Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis is probably wondering why I haven’t commented on Dick Cheney accidentally shooting one of his crones. If it makes you feel better, I did let out a bit of a hoot from my couch when I heard the news on CNN, and I’ve been meaning to blog about it, but the Day Job has had its steely claws firmly around my neck lately, and my more creative endeavors have fallen by the wayside. That said, I do want to take a moment to discuss my favorite class of people, gay men, and my least favorite class of people, Evangelical Christians.
Everyone and their mother are talking about “Brokeback Mountain.” Everyone has an opinion. Here’s what the latest scuttlebutt is all about, though: Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are straight actors playing gay men, right? There’s another film out called “End of the Spear,” and Chad Allen, a gay actor, is playing a straight missionary. No big deal, you would think. Well, geez, conservative Christians are pretty sure this marks the start of the apocalypse.
An evangelical film company, Every Tribe Entertainment, produced the movie. Marcus Yoars, a film critic for Focus on the Family (or as I like to call them, “We forgot to take the pill”) gave “Spear” a rave review. Then some conservative along the way, probably suppressing the hots for Mr. Allen, Googled his name and realized he was gay. Word spread. Now, many Evangelicals felt Chad Allen's presence in the film negated any positive message. Let me just be clear here, I have not seen the movie, but what? Was Chad Allen wearing pastel? How could his personal life possibly mute the movie’s message? Ellen DeGeneras did a movie a few years ago where she played a straight woman. It didn’t ruin the movie for me. The movie ruined the movie for me.
What’s crazy about this is that evangelicals want gays to more or less play straight, suppress their urges and, pardon the pun, act Right.
Of course, Jack and Ennis do that in “Brokeback Mountain,” and their wives are the ones who end up devastated because their husbands prefer bulls to cows. Okay, I’m trying to go with a cowboy theme there, but you know what I mean.
What the evangelicals need to realize is that “Brokeback” is a success, on more levels than just critical or monetary. Straight audiences are watching this movie, and that must irk the evangelicals to no end. It’s time they take out their lassos and go wrestle their own personal demons. They are entitled to their opinions, but I think less and less people will share those opinions, especially if what they are saying is that it’s not okay for a gay actor to play a straight and pious man, but it is okay for a gay man in real life to play a straight and pious man. Now wouldn’t’ that just make him a hypocrite?
