I do not understand how some straight men can't watch 'Brokeback Mountain"

[Taverner]

I mean it's a fucking LOVE STORY

Doesn't matter that it is about guys, and so what if it is?

Don't you feel the same feelings about love?

Yeah, I'm a crumudgeon when it comes to love.

I think it's just a chemical cocktail.

But that's not saying that it isn't utterly transfixing.

When I first met my wife, there was a connection like I had never experienced with anyone before.

That's how I knew it was what is referred to as "love."

Of course love can sour, love can fade or love can persist.

Such is the intricacies of chaos theory.

But that's love, chaotic raw emotion....

So how could other men not get this?

[MuseRider]

1. It made my husband cry.

It was touching, a lovely but very sad story.

I have no clue Taverner, makes no sense to me at all why they won't watch it.

[Taverner]

2. I cried too...

So many scenes in that tragic movie made me do that...

[MuseRider]

3. Me too.

And it continues to this day. Everyone of those sad scenes are lived by people every day. I don't know what else I can do to try to change it. We are going backwards so fast here in Kansas, and believe me we had little room to move that way, it is making my head spin. Nothing we do is having much effect with the politicians. AND I could go on but I don't want to jack the thread.

I cry pretty easily these days, and find as I get older it is easier to cry. Still, that one was a killer.

I find this thread sweet and touching.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. My husband got "something in his eye" about a half hour in.

And, if you knew my husband, and the upbringing he came from, that was an amazing sight. Even if it was "only allergies".

[MuseRider]

8. Awwww

there are often thingies floating around in theaters that get in your eyes and make them itch

[Moondog]

5. I haven't watched it.

I just don't care for love stories. Period. Full stop.

There are a number of genre out there in film land, and love stories are pretty much at the bottom of the heap for me. Perhaps it's a character flaw, but I just don't have the patience to sit through them.

On the plus side, ladies, I have no real tolerance for sporting events either. Well, maybe the Olympics every decade or so. And, weirdly, sumo - but that is over in seconds. On the whole, however, I just don't have the patience to sit through sporting events either.

I happily participate in both. I just don't like to watch.

[Taverner]

6. OK I understand

read the wikipedia article

It will tell you everything you need to know

[rurallib]

13. Amen Moondog.

I took my wife to it and she loved it. I can't say i hated it. The story wasn't bad, I have just come to hate insipid ( & often very predictable) love stories.

[Denninmi]

7. Well, I haven't seen it, because I don't see many movies.

But of course, I know the premise. And, I seem to recall from the reviews that it was regarded as an excellent and moving film. I think it won an Oscar or two, didn't it?

Honestly, I think most of the aversion to gay issues or situations among many "straight" men is because they were conditioned to believe that all homosexuality was wrong or evil. Therefore, to express any kind of positive sentiments about homosexuality is deemed by many men to be somehow wrong in and of itself. And, the pressure to conform to the old paradigm was and often still is strong, but I'm sure that's something everyone already knows.

I'm straight, but I am certainly not threatened by expressions of emotion or sexuality by members of the gay and lesbian community. I don't know why I should be anything but happy for other people that they are happy. And frankly, unless others invite me into their lives, what they do is their business, and it's not really my place, IMHO, to either approve or disapprove.

And, of course, there are probably many "straight" men who actually aren't, but the haven't ever had the freedom to really be themselves, and many, especially the older ones, actively sought to suppress their own feelings and hide from both society and themselves. And, there was some validity in doing this in the past, as it literally could be life-threatening at many times and places in history to admit that one was gay. I'm just grateful that it's not like that anymore. We seem to be making dramatic progress in just a short time in advancing GLBT rights, which makes me really happy, because GLBT right ARE human rights. Progress benefits us all.

[bluedigger]

9. It doesn't interest me.

I rarely watch any "romances".

Sometimes I'll watch one on the TV if I'm surfing and a pretty actress catches my eye...

I don't think I'd get ill or anything if someone else wanted to watch it, though.

Is it some sort of litmus test now?

[MiddleFingerMom]

10. MFM can certainly empathize.

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[Son of Gob]

11. ...

[MiddleFingerMom]

18. Welcome to DU!!!

[Son of Gob]

20. Thanks MFM!

[Tom Ripley]

12. I don't respond to any Ang Lee film

that I have seen.
He just doesn't do it for me.

[HopeHoops]

14. "It's got them thar homos in cowboy hats and stuff and that's just ain't right"

Note: Rick Perry was in almost the exact same costume as one of the characters not long ago. Same hat, same sort of jacket. And he's seriously homophobic. I really don't understand the mentality of the vocal anti-gay people. If anyone has a problem, it's them, not gays.

[dawg]

15. I didn't like it all that much. I didn't think it was very romantic.

I wanted to see more scenes of them talking about their relationship, sharing hopes and dreams and such. The way the movie portrayed it, the relationship seemed to be primarily about the sex. It may be that I just took it wrong, and perhaps I wasn't in the right frame of mind when I saw the movie, but that was my impression.

Because of my liberal nature (and my foolish, hopeless belief in "true love&quot , I really wanted to love this movie, but it was just alright.

I have a friend who is a little old-fashioned, but also open-minded, and I told her the entire story of the movie the next day. It was funny, because I expected her to disapprove, but she was going along just fine until I mentioned the sex scene with Anne Hathaway. That was the only thing that bothered her. She was fine with the sex between the two men, but did *not* like the idea of "going back and forth" between men and women. Not that I think she would be judemental towards bisexuals, I just think she hated that aspect of the story.

[Myrina]

17. ... but that's what makes it such a heartbreaker ...

.. they COULDN"T be romantic. Or think about 'a future and hopes and dreams' because everything they ever knew about life prepared them for 'hopes and dreams and a future' with a WIFE (of the opposite gender) ... not that it's ok to love whomever you happen to love ... so they were like 'i'm attracted to you/i love you but WTF this isn't how it's "supposed" to be' .... star-crossed lovers, as it were.

[dawg]

19. The only scene that really got to me was the jacket.

As for all the rest, I felt like I really had to use my imagination in order to get a feeling for what the characters felt on the inside. And maybe that was the director's point, that these two cowboys didn't really have what it took to be outwardly emotional towards each other. But it still left me a little cold. I wear my heart on my sleeve in a relationship, and I guess I wanted to see more of that from at least one of the leading men.

I still thought it was a good movie, just not great.

[Taverner]

21. The movie is about guys. Guys, just don't do that.

"I can't quit you" is about the most you'll get out of Those two.

[MrScorpio]

16. I Just Can't Quit You, Taverner nt