Annie Proulx's Two Time Cultural Appropriation, Ryan Field Books

 Annie Proulx's Two Time Cultural Appropriation

When I first learned about Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain being published in the New Yorker, I cringed a little. Even back then, at that time, I couldn't understand why any reputable publisher would accept that kind of cultural appropriation. And that's exactly what it was, and my guess is that she did it for cash. There is also a certain amount of fetishization, too. My biggest problem was that I knew, at the time, there were indeed many gay men writing gay romances that were better than Proulx's and more authentic. But the publisher still overlooked gay male authors and went with the straight.

The story in the New Yorker was published as a short book, and then they made a GD movie out of it so straight people could enjoy watching "the gays" on the screen. I read the book and saw the movie and I found so many small issues with it I was stunned that so many gay men were praising it. But in all fairness to those gay men, there wasn't much gay content out and I think they were thrilled to have Hollywood throw them a bone. They didn't see the discrimination I saw working in publishing. 

However, I had no idea that Annie Proulx culturally appropriated something else. It's really an article about how these authors who culturally appropriate are doing it for money. And I believe that to be true. I've seen too many straight women writing gay romance, appropriating my culture, and I believe it's for monetary gain. And it astounds me that some really dumb gay male authors will defend them. It is cultural appropriation no matter how you spin it or twist it around. And that's just a fact.

 Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News is a fine Canadian book set in Newfoundland. But Proulx herself is American.

Here's more. I know nothing about The Shipping News, but I trust the article to be true. He seems to also be for cultural appropriation in some respects, but you can't blame him or his straight white privilege. It doesn't sound as if he knows the first thing about being marginalized. Because for the victims of cultural appropriation it is more than just money. These shifty shady authors are stealing our identities. 

The Wizard of Pride

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Don’t Be Afraid of Virginia’s Woolf

Once Upon a Castle by Ryan Field

A Different Kind of Southern Love Story

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Brokeback Mountain Author Pissed Off; Bubble Butts; Don Lemon Worst Journalist List 2014

Brokeback Mountain Author Pissed Off

The author of Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx, is making a few strong statements about how her short story was received and how it's been interpreted in various ways over the years. The story, which became a huge bestseller and a ground-breaking feature film that many claim spawned the m/m romance genre, has never been without controversy. And that controversy has not always come in the form of traditional homophobia. I remember back when it was released and I was interviewing and reviewing gay male bloggers for bestgayblogs.com many gay men weren't thrilled with the story or the film.They found fundamental flaws in the storyline, but I'm not getting into that right now. I thought it was a nice story, in a general sense.

In any event, this is what Proulx said, in part:

So many people have completely misunderstood the story. I think it’s important to leave spaces in a story for readers to fill in from their own experience, but unfortunately the audience that Brokeback reached most strongly have powerful fantasy lives. And one of the reasons we keep the gates locked here is that a lot of men have decided that the story should have had a happy ending. They can’t bear the way it ends — they just can’t stand it. So they rewrite the story, including all kinds of boyfriends and new lovers and so forth after Jack is killed. And it just drives me wild.

I really don't know what she's talking about when she says "men" are doing this. But I may have missed that. My only comment is that after writing and getting published for many years in the concentrated genre of gay fiction I've found more than a few things interesting in the past ten years, since BM became so popular. One of them is that I still can't get over how many people coming from a place of privilege can't wait to tell gay writers how to do "it." Another thing is how little they really know about gay men.

But I really don't want to get off track here. I've done parodies of mainstream classic stories with gay characters, like An Officer and His Gentleman and Pretty Man. But frankly, the one story I always thought was off limits as a parody in this case was Brokeback Mountain. I wouldn't parody a gay story...unless I were to do it with straight characters.  And I think I know exactly what Proulx is talking about this time. I just wish she'd been more specific in her rant. 

You can read the rest here.  

I highly suggest reading the rest of this in full. I really don't have any strong comments on this one. I actually find it interesting when readers take my books and stories and reinterpret them in various ways. I don't mind it in the least.

Bubble Butts

This is all about the sexy photo column at Queerty.com. I've been following it all year and I love some of the things they've done...especially about breaking body image stereotypes. I follow a pop star on social media and he posts some of the hottest photos online. But most are photo shopped. When he posts a real photo of himself, even though I think it's hotter than the photo shopped pics, you'd be amazed at how many will criticize him. He's absolutely adorable, yet they can't wait to point out his flaws.   

This year, Queerty launched a new photos column, Homo Erotica, that highlighted various sexual styles and looks while celebrating sexy men of all sorts. Over the past 12 months, we’ve covered foot fetishes to armpit fetishes, hairy older hunks to twinks, with a few bubble butts and beer bellies thrown in for good measure. It’s been an interesting year, and we’re looking forward to bringing you even more homo horseplay in 2015.

