History Headscratchers / BrokebackMountain

** To add to what other Tropers already said, San Francisco and NYC may have been pioneering the sexual liberation movement but that did not mean it was mainstream enough to be openly talked about. My grandma grew in NYC during the time the "pill" was created and why she was going around doing slutty stuff, she had to keep it secret to avoid angering her parents. In fact when her dad- a liberal- found her with a guy in bed, he smacked her around. And mind you this is a case of 100% straight people having regular sex and my Grandma only fucked 2 men prior to being caught. Just because counter cultures began there does not mean everyone was open minded as stereotypes of the places would have you believe from works of fiction and Pop culture stereotypes. It doesn't mean we still had racism against blacks even in places where the Civil Rights movements had its strongest power such as Washington DC in the 70s despite movies and shows like "I Love The 70s" portray the decade as the first time black people can mend into mainstream culture without segregation and discrimination. Same applies here in regards to the gay mass movements that was occurring a New York and California during Brokeback Mountain's setting. Yes the movements were pioneered in those places and yes there were plenty of open minded liberals. But there was still plenty of bigotry and homophobia was the mainstream norm (despite those places having a lot of accepting liberals).

* During the flashback when Ennis's father takes him to see that dead body of the murdered homosexual, wouldn't the sheriff or the police have taken that body into the morgue to be examined in order to find the murderer?

** To add to what other Tropers already said, San Francisco and NYC may have been pioneering the sexual liberation movement but that did not mean it was mainstream enough to be openly talked about. My grandma grew in NYC during the time the "pill" was created and why she was going around doing slutty stuff, she had to keep it secret to avoid angering her parents. In fact when her dad- a liberal- found her with a guy in bed, he smacked her around. And mind you this is a case of 100% straight people having regular sex and my Grandma only fucked 2 men prior to being caught. Just because counter cultures began there does not mean everyone was open minded as stereotypes of the places would have you believe from works of fiction and Pop culture stereotypes. I mean we still had racism against blacks even in places where the Civil Rights movements had its strongest power such as Washington DC in the 70s despite movies and shows like I love the 70s portray the decade as the first time black people can mend into mainstream culture without segregation and discrimination. Same applies here in regards to the gay mass movements that was occurring a New York and California during Brokeback Mountain's setting. Yes the movements were pioneered in those places and yes there were plenty of open minded liberals. But there was still plenty of bigotry and homophobia was the mainstream norm (despite those places having a lot of accepting liberals).

During the flashback when ennis's father takes him to see that dead body of the murdered homosexual, wouldn't the sheriff or the police have taken that body into the morgue to be examined in order to find the murderer?

** It's implied that Jack did through their interactions and what he tells Ennis. Jack tells Ennis that he's having an affair with the wife, but that's likely just to prevent Ennis being jealous of his relationship with another man.

*** Jack was already tagged with the reputation of being a "queer". In the bar scene after Jack got bucked at the rodeo, he tries to buy a beer for the guy who helped him when he got bucked off a bull. He clearly had built a system to meet and find other gay men where he was (Note, he was seeing another man and its a good assumption, given his relatively affluent life and his wealthy father-in-law, he could find gay men in big cities nearby.)

** To add to what other Tropers already said, San Francisco and NYC may have been pioneering the sexual liberation movement but that did not mean it was mainstream enough to be openly talked about. My grandma grew in NYC during the time the "pill" was created and why she was going around doing slutty stuff, she had to keep it secret to avoid angering her parents. In fact when her dad- a liberal- found her with a guy in bed, he smacked her around. And mind you this is a case of 100% straight people having regular sex and my Grandma only fucked 2 men prior to being caught. Just because counter cultures began there does not mean everyone was open minded as stereotypes of the places would have you believe from works of fiction and Pop culture stereotypes. I mean we still had racism against blacks even in places where the Civil Rights movements had its strongest power such as Washington DC in the 70s despite movies and shows like I love the 70s potray the decade as the first time black people can mend into mainstream culture without segregation and discrimination. Same applies here in regards to the gay mass movements that was occurring a New York and California during Broke Back Mountain's setting. Yes the movements were pioneered in those places and yes there were plenty of open minded liberals. But there was still plenty of bigotry ad homophobia was the mainstream norm (despite those places having a lot of accepting liberals).

Is there an issue?

he meets at the Texas Charity Ball

becausebecause
* Did Jack really have an affair with Randall (the man he meets at the Texas Charity Ball

*** Assuming what you said is true, that only applies to the locality where Jack lived. If they went to New York, he'd have to learn an entirely new subtle social rules to interact with gays without getting into trouble. Of course that is assuming he and Ennis even knew that NYC and San Fran had an underground gay culture. Which as other tropers have stated was not really visible a the time and tended to fit CampGay stereotypes which Jack and Ennis would not have felt comfortable with being raised as cowboys.

* Did Jack really have an affair with Randall (the man he meets at the Texas Charity Ball)?

*** Assuming what you said is true, that only applies to the locality where Jack lived. If they went to New York, he'd have to learn an entirely new subtle social rules to interact with gays without getting into trouble. Of course that is assuming he and Ennis even knew that NYC had an underground gay culture. Which as other tropers have stated was not really visible a the time and tended to fit CampGay stereotypes which Jack and Ennis would not have elt comfortabl.