Both of these essays about movies are writing about the business end of it. Fascinating as it all is, mostly it comes down to people so turned in on themselves, so besotted with their own small circle, that they can't break through to the required "new paradigm." My friend, in the biz, was convinced that "Brokeback Mountain" probably set everyone in Montana on their ears -- shocked them to the core -- caused seismic waves in the culture. Heck. Montana people have known about sheepherders forever. (They aren't usually so pretty.) If you want to go back to tribal people, they were a lot more reasonable about the same thing.

The movie that DID shock the locals was "Jarhead." You canNOT be antimilitary around here. But I'll bet I could go down to Great Falls on a weekday afternoon and spot double-male military couples almost holding hands at pro-military movies.

What a person has to consider if they live someplace besides Hollywood is whether you can afford to be SEEN watching certain movies with certain people. Certainly you would be cautious about what you rented. (What would Cheney think?)

Prairie Mary

Prairie Mary

Posted by: Mary Scriver on January 3, 2006 6:56 PM