You can check out the pics here. I think the cute guy with the belly is adorable.

Don Lemon Worst Journalist List 2014

I think most readers know I usually support everything LGBT. But I don't think it's wise to blindly support anyone just because he or she is LGBT, especially when an openly gay journalist like Don Lemon makes ridiculous comments about women and rape. Sexual orientation doesn't give anyone a free pass to be arrogant or obnoxious. Dumb I can overlook. But I find it hard to believe anyone can reach the point of CNN anchor and be stupid. 

The worst journalist list was created by Columbia Journalism Review and those on the list are considered to have made the most "cringe-worthy" remarks during the year. 

David Uberti, the Review's fellow wrote in a post why Lemon deserves to be ranked along with other missteps in journalism this year. 

'As one of the most recognizable anchors on CNN, Don Lemon has helped lead the cable network's coverage of the biggest stories of the year. Live television is exceedingly difficult to produce, of course, but Lemon’s gaffes this year offer a case study in how to choose words wisely — or not.'

 Uberti highlighted several controversial comments made by Lemon including telling an alleged rape victim of Bill Cosby, 'You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you don't want to do it... Meaning the use of teeth, right?' 

The anchor also pondered whether Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was swallowed by a black hole.

You can read the rest here. It gives us all hope for the future journalists coming our way. At least they nailed this one. It's also one reason why I refuse to even watch CNN anymore.

Chase of a Dream PG-Rated Version

Amazon Link

 

 

Did Brokeback Mountain Help Gays; 2nd Strongest Man: Gay; Gay Cowboys Real Life

Did Brokeback Mountain Help Gays

I remember getting into several discussions with straight friends about Brokeback Mountain...as a film and a story. While I was happy to see anything with gay content in the mainstream, it bothered me at the time that it was done through a straight POV. And I'm not the only one who felt this way. At the time I was interviewing and reviewing for a start up called bestgayblogs.com, and I would say that 99% of the gay male bloggers I came across found Brokeback Mountain to be less than thrilling...and many were outraged. But more than that, years later, it's not a film or a book I care to revisit. And I've been known to watch films like Silving Linings Playbook more times than I can count and that doesn't even have gay content.

In any event, this article talks about the pros and cons in BM, with respect to whether or not it helped gay men. I'll post a few quotes, but I think the whole piece is worth reading because it's done from an interesting, honest POV. It's also well balanced, especially for something that can be controversial this many years later.

Here's one from the "pro" comments:

Not just queer, but emotional. These are not your grandpappy and memaw’s cowboys; there are no shoot-outs, no scenes of John Wayne or Alan Ladd mounted on a horse (insert barebacking joke here) and riding off into the sunset. No, these cowboys have feelings.

I detect a little sarcasm in that one and I have a feeling the author is holding back a little, but here's one from the "cons:"

But surely the more egregious offense that Brokeback Mountain committed is its lack of full-frontal nudity from Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. And the one gay sex scene was dimly lit and fully clothed, while Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway both appeared topless. Where the hell was GLAAD when this happened?

I actually found most of the sex scenes unrealistic. It's a great example of how fiction is crafted when it's not drawn from an ounce of personal experience, but should fiction be that way off base? 

And now this is from the ultimate verdict:

Basically, Brokeback Mountain is not for me. It’s a movie about gay people delivered through the lens of straight people, and the straight gaze here is very thick. Then again, it’s probably valuable for people to see it and understand the “normalcy,” whatever that means (however they define it, I guess), of the gay experience.

I actually agree with this whole thing. For me the movie is "meh," but it didn't hurt anyone either. The most interesting thing is that most of the gay men I know have dismissed it and don't revisit it either. I just can't help wondering how the story would have turned out had it been told through a gay POV. I guess we'll never know...or will we?


You can read the rest here. The biggest flaw for me in the film, BM, was when the two characters (I don't even remember their names) meet after years of not seeing each other and one is married. They run to some staircase or back alley out in public and start kissing and groping each other. Trust me, that wouldn't have happened this blatantly with two gay men in the 1950's, 60's, or even now. Closeted gay men have walls they put up to control these things so no one ever finds out about them. It just wouldn't have happened under any circumstances.

2nd Strongest Man: Gay

The world's second strongest man, as it stands, turns out to be openly gay. His name is Rob Kearny, he's 25 years old, and he recently came in second at the World's Strongest Man Competition. He's also newly out of the closet.

