 The Western genre, and the Frontier Myth on which it is built, are of great significance for American identity. For decades, cowboys have served as American icons with their tough masculinity and keen sense of right and wrong in films such as Henry Ford's Stagecoach (1939), Fred Zinnemann's High Noon (1952), John Sturges' Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), and more recently James Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma (2007). The good-bad dichotomy is a well-known characteristic of the classical American Western and generally there seems to be a fairly fixed set of good features such as being on the right side of the law, sticking to social norms, showing confidence and strength, and being an honest, reticent, and modest cowboy; similarly a fairly fixed set of bad features generally includes being on the wrong side of the law, practicing villainy, being emotional and effeminate, and exuding weakness, deceit, and greed in relation to society. Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (2005), which is adapted from Annie Proulx's short story published in 1997, contains some of the traits of the popular American Western as it plays on some of the traditional elements which characterise the genre. The two main characters Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) both appear to be rough and masculine cowboys set against the scenery of the Wild West. However, it soon becomes clear that there is something lying beneath the surface of the two horse-riding, whisky-drinking, and cigarette-smoking 'good' cowboys. The two nineteen-year old men meet each other in the summer of 1963 where they are going to work as sheep-herders in Brokeback Mountain, Wyoming. During the summer out in the wilderness, the two young men fall in love and let go of their limiting restraints. When the summer is over, the two men, convinced that neither of them is 'queer', split and return to their respective lives near Riverton and Texas and both marry and start a family. After four years however, they realise that they still love each other and they meet again. This will be the start of recurring 'fishing trips' to Brokeback Mountain until 1983 when Jack dies in a mysterious accident. By displaying a love affair between two male cowboys, the film Brokeback Mountain presents an altered type of the cherished American icon. Before this film, no Western had dared to question the cowboy's sexuality this explicitly: that the true and admirable cowboy ready to cope with the harsh conditions and great challenges of the Wild West could be anything but heterosexual. In this light, it becomes clear that one more distinct opposition in the good-bad dichotomy can be added: it is good to be heterosexual whereas it is bad to be homosexual. That homosexuality is a bad thing to display in the Wild West can be seen on the inside of the film's own universe, but also on the outside of the film's setting as the film got a mixed response when it was released in December 2005. Society as an Evil Force While facing the challenges of rough, wild nature, finding your true identity clearly does not mean that you can carelessly redefine the traditional concept of 'brotherhood'. It is better to remain hard as a bone than to show any weaknesses, i.e. bad traits, out in the Wild West, because otherwise you will be doomed. And after their first meeting, Ennis and Jack are indeed doomed. Ennis, who has a lot in common with the classical, taciturn, lonely rider, is completely controlled by a traumatic childhood experience where a homosexual man from his district was exposed and violently castrated by his neighbours. It has made him concerned about homosexuality and it makes him paranoid:
Ennis has been thoroughly socialised by the norms of the homophobic society. Jack, who finds it harder to repress his sexuality than the pent-up Ennis, is symbolically sacrificed at the end of the film. When Jack's wife Lureen lets Ennis know that Jack has died in a mysterious accident, Ennis imagines that he was brutally murdered by homophobes similar to the ones who had tortured the homosexual neighbour in Ennis' childhood. Society is thus filled with contempt for sexual outcasts. It is rigid and severe towards any changes. The fact that Annie Proulx herself has called Brokeback Mountain 'a story about destructive rural homophobia' [1] indicates that Ennis and Jack are not the real villains in this set. Proulx has additionally stated about her two male characters:
Ennis and Jack want to be traditional hard-as-a-bone cowboys and fit into the norms of society, but they cannot. As opposed to traditional cowboys, the two of them cannot suppress their inner feelings and they cannot live up to the required norms of individuality; they need each other too much. They want to do good, being on the right side of the common norms, but the conventional society forces the two of them to do bad by making them escape into the wilderness and fulfil their needs. So who is the true villain? The vital question is whether good can actually exist in an environment that does not accept differences in others. Ennis and Jack are basically both decent people, who try to stick to the common patterns of society by marrying two beautiful wives, having children, and earning their living as respectable people, but they are trapped in a dilemma created by society itself and thus forced to do bad, i.e. commit adultery, lie, and hurt those around them. An Attack on the Traditional Western Therefore, it was not only on the screen that Ennis and Jack's behaviour was met with contempt. Annie Proulx doubted that her story would ever make it to the screen as "it was too sexually explicit for presumed mainstream tastes, the general topic of homophobia was a hot potato unless gingerly skirted."[4] When the story did make it to the screen, viewers were forced to reconsider their rather hidebound understanding of the true cowboy. It clearly seemed to be about time to loosen up on the traditional good-bad dichotomy. Even though the critics labelled Brokeback Mountain as a 'gay-cowboy' story, it is not just a story about homosexuality but also about love, identity, and current, burning issues, 'hot potatoes' in American society. | ||
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