Does anyone else see the rank hypocrisy on the part of Frank Rich?
He says that the success of Brokeback Mountain proves that society is ready to accept gays and that within 5 yrs gay marriage wil be a reality and that this just shows how intolerant and out of the mainstream the religious right is, etc...
Well, Brokeback I predict, will max out at 50M at most and probably much less than that.Meanwhile, "The Passion of the Christ", the film that Rich spent the better part of a year bashing, to the point where he write something like 50 consecutive columns on it, made close to 400M domestically and 600M+ worldwide and over 1B when you add in DVDs and ancillary revenue.
But you never saw Rich write a column about how the overwhelming success of the Passion showed how Rich and his NY intelligentsia is out of touch with mainstream society or how they just don't get what the common man does.
If anything, the success of The Passion relative to Brokeback, not to mention the overwhelming success of the marriage initiatives in the 15 or so states they've had them shows that Rich is the one who's out to lunch.Brokeback is a film that has a niche audience and will appeal to the highbrow, liberal, urban crowd that saw Good Night, Good Luck and other liberal movies.
They say gays make up 2-3% of the population with those with gay feelings or inclinatoins making up another 3-5%. That means there's at least 15-20M Americans that are gay or have had gay thoughts or "experiemented". When you add in the liberal crowd, that's more than enough to make Brokeback a decent success. But it doesn't mean anything as far as some wider statement goes.
Also, the sex in Brokeback is stylized and the gay aspect isn't really focused on that much. Compare it to how guy/girl love/sex is treated in most movies and it isn't even close. Most of the sex in Brokeback is implied and off screen. They show a kiss and some fooling around, but nothing really controversial.When they make a movie where Jake and Heath have numerous open mouth kisses, where you see them fondling each other in states of undress, and any of the other things you'd see in your avg hetero love/sex scene or romance, then let me know.
Of course, Brokeback will sweep the Oscars and win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. That just means that Hollyowod is pushing the smae liberalism it pushed with the Euthanasia in M$Baby and other awards where it tries to make a statement.
The public is the real bellweather, though. It's the public that made hits out of films like The Passion, LOTR, SpiderMan, Star Wars, Shrek, Jurassic Park, etc... It's always the family friendly and the traditional values friendly films that will do the best at the box ofice.
He says that the success of Brokeback Mountain proves that society is ready to accept gays and that within 5 yrs gay marriage wil be a reality and that this just shows how intolerant and out of the mainstream the religious right is, etc...
Well, Brokeback I predict, will max out at 50M at most and probably much less than that.Meanwhile, "The Passion of the Christ", the film that Rich spent the better part of a year bashing, to the point where he write something like 50 consecutive columns on it, made close to 400M domestically and 600M+ worldwide and over 1B when you add in DVDs and ancillary revenue.
But you never saw Rich write a column about how the overwhelming success of the Passion showed how Rich and his NY intelligentsia is out of touch with mainstream society or how they just don't get what the common man does.
If anything, the success of The Passion relative to Brokeback, not to mention the overwhelming success of the marriage initiatives in the 15 or so states they've had them shows that Rich is the one who's out to lunch.Brokeback is a film that has a niche audience and will appeal to the highbrow, liberal, urban crowd that saw Good Night, Good Luck and other liberal movies.
They say gays make up 2-3% of the population with those with gay feelings or inclinatoins making up another 3-5%. That means there's at least 15-20M Americans that are gay or have had gay thoughts or "experiemented". When you add in the liberal crowd, that's more than enough to make Brokeback a decent success. But it doesn't mean anything as far as some wider statement goes.
Also, the sex in Brokeback is stylized and the gay aspect isn't really focused on that much. Compare it to how guy/girl love/sex is treated in most movies and it isn't even close. Most of the sex in Brokeback is implied and off screen. They show a kiss and some fooling around, but nothing really controversial.When they make a movie where Jake and Heath have numerous open mouth kisses, where you see them fondling each other in states of undress, and any of the other things you'd see in your avg hetero love/sex scene or romance, then let me know.
Of course, Brokeback will sweep the Oscars and win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. That just means that Hollyowod is pushing the smae liberalism it pushed with the Euthanasia in M$Baby and other awards where it tries to make a statement.
The public is the real bellweather, though. It's the public that made hits out of films like The Passion, LOTR, SpiderMan, Star Wars, Shrek, Jurassic Park, etc... It's always the family friendly and the traditional values friendly films that will do the best at the box ofice.
posted by SarahWeddington | 8:33 PM
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