The Gay Cowboy Movie

The mainstream media* has its shorts in a knot raving about the gay cowboy movie. Lawsy, I think Life or Look or one of those purty picture magazines wrote about gay truck drivers about 20 years ago, and I don't recall anyone getting the vapors over that. But the New York Times on Sunday ran two long articles on this topic--one in the entertainment section on the movie, and one in the travel or leisure (or whatever section) on the "real" gay cowboys.

Here's the quote of the month--or year--for the NYT. "The shape of masculinity is narrow." Yup, men can be tall or short, sourpuss or friendly, tenor or bass, complex or narrow, sober or drunk, artistic or vacuous, strong or weak, professors or farmers, computer nerds or retail clerks, bartenders or mechanics, architects or plumbers, brilliant or retarded, but if they are 95% heterosexual, they are "narrow." Breaks your heart, doesn't it?

On the other hand, gay men can be hairdressers, librarians, designers, artists, musicians, or even unfaithful lawyer husbands bringing home diseases never intended for a woman's private parts--but we're supposed to feel sorry for them and admire their bravery at being photographed along a fence post for a story in the NYT about their plight as cowboys. Plus, some of the these guys having sex with men don't consider themselves homosexuals. Word play.

Oh please. If there was ever a reason to stay home and not pay $7 to see a movie, this maudlin tear jerky paen to gays in blue jeans and stetsons would be it. I hope it bombs or we'll be subjected to a hundred imitations that will.

Ditto for love stories about a big ape and a blonde.

*I used to use the acronym, MSM, then found out it also means men having sex with men, so it seemed a little, well, reduntant for this article.

Films
Brokeback Mountain
New York Times