Da Vinci Code Again and Again...

Shirleypal · Post by **Shirleypal** » 05-23-2006 06:15 PM

nitenative there have been a number of interracial movies made in the past, A Patch of Blue, Look Who's Coming to Dinner to name a couple, if a movie of this type was made today no one would give it a second look and highly doubt it would be a good movie, mixed marriage is pretty mainstream today. Brokeback Mountain is a great movie just the way it is.

nitenative · Post by **nitenative** » 05-24-2006 01:08 AM

Shirleypal wrote: nitenative there have been a number of interracial movies made in the past, A Patch of Blue, Look Who's Coming to Dinner to name a couple, if a movie of this type was made today no one would give it a second look and highly doubt it would be a good movie, mixed marriage is pretty mainstream today. Brokeback Mountain is a great movie just the way it is.

Shirleypal, I think you just proved my point. When Look Who's Coming to Dinner it was quite the rage and the social consensus of this movie thought it had more importance than history has subsequently proven it to have. It was a purely topic drive/issue driven film. Patch of Blue, however, has held up better. It is a very clever movie through the device of the girl's blindness making possible her interaction, in that time, with a man who is not of her race. Another forbidden love story. A good one!
In fact, I think that, over time, Brokeback Mountain will take its place among good movies -- topic drive, yes! -- but actually will be seen as obviously far, far better a topic movie than Look Who's Coming to Dinner.

Can we compare Brokeback Mountain with Boys Don't Cry? Both excellent movies. Both about underrepresented populations in our society. Both hailed as great movies when they came out. Just a question for thought....

Shirleypal · Post by **Shirleypal** » 05-24-2006 09:33 AM

I don't think I proved your point at all, you cannot compare Brokeback with these movies at all, they are noy about homosexuality.
Brokeback Mountain should be critiqued on its own merits, I assume you have read Joe's wonderful thread about this.

showthread.php?s=&threadid=20847

nitenative · Post by **nitenative** » 05-24-2006 07:25 PM

Shirleypal wrote: I don't think I proved your point at all, you cannot compare Brokeback with these movies at all, they are noy about homosexuality.
Brokeback Mountain should be critiqued on its own merits, I assume you have read Joe's wonderful thread about this.

showthread.php?s=&threadid=20847

This is an interesting debate. You say that Brokeback should be critiqued on its own merit. However, there is not a work of art in the world that is simply critiqued on its own merit. Each product of every artist is valued and critiqued as it stands in the line along with all other works of art that came before and come after it, throughout history.

You say "...you cannot compare Brokeback with these movies at all, they are not about homosexuality." To follow this logic, critics would have to confine themselves to comparing mafia films with mafia films (i.e. The Godfather), Nazi films with Nazi films, political films with political films, etc....

However, didn't we agree that Brokeback was about so much more than the topic of homosexuality - ? Didn't we agree that it is actually about the theme of forbidden love along with (my point of) being able to live our truth? this is much bigger than sexual orientation. Therefore, we ought to be able to compare Brokeback to other films that also have the same themes.

I was looking over some lists of what the world's critics have seen as the top 1,000 movies ever made. (I know there are different lists out there. I'll post a link on the next post down of the one I was looking at....) not one film on this lists could be defined as great because of the specific issue or period of history or socio-political situation the characters found themselves in at the time. Each film could be lifted out of their contemporary time period and set somewhere else, with a different set of circumstances and the same themes of each film would remain intact.

I know that Brokeback Mountain is a very powerful and personal film for so many. I bow to and acknowledge that fact. However, my big comment about the Brokeback phenomenon is that it has been credited as being a great movie mostly because it is about homosexuality - and I take the position that this is an emotional position and is not a critically objective one.

nitenative · Post by **nitenative** » 05-24-2006 07:43 PM

Website for an interesting list of movies:

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/index.htm

Joolz · Post by **Joolz** » 05-24-2006 11:05 PM

nitenative wrote: However,[/B] didn't we agree that Brokeback was about so much more than the topic of homosexuality - ? Didn't we agree that it is actually about the theme of forbidden love along with (my point of) being able to live our truth?

Um, you were talking to me when you said that. I didn't see Shirleypal agree to anything, and I didn't respond to that post to me, nite.

nitenative · Post by **nitenative** » 05-25-2006 02:02 AM

Joolz wrote: Um, you were talking to me when you said that. I didn't see Shirleypal agree to anything, and I didn't respond to that post to me, nite.

(Very true, Joolz...You are the person who mentioned the theme of forbidden love. Thanks for the attribution correction.)

I'll check back to see if there are any more responses....or maybe this thread is grinding to a halt.

?

Clatu · Post by **Clatu** » 06-17-2006 03:33 PM

Will be going to see Davinci Code this weekend, after all the hype, or lack of it. But, I'm walking myself to a showtime seat for Ron Howard's take on the fiction side of the Davinci Code thought, and not in any comparison to the possibly non-reality.

I'll be breaking out the popcorn and 3.95 drink to try and enjoy Howard's work.
Not after Cast Away, could I put big stock in Saving Private Ryan's Tom Hanks. But I'll go to the movies with a clouded but somewhat closed mind in order to postulate exiting with 'Wow -- that was great' ideal. Open seat available..

Clatu

nitenative · Post by **nitenative** » 06-19-2006 04:24 AM

Post back and let us know what you think...Tom Hanks could be filmed reading a bus schedule and I would probably pay and see him....I'm a sick fan!:(

Clatu · Post by **Clatu** » 07-06-2006 07:28 PM

nitenative wrote: Post back and let us know what you think...Tom Hanks could be filmed reading a bus schedule and I would probably pay and see him....I'm a sick fan!:(

_______________

Hi nitenative and all reading this Forum. Sorry taking this long to get back, but actually I have not gone and seen the film yet. My plans change more often then outdoor temperature.
This coming weekend maybe?

Clatu;)