Friday, March 10, 2006

Brokeback Mountain - Reaction Paper

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE CORRECTIONS: Del Mar instead of Keith (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist instead of Jake (Jake Gyllenhaal)….
This movie is really great and it deserves the 7 Golden Globe Awards! It’s typically about two males falling for each other. And for those who are wondering, NO! This movie is not a sex-flick or something. This movie has great intellectual content and must be approached with logic. Brokeback Mountain is the place where our two lead characters, Jack and Keith, meet and work together as sheepherders or shepherds. This is where the forces of nature take over them both. They start to fall for each other and boom they have sex. The situation was also conducive for the act to occur because it was cold in the mountains and they only have a tent and a few blankets to warm them. They had to huddle close together to share precious body heat. I don’t know if any of them was gay or bisexual. In my understanding a gay is someone who is only attracted to the same sex and even wishes to become a female and that they don’t have any interest in females. Bisexuals on the other hand or the “double-blades” can be attracted to both male and female. But as the story progresses, we find out that our characters get married. But I can say that Jake is the one who is more prone to be the gay or more female partner because he was the one who started everything. Jake seduced Keith and was even the one who wants to really start a relationship with Keith. Keith on the other hand is very reserved or more appropriately described as discreet because he also loves Jake as shown by his great excitement when after 4 years they have parted ways he heard from Jake. Keith even cried and even broke down when he and Jake parted ways. It was the year 1969 and homosexual love was after all not yet accepted by society and the guilty parties of breaking the mores of society are killed or dehumanized by many hate crimes.
But even if they were both gay, or if Jake was the only one who was gay, we cannot help but think why this strange happening could happen. What causes one to be gay or bisexual? As I’ve learned in my psychology class, homosexuality and it’s derivatives (eg bisexuality) is caused by heredity and/or the environment. But I believe that it is both nature and nurture that causes this. And it is not considered as a disorder or as abnormal by psychologists and sociologists because it has already become a natural occurring phenomenon and homosexuality could be traced even way before and some great men are homosexuals like Napoleon Bonaparte.
Please also take note that it is a scientific proven fact that love is not exclusive to the heterosexual. I am not saying this because I am a supporter of the homosexuals and neither am I their persecutor. I’m just writing this as a sort of reaction/reflection paper for the great movie that I am proud to have watched.
But I must say that I condemn those people who are disrespectful to the homosexuals or those who persecute them. We must be compassionate and understanding that some of them did not wish to be homosexual but as I said their nurturing and environment formed them to who they are right now. And I believe that being straight or being a heterosexual does not make us superior to the homosexuals. I really hate it when some people especially the uneducated males who often harass homosexuals and treat them as if they are lower beings as compared to them. I believe that there is no scale for measuring the worth of the person because every person has worth but in this case I could say that the uneducated prejudiced males and even some females are lesser beings if they don’t use their logic or if they aren’t compassionate because I believe that intelligence and emotions are the two things that sets us apart from the common beasts of the earth.

I Wish I Could Quit You
“I wish I could quit you,” said Jake when he and Keith were fighting at Brokeback Mountain. They were both unhappy with the way things are happening because Jake wants to settle down with Keith but Keith is unable to decide what he wants in life, Jake or the “normal” life with a woman as a partner. But we can say that Jake and Keith do love each other. What they have is not just a sexual fling or just a way to receive sexual pleasure because if that is what they both are after they can get that anytime they wanted to. Jake with all his money could just drive down to Mexico and buy himself a prostitute while Keith could sleep with any woman he wanted. But this is not the case because the relationship that they both have goes beyond mere companionship or call of the flesh. They both loved each other.
It really struck me when Jake said the lines, “I wish I could quit you…” because by experience I also have felt this. This line is not for the homosexual love alone, in fact there is no difference between homosexual love and heterosexual love. The only difference is that having a homosexual type of relationship would literally mean “you and me against the world” because society is against this (well the close-minded people at least). If you really love someone it is hard to just forget that person even if you are already being crushed. But I’d write about this in another topic. Let’s go back to Keith and Jake.

A Happy Life
I believed that if Keith only followed his heart then he would have lived a happy life with Jake and he wouldn’t be living all alone right now. And Jake wouldn’t have met an accident if he didn’t keep on drinking to forget Keith. I know that I am committing the fallacy “hypothesis contrary to fact” but this is what I believe would be the outcome of they only followed their hearts.
Maybe the lesson that the movie is trying to convey is that one, love is not for the heterosexual alone. Second, we must follow our hearts because we might just regret our foolish mistake of leaving the one we really love.

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