Abstract

This paper looks back at the groundbreaking gay film Brokeback Mountain. It is still considered one of the most successful mainstream gay films to date, which numerous scholars and critics have thoroughly attested to in their film reviews. But what made the film so successful? The paper looks at how Brokeback contained the critical elements needed for mass consumption: a straight director with gay sensibilities, global appeal due to its Western setting, inclusion of Oscar-bait actors and themes and last but not least hypermasculine gay male characters. Using genre theory as the foundation, the paper outlines how Brokeback proliferatedits own genre that many of today’s LGBTQ films have tried to mirror. Conclusively, this study demonstrates that while the film has its flaws, it was the director’s artistic choices mixed with the film’s intrinsic cinematic elements that made it more accessible to mainstream audiences, thus creating a viable blueprint for an emotionally satisfying and financially successful queer film.

Key Words: Brokeback Mountain; Gay Films; Cinema; Genre Theory; Hollywood.

*      Victor D’Shawn Evans, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, College of Arts & Sciences, Seattle University, 1103 Building, 3rd Floor, 901 12th Avenue, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

© ^AMCRON Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, April 2019, pp. 73-85