|
from Social Issues
Essayists Review
Themes In 'Brokeback Mountain'
January 19, 2006 -
A psychiatrist who treats individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions and the
president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary have recently discussed
the cultural implications of "Brokeback Mountain," a story about two married
cowboys who engage in a homosexual relationship.
In his essay, "Sexual Confusion and the End of Friendship," Dr. Albert Mohler
observes that this film "presents the homosexual romance as a relationship to be
admired -- insinuating that if our society could be freed of its hang-ups about
homosexuality, these two could have gone on to live together happily ever
after."
Mohler points to an essay by English Professor Anthony Esolen, on the corrosive
effect of male homosexual relationships on the value of non-sexual friendships
among males. Writing in Touchstone magazine (September 2005), Esolen accuses
pansexualists of corrupting words like love, friend, male, and female in order
to normalize sexual confusion and to impose their social agendas upon the rest
of us.
According to Esolen, films like "Brokeback Mountain" corrupt the relationships
between straight men and boys. Healthy male friendships become suspect if there
is genuine non-sexual love involved. Mohler notes: "Normal, non-sexual,
fraternal friendships among men now come under suspicion. This is especially
true for teenage boys and young men, who are less secure about their manhood and
more concerned about their own -- and their peers' -- sexual identity."
Mohler believes "The normalization of homosexuality destroys the natural order
of friendships among men."
Psychiatrist Yale Kramer, writing in "'Brokeback Mountain' and the Romance of
Gayness," points out that "Brokeback Mountain's" author, Annie Proulx admits
that her story is an examination of "country homophobia in the land of the Great
Pure Noble Cowboy." Kramer believes that
Proulx's three failed marriages evidence hostility to men -- especially men who
live by "white masculine values."
Kramer notes that in the movie, every "masculine" man is portrayed as a crude,
drunken, violent fool. "It's a story that hates men -- fathers in particular,"
says Kramer.
Kramer, who has treated men with unwanted same-sex attractions, says that Proulx
has no understanding of male psychology or of the promiscuity of homosexual
males. He says, "This romantic model [of gay males] is as phony as the old
cowboy model but what is important is that it serves the political aims of gay
activists -- currently gay marriage."
He asserts that three percent of gay male relationships are stable,
well-adjusted relationships, but the remainder are characterized by highly
unstable relationships and dangerous sexual practices. These include bareback
riding, gift-giving of the AIDS virus; bug chasing, and other dangerous
activities, "none of which would fit the romance of gayness."
As far as homophobia is concerned, Kramer notes that FBI statistics indicate
that between 1995 and 2004, there were between two and six homosexuals killed
each year in hate crimes. "But," says Kramer, "strangely enough we hear very
little outcry and protest when you look into the number of deaths of male
homosexuals caused by AIDS -- 10,000 in any year. Such facts do not contribute
to the romance of gayness."
Updated: 9 April 2008
|
