On Brokeback Mountain ― Meditations About Masculinity, Fear, and Love in the Story and the Film

The two versions of Brokeback Mountain are significant for taking readers and audiences inside the perspectives of men who love men, showing what physical and emotional passion and hostility toward that passion may be like for them. The story and the film help in understanding the many men who love men and who don't fit stereotypes of gay men or participate in the gay/queer worlds of urbacademic communities, especially men in rural areas and in working class contexts. On Brokeback Mountain: Meditations About Masculinity, Fear, and Love in the Story and the Film examines the presentation of friendship, sex, and love between men in Brokeback Mountain, as well as the depiction of homophobia and its effects on men who love men and their families. It relates the story and the film to the literary tradition of the homoerotic pastoral, the literary/movie tradition of the Western, and the tradition of the tragic romantic love story.

Eric Patterson is Associate Professor of American studies and American literature at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.