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/lp/university-of-illinois-press/they-d-kill-us-if-they-knew-transgression-and-the-western-wsUoeS1Z3t
- Publisher
- University of Illinois Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © University of Illinois Press
- ISSN
- 1934-6018
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
"They'd Kill Us if They Knew": Transgression and the Western1 sue brower a film that touched audiences with its epic tale set in the West, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (2005) tells the story of hidden homosexual love, beginning in 1963 in the Wyoming wilderness and spanning the next twenty years. The film's use of the Western genre in its setting and iconography intensifies the lovers' transgression by juxtaposing the mythic roots of our country and the masculine archetype of the cowboy with a taboo love affair--a combination, as critics have noted, resulting in a film closer to melodrama than Western (Kitses "All That"; Osterweil). A smaller film released in 1993, The Ballad of Little Jo, written and directed by Maggie Greenwald, is a tale set in the West (the old West) that also features social and sexual transgressions, including at least two taboo love stories. Both films also illuminate the lives of marginalized people. My intention is to explore the filmmakers' use of the Western genre in telling these stories and to consider how in each case they blend the Western with other genres. I hope to show The Ballad of Little Jo deserves as much recognition as
Journal
Journal of Film and Video – University of Illinois Press
Published: Nov 12, 2010