Last night's Oscar telecast was, as is typical, sometimes dull and sometimes funny. This year I actually took the time to watch parts of it because I had not seen one of the movies up for awards, and did not even know the plots of some of them. Assuming that the clips that would be shown would be selected to highlight the best aspects of the film, to entice Middle America to go to the show, I paid attention.
Brokeback Mountain is hysterically funny, based on the segment that I saw last night. Mr. Ledger's character came across as mildly mentally handicapped in his delivery of a few lines. Sometimes dialogue that works in a story, a part of a larger picture that includes the character's inner workings, does not translate well on screen.
The cowboys I have met do not fit the John Wayne stereotype, but that is the stereotype that was used. Somehow, using a stereotype to break away from another stereotype makes the whole thing lean towards parody rather than serious stuff. Listening to Mr. Ledger ponder 'this thing' made me chuckle. He sounded like the partner's second cousin, the one who was always described as being 'a little slow.'
Rather than sit in a movie theater, laughing, I'll read the short story. Annie Proulx can show better than Heath Ledger can tell - and that's a lesson for any budding novelist.
2 comments:
Hey, I'm about to send a query to Michelle Andelman at Andrea Brown Literary, too. I Googled her name and found your site.
What kind of stuff do you write?
Ah, now, the question is, what don't I write.
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