“Brokeback Mountain” & “Call Me By Your Name”: How Two Stories Changed History
In a modern world in which intercommunication is at the tip of a finger, ideas can be shared, understood, and implemented in the blink of an eye. The world’s current accessibility has allowed societal opinion to change rapidly, with external influences on culturally sensitive topics. Without this communication, we would not be nearly so intellectually connected and advanced a global community as we are now, though we still have a long way to go. One of the greatest ways to have documented that societal journey has been through media. Since the first film was created in 1888, people have narrated, entertained, and shared ideas with one another through their art: film. Film has been used to tell stories to the
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Though it is a national shame to have citizens fighting to be treated equally even still today, with great struggles come great narratives. In the recent years of queer activism and violence, film and media has really flourished in telling the stories of those queer voices, as well as inspiring art for the masses, queer or straight. In more recent years, Hollywood has seen a rise in queer-centric cinema as cries for inclusion grow. Two extremely notable films in this category of politicized queer media is “Brokeback Mountain” (a 2005 film by Ang Lee) and “Call Me By Your Name” (a 2017 film directed by Luca Guadagnino.) Both these films were based off another text, (either a novel or short story) and both went on to win the Best Adaptive Screenplay Award at that year's Oscars. Based on the 2007 novel of the same name by André Aciman, “Brokeback Mountain” stars Jake Gyllenhall and the late Heath Ledger, telling the story of Jack and Ennis’ secret romance as they herd sheep in the mountains of 1960’S Wyoming. This film never shies away from describing the environment these two men were in during
“The biggest mistake we have made is to consider that films are primarily a form of entertainment. The film is the greatest medium since the invention of movable type for exchanging ideas and information, and it is no more at its best in light entertainment than literature is at its best in the light novel.” - Orson Welles
First, I applaud the movie for daring to tell a story that nobody else presumed creating. Even in 2005, this was a pretty prohibited thing to discuss. To its credit, the movie follows the original story fairly close, but a details were left out that made all the difference.
Joel and Ethan Coen are one of the most well-known and successful director duos in Hollywood. Winning multiple Oscars and having their cult classics such as The Big Lebowski chosen to be preserved in the Library of congress’ personal collection have caused them to become better know as “the Coen brothers”. While the Coen brothers are know for creating movies that span a large array of genres from comedies to dramas and even westerns some of the small but noticeable similarities include their distinct editing style, recurring actors, and the setting of all of their films being in the United States. By doing this it is evident that the Coen brothers have created a mythical version of the United States in their films that appears very similar but is ever so slightly different from the real world.
Today, American film is among the most internationally supported commodities. Financially, its contributions are enormous: the industry is responsible for the circulation of billions of dollars each year. Since its explosion into the new media markets during the mid-twentieth century, film has produced consistently growing numbers of viewers and critics alike. Sparking debate over the nature of its viewing, film is now being questioned in social, political, and moral arenas for its potential impact on an audience. Critics claim that watching films is a passive activity in which the viewer becomes subconsciously absorbed, and creates a reliance or "addiction" to the medium, and thus
Beeban Kidron discusses how we are all storytellers. Our text defines culture as “a learned meaning system that consists of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, meanings and symbols that are passed on from one generation to the next” (Ting-Toomey & Chung, p. 16). According to Kidron, our cultural identity is created from the narratives of our ancestors. Kidron was concerned that the youth of today did not have a “communality of experience.” Due to technology and the fact that film is the “20th century’s most influential art form” the “FILMCLUB” began in hopes that students would become interculturally competent. Not only have they found that the young people who are participating have become more engaged and inspired, but they have seen “measurable improvements in behavior, confidence, and academic achievement.”
Films and movies hold much than we can guess, they reveal a lot of vices and rots that are happening in society. Others give a history of a particular society, its beliefs, culture and their standard of living in the society. Films are used to disclose the social responsibilities in a given season and customs, moral values, societal worries and other cultural practices.
Marshall McLuhan says, “The medium is the message”. The way media represent the message can have huge impact on people’s everyday life. According to Korstanje Maximiliano (2012) “Movies, films and documental TV programs not only reflect the gaze of directors and players, but also the mind of whole society. Social anthropology discovered from many years ago that movies are associated to the construction of narratives and archetypes which exerts considerable influence in public opinion.” Movies and TV episodes could quietly and deeply influence people’s mind and people were hard to control it.
The Escapism and the Fragile Illusion When people talk about the movie Brokeback Mountain, the first impression associating with it must be the homosexuality of the lead characters. As a phenomenal and controversial movie in 2005, it is an adoption of Annie Proulx’s short story about the forbidden love between two cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist under the background of the conservative Wyoming in the 1960s. However, the Brokeback Mountain discusses concepts beyond romance, as Ang Lee, the director of the movie, stresses, “Everyone has a Brokeback Mountain deep in mind”. In his interpretation, Brokeback mountain symbolizes a wonderland where people can completely withdraw from the hardship of real life, which is enticing but unrealistic.
In sum, to be effective the message needs movement, color, and human influence. The viewer must feel that they are an active part in the data in order to feel most connected to it. Similarly, this is the case in the viral video messaging and film of today’s world. Kostelnick may not have mentioned film in his essay, but he doesn’t have to directly say it to point out to us just how we can make data consumption a more engaging, empathy-inspired action by pulling from the ways of
Leavitt answers the question of whether Brokeback Mountain is Hollywood’s first gay love story by stating “The answer – in a very positive sense, I think – is yes to the love story, no to the gay.” Now, Leavitt goes on to explain more about the film and why he does not consider it a gay film. He pieces together criteria to sort of form his
The film genre of the Western has long since proven to be more about the conflict and showdowns that occur in the storyline. Usually the western genre incorporates traditional western motifs and icons and adheres to those common plot structures of the genre, but Brokeback Mountain is different from what is to be normally expected because it does not seem like a traditional and conventional Western film at all. Brokeback Mountain has several different twists to it, like the more modern take on it – traditionally, characters in Western films were riding horses, but because Brokeback Mountain is a more modern movie, the two characters Jack and Ennis are seen traveling in cars and trucks most of the time. This alteration is very
Today, Film and Television are among the most internationally supported commodities. Financially, their contributions are enormous: both industries are responsible for the circulation of billions of dollars each year. Since their respective explosions into the new media markets during the mid-twentieth century, film and television have produced consistently growing numbers of viewers and critics alike. Sparking debate over the nature of their viewing, film and television are now being questioned in social, political, and moral arenas for their potential impact on an audience. Critics claim that watching films or television is a passive activity in which the viewer becomes subconsciously
Film is one of the most influential means of communication and a powerful medium of
In an Article by Ralph Roughton (2014) he argues that Brokeback Mountain is more than an cinematic success. An overdue social discussion about gender,sexuality, love and homophobia is sparked through the film. THe gender aspect being how cowboys are an iconic symbol of masculinity. The fact that there are two cowboys in a secret love affair, the mere fact that they’re in love to begin with challenges the male normative in society. “Challenging the assumption that being attracted to another man unmans you—that you cannot both want a man and be a man” (Roughton 2014).
Developed economies are called creative or knowledge economies, while developing countries still rely on natural and agriculture resources. Most of them have very undeveloped media industry, furthermore, around one-third of countries in the world don’t produce and film at all, according to UNESCO [7]. A 2004 UNDP report [8] stated that “unequal economic and political power of countries, industries and corporation cause some cultures to spread, others to wither”. Because of the strong correlation between economic development and media production we will hear voices of underrepresented cultures only when they get more economic power.