Rob’s coming-out was pretty nonchalant. He just posted on Facebook that he has a crush on his boyfriend, Joey Aleixo. That was acknowledged by, so far, 1,457 likes from fans and friends and well-wishers all over the world. Response has been overwhelmingly positive, with at least one of his bodybuilding colleagues emailing him to say that Rob had changed his mind about disliking gays.

This is a big deal for gay men, who will be delighted to claim this good-looking individual for our team. But it’s also a big deal for the Strongman competition, which has never had an out pro-level international competitor before.

I think it is a big deal for gay men, or at least gay men who identify as men. So far the world only knows one type of gay man thanks to the mainstream media and other unreliable sources that find their information through "research."


You can read the rest here.   

Real Life Gay Cowboys

In my latest full length novel, Glendora Hill: Too Hard to Handle, in the Glendora Hill series, the main character is a real life cowboy who may or may not have been related to the Texas Ranger, Kit Acklin. In the book, he's introduced by the other main character through an interview for a web series about real life gay cowboys. I'll post the info below, but I thought it was interesting when I spotted this next article about real life gay cowboys.

“This isn’t a crusade for me to prove that I can be a gay cowboy…I’m just someone who enjoys this particular lifestyle with the man that I love.” These are the powerfully simple words of Dan Smith, a 34-year-old cowboy living in rural North Queensland, Australia with his partner Miki.

But Dan’s self-confidence isn’t a gift he was born with. In his 20s, his perceived tension between an adolescence spent living on a farm and his newly realized identity as a gay man led him to believe that the two couldn’t coexist.

You can read the rest here. It's an interesting article, and at least I feel somewhat validated because it touched on a topic I had no idea would be growing in popularity...or even discussed this openly. Gay cowboys like gay football players are typically in the closet. Sometimes things just work out well. I almost didn't put this in a storyline because I wasn't sure it would be believable.

Glendora Hill: Too Hard to Handle

Real Life Gay Cowboys in Fiction

Amazon Link

When conservative young Dan meets a hot charismatic gay cowboy named Cass who claims he’s related to storied Texas Ranger, Kit Acklin, during a web cast interview in a dirty cowboy locker room, something unusual happens. Although Dan is still mourning the death of his boyfriend and hot Cass is a self-proclaimed no-good drifter, the web cast eventually goes viral and they are offered the dream job of a lifetime on TV.
In spite of their differences, there’s an undeniable chemistry between Dan and Cass and they find one thing in common they can’t get enough of. Dan’s two gay dads, Sebastian and Avery, encourage Dan to build a relationship with Cass, but Dan’s not sure he wants to get emotionally involved with a drifter cowboy or do a live TV show from Austin. So Dan winds up befriending a needy young ranch hand with a few kinks and gay issues of his own.
It all takes place in peaceful Glendora Hill, Texas, with recurring characters from previous books that all know Dan well. Will Dan ever get over his boyfriend’s death, stop making the same mistakes, and move forward with his life? And will Cass ever learn there’s more to life than just drifting from ranch to ranch?

Brokeback Mountain Shirts; St. Patrick's Parade Boston; 21 Gay Music Icons

Brokeback Mountain Shirts

Two shirts worn by Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain recently sold for over fifteen thousand dollars. The name of the buyer hasn't been disclosed. The shirts were worn during the point in the film where Ennis tells Jack he's not going to sleep with him anymore.

It was eight years ago this weekend that Heath Ledger lost the best actor Oscar for Brokeback Mountain to Philip Seymour Hoffman of Capote.

Both men played gay characters that year and both actors died tragic deaths - Hoffman just earlier this month.

You can read more here.

From what I've read, a good deal of the m/m romance genre was spawned from fanfic of Brokeback Mountain.

21 (Questionable) Gay Music Icons

I think this falls into the category of questionable. But maybe I'm wrong and maybe there is more to it than I "get." I like some/most of the icons listed, but none are entertainers I would stand in a long line to see...except maybe Frank Ocean.

t's the end of Britain's LGBT History Month which has been celebrating musicians and music this year

You can read the full list here.

(Seriously, No Shirley Bassey?)

 

Here's more inclusive list I tend to find more accurate done at Fordham University. It also compares gay taste in the UK and US. It's far more interesting than the link above.

Shirley Bassey
Reason for Icon Status: Although she plays, and fills, American halls regularly, Shirley Bassey is not a   major American gay icon. For British gay men, however, she is among the greatest.

Here's that link.

St. Patrick's Parade Boston

I posted about gays not being allowed to participate in a Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade, here. And now it seems gays can march in the parade, but with conditions.

But the invitation, brokered by Mayor Martin J. Walsh, includes an important caveat: The group, MassEquality, could not wear T-shirts or hold signs that include the word “gay” or refer to sexual orientation.

