It's so late. I really wanted to reply to this post with something thoughtful because I've seen the movie twice and read the short story about eleven or twelve times by now, and honestly, I also don't understand people who choose to simplify the whole deal that way. I mean...Brokeback Mountain is about so many things, and even the way it is written and structured has so much depth to it. Almost every single word in that story needs to be there because it adds something. And to call the movie "wrong" or "right" just seems ridiculous, as art, in its true form, is supposed to be about neither what is wrong nor right, but about what is true. And truth is so un-PC these days, I think because you really can't control it or change it, it just is.
And nowadays people really have so much more control over so many more facets of their lives. And so many things that couldn't be controlled in the fifties can be controlled now with the flick of a button; and things are known and understood now that were mysteries then. So really, I think it has to do with the technological boom and the push towards science and mathematics that swept the nation and the world right after the fifties. Because with science you do have certain absolutes, and you can almost always get to an answer and then logically explain the way you got there. Often, things are explained in absolutes; there is no ambiguity and everything is pretty black-and-white. And this has proven a very successful recipe for technological progress.
And so, I think, since so many answers have been given, and can be given absolutely, people are beginning to expect absolute answers from every facet of their lives, including ones that don't have absolute answers. We've found a solution for pneumonia; why can't the dichotomy of the human heart be the same way? And then when there is no absolute solution to the problem, people hurry to slap some sort of moral label onto it so that they can feel fulfilled.
Or something like that. It's late, and I've been pondering this for far too long. So that's my two cents right there, badly articulated as it is. Hopefully you can do something with it. XD
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Date: 2006-01-06 08:42 am (UTC)And nowadays people really have so much more control over so many more facets of their lives. And so many things that couldn't be controlled in the fifties can be controlled now with the flick of a button; and things are known and understood now that were mysteries then. So really, I think it has to do with the technological boom and the push towards science and mathematics that swept the nation and the world right after the fifties. Because with science you do have certain absolutes, and you can almost always get to an answer and then logically explain the way you got there. Often, things are explained in absolutes; there is no ambiguity and everything is pretty black-and-white. And this has proven a very successful recipe for technological progress.
And so, I think, since so many answers have been given, and can be given absolutely, people are beginning to expect absolute answers from every facet of their lives, including ones that don't have absolute answers. We've found a solution for pneumonia; why can't the dichotomy of the human heart be the same way? And then when there is no absolute solution to the problem, people hurry to slap some sort of moral label onto it so that they can feel fulfilled.
Or something like that. It's late, and I've been pondering this for far too long. So that's my two cents right there, badly articulated as it is. Hopefully you can do something with it. XD