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Wed | February 08, 2006

brokeback mountain

I saw Brokeback Mountain, finally, on Monday night. I was surprised it was paced so slowly and deliberately. Hollywood is usually accelerated and abbreviated. I think Brokeback was conceived and produced as a smaller film that got distributed widely. Or something.

I was surprised it was so mellow. It was like the story I wrote recently that everyone said was flat, that it did not arc, where it should have. I am aware that my story does not have a high sense of conflict. I don't know what to do about it.

Brokeback was okay. I wasn't expecting anything in particular, though I thought it would be better, more intense, more insightful, than it was. It wasn't bad but it wasn't sooo great either. All in all, though, I liked it, and thought it was good.

It isn't good to read reviews before you go to the movie, which I couldn't help but do for Brokeback. It ruins some of the experience because you've seen it before in your head. You know what's going to happen. And in Brokeback, not a lot happens, and so there is even less left after you already know the plot points.

I can't help but wonder if a resistance to conflict and preference for an even keel is cultural. Maybe conventions like "protagonist vs. antagonist" and "rising action --> climax --> falling action" are advantageous to a type of mind that I simply don't have. Then again, they say you must learn the rules before you can break them, so I suppose I must try. I am trying.

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