An Obsessed Narrow View...

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Obviously, if it was about an interior designer and an air steward, that would be an 'angle' also.
 
Right. And Brokeback Mountain was just a love story? There was no agenda whatever in choosing two denizens of one of the most macho professions as the subjects? I seem to recall several commentators that liked the movie suggesting that there was such an agenda and applauding this.

An obsessed narrow view...

Did you see the movie?
 
Obviously, if it was about an interior designer and an air steward, that would be an 'angle' also.

By making them 'macho' cowboys, it creates an extra layer of conflict and a more interesting story arc. Drama! I cant imagine why they would want to make the movie interesting...
 
By making them 'macho' cowboys, it creates an extra layer of conflict and a more interesting story arc. Drama! I cant imagine why they would want to make the movie interesting...

Nah. They just want to make macho men think they could be gay. Or force us to accept two gay men who are still "macho"-whatever that is anymore.
 
First, all art makes some kind of statement. That's what artists do.

Theres a difference in making a statement and having an agenda. I agree that its silly to think that Brokeback Mountain is just a love story. I'd like to think that there was some thought that went into making the leads gay beyond "oh....just because". but to imply an agenda goes a little beyond making a statement
 
Theres a difference in making a statement and having an agenda. I agree that its silly to think that Brokeback Mountain is just a love story. I'd like to think that there was some thought that went into making the leads gay beyond "oh....just because". but to imply an agenda goes a little beyond making a statement

Second, do any of you have any idea what generated the original short story by Annie Proulx?

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She said that she was in a bar in Wyoming and noticed an older man very discreetly checking out the young men in the bar, not the young women. So she decided to write a story about what might have happened in that man's past.

I read that in an interview in the paper when the movie first came out. This Wiki article has a little more information, but not what I just said. Brokeback Mountain (short story) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So the "agenda" to that movie is the art of storytelling, that's all.
 
So the "agenda" to that movie is the art of storytelling, that's all.

Thats kind of what I'm saying. but would you really refer to that as an 'agenda'? An agenda implies something much more ominous. As if shes trying to influence the young farm hands of the world.
 
Talk of agendas (in scare quotes as they probably should be) or 'messages' when it comes to art is a terrible thing, I believe. Tragically, it's not just some audiences but some artists who seem to approach their work in this way.

Story is a force of nature. It may come to carry great resonance for many people, but no writer, artist, musician or filmmaker should ever approach their work with 'I'm going to send the right message/treat a certain issue in a certain way'. That way lies bad art, and there's plenty of it around because a lot of people seem to think that art's role is to inculate society with messages of varying worthiness. As though we're all just receivers. Blank.

That is no comment on Brokeback Mountain, which I have neither read or seen (although I quite like Annie Proulx). But it is most definitely a comment on the art and artist which prompted this thread.
 
I put "agenda" in quotes because I found the whole discussion of the movie and its apparent agenda really dumb.

oh, okay. I'm borderline retarded then, because I thought we were in opposition. good times!
 
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