstacles, not those mobile telecommuters.

So, to recap, hot men doing it: Yes. Social stigma makes for good romantic obstacles: Yes. The limited life choices of the working class as repository of the sort of life that prevents one from up and going to SF where there are lots of well-paying jobs and out men in leprechaun bondage gear (hey, I'm assuming it's an acquired taste, and no it's not mine, I just watch the gay pride parades) (also read the same for interracial relationships) as a good way to keep the romantic energy and obstacles going: Yes.