Evidently, this is the proverbial olive branch.

I rarely wear anything with the word gay, or even T-shirts with rainbows or signs that state I'm openly gay. But I also like to know that I can if I want to...without anyone telling me what I can and can't do regarding my sexual orientation.

You can read more here. There's a link for Boston Globe subscribers, too.

Gay Romance: "His Only Choice" Human Cheese; James Franco/Brokeback Mountain

Gay Romance "His Only Choice"

I'm going to be releasing a new 30,000 word novella in my Second Chance series titled, His Only Choice. This time the story is set in New York's Hudson River Valley and the main character is the owner of a small brick and mortar bookshop. I've been to that part of New York a few times and fell in love with so many things, and I've wanted to set a book there for a long time. Here's the book description, subject to change. And I'll post more as I get closer to a release date.

In this third installment of the Second Chance series by Ryan Field, Lance has to figure out a way to deal with the fact that his partner, Davis, of twenty years will be traveling extensively in Asia and leaving him alone for long stretches at a time. So Lance plunges into making important changes to the small brick and mortar bookshop he owns in New York's Hudson River Valley to keep it competitive with the rising popularity in e-books. He's also trying to deal with turning forty years old and it's not working out well. In order to fill the lonely hours when he's not working, Lance joins a gym and meets a very young personal trainer named Sergio who makes him feel so young and desirable again he starts lying about his age and telling Sergio he's only thirty-five years old.  

 Like other books in the Second Chance series the story bounces from present to past a few times and the choice Lance has to make to get his second chance isn't clear until the story is in full swing. But there are more than a few sexy gay surprises to keep m/m readers wondering what will happen next, which include whether Lance will ultimately choose his safe, quiet life with Davis. Or will he choose to go another round with dark, sexy Sergio with the weight lifter's body and scruffy rough beard?

 

Human Cheese

 

When I read this article about making "human" cheese, I found it interesting for several reasons. One in particular has to do with a book review I once received where I compared the scent of a certain human body part to the scent of cheese. I thought it was accurate. The editor and publisher thought it was accurate. But one reviewer actually went berserk and made it sound as if I'd stolen the Holy Grail. The fact is that when you are writing erotica and you want to show something sometimes you have to be realistic. And there are people who find the male arm pit highly erotic...or other male body parts I won't mention in this post right now...and many of these body parts resemble some of the finest, most expensive, cheeses in the world. It's also a way to incorporate humor into a story, too, if it's done carefully. You don't want to laugh at the character; you want to laugh with the character. There's a big difference. In full disclosure, I haven't compared any human body scents to cheese since that book. And the only reason is so no one could take it out of context ever again.

 

In any event, this is how they make human cheese:

 

Biologist Christina Agapakis has created a cheese that rivals France's most fragrant dairy product. You see, it's actually made from foot bacteria (or "toe jam"), as well as the bacteria found in armpits, belly buttons, and mouths all mixed up with milk. Yum. She even enlisted famous food people, like Michael Pollan, to donate their bacteria. 

 

Read more here.

 

And this piece in Huff Po gets into even more detail, but also mentions human cheese is not something you'll be serving at your next cocktail party.

 

The project compares the odors between man and cheese, questioning why what is prized in one is reviled in the other. "Can knowledge and tolerance of bacterial cultures in our food improve tolerance of the bacteria on our bodies?" the gallery asks, posing one of the great questions of mankind. The cheese is not meant to be eaten, but visitors were allowed to take a grand whiff of the stinky objets d'art.

 

James Franco/Brokeback Mountain

 

In an essay I think many of my m/m readers will find interesting, James Franco discusses sci-fi rom-com, "Her," and compares it to Brokeback Mountain at one point. I've heard it said that the origins of m/m romance can be traced to BM, as we know m/m romance now. I wonder if Franco knows this...or even that there are so many people reading m/m romance nowadays. His piece isn't so much a review of Her as it is an essay with commentary. Franco is also a contributor to Vice and he's written other pieces there.  

 

There is a moment in Her when Samantha and Theo go through the typical break-up scenario that’s prevalent in most romantic comedies, a scene that has destroyed many a real-life couple, when one lover reveals how many lovers he or she has had (or in this case, currently has). But this usually hackneyed archetype is given new vitality because it now involves a non-human—much like Brokeback Mountain achieved much of its acclaim by using a traditional tragic love story that was invigorated by swapping the traditional gender preferences of the players.

 

You can read this in full at Vice.

Franco is also the author of several books, the most recent, Actors Anonymous, you can find here and read my review. It's one of the best works of fiction of its kind I read in 2013.