Queer Centric Love Stories By John Bebe - 1234 Words

However, when it comes to queer-centric love stories, the most common reaction follows the lines of â€Å"this is a gay story, about two gay people, and is about them being gay†, due to the lack of substance to the plot. Even if a work does have a complex plot, the public’s reaction and treatment of the work as â€Å"a gay story† is harmful to perceptions of queer life. Specifically, the manner in which many queer stories, and â€Å"Brokeback† (with the death of Jack) tragically end. These tragic ending, tragedy that is rooted in the character s sexual orientation, only further sends the message that you can’t live as a queer person without pain and consequences, that there is no legitimate way for a happy ending to occur for queer characters. In†¦show more content†¦Integration of Female Characters: The â€Å"Damage† of The Closet The most notable difference between the film adaptation and the short story is the film’s additional emphasis and integration of female characters. In the film, Alma has more of a focus, becomes more complex of a character, and has more lines than in the original story. Additionally, Laureen is a developed character with a personality and character arc, which was also something not found in the original story.This additional emphasis on females provides the audience with a new perspective from which to view the story. However, it is a perspective that is essentially harmful to the queer community. By having a focus on the female characters, the film â€Å"hedges against relying too much on gay-masculinity-as-realism both by cyclically returning point of view to the women in the film, and by draping a light scrim of comedy over Jack and Ennis’s relationship. The moment when Michelle William’s Alma sees her husband locking lips with his â€Å"fishing buddy† has achieved its own iconic status: Oprah Winfrey, when she hosted the cast for a pre-Academy Awards endorsement of the film’s power, focused first on how hard it must have been for Heath and Jake to kiss each other—heavens!—but then insisted that the film was a lesson in the damage the closet wreaks on the lives of women who love closeted men (Joshua Clover)†.