Author Topic: News Coverage: 2009  (Read 36716 times)

Offline tpe

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News Coverage: 2009
« on: Jan 09, 2009, 02:53 PM »
I knew the comparison would come up some time or other. 

http://www.afterelton.com/blog/brenthartinger/ranking-roundup-1-10-09

----------------------------------------------

Top Gay-Related Theatrical Releases
(From Variety: weekly gross/total gross to date/per-screen average)

1. Milk ($2 million; $17.3 million after 6 wks; $6638 per screen)
2. High School Musical 3: Senior Year ( $243,418; $90 million after 11 weeks; $295 per screen)
3. Antarctica ($6,033; $16,312 total after 7 wks; $6,033 per screen)
4. Ciao ($3,138; $22,944 total after 5 wks; $1,046 per screen)
5. Were the World Mine ($1,632; $88,788 after 10 wks; $544 per screen)

Why hasn't Milk gone wide yet? That seems to be what every gay person wants to know (with the unstated apprehension that the film isn't doing very well at the box office). But this has been Focus Features release strategy for the film all along: start small, let word-of-mouth grow as it expands to several hundred theaters, and then go wide in 1000 theaters or more at the end of January, taking full advantage of all the publicity when the Oscar nominations are announced (and Milk gets its expected Best Picture nod); the film is currently playing on 309 screens and, interestingly, has grossed only a little less than Brokeback Mountain had at this point in its release, which had almost exactly the same marketing plan. That said, Brokeback broke per-screen box office records when it finally went wide at the end of January, but insiders admit that there probably isn't the same level of enthusiasm for Milk. Time will tell if it will have Brokeback's staying power.

...


Offline tpe

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BBM on Blu-ray
« Reply #1 on: Jan 16, 2009, 01:44 PM »
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Gay_&_Lesbian/Universal/Disc_Announcements/Universal_Announces_Brokeback_Mountain_for_Blu-ray/2412

-------------------------------------

Universal Announces 'Brokeback Mountain' for Blu-ray
Fri Jan 16, 2009 at 01:00 PM ET
 


Universal Studios has announced an early-March Blu-ray debut for the Oscar-winning 'Brokeback Mountain.'

Originally released on HD DVD in early 2007, Universal will play catch up with the highly-acclaimed drama when it releases the Heath Ledger-Jake Gyllenhaal starrer on Blu-ray March 3.
 
Tech specs will see a BD-50 dual-layer disc with 1080p/VC-1 video and English DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround.

Extras will match the previous HD DVD and DVD special editions, with a wealth of making-of featurettes: "A Groundbreaking Success," "Music From the Mountain," "Impressions From the Film," "On Being a Cowboy," "Directing From the Heart: Ang Lee," "From Script to Screen" and "Sharing the Story: The Making of Brokeback Mountain."

The Blu-ray will also come BD-Live-enabled, and with the My Scenes bookmarking feature.

Suggested retail price for the Blu-ray has been set at $34.99.

You'll find the latest specs for 'Brokeback Mountain' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under March 3.


Offline jackster

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #2 on: Jan 17, 2009, 12:37 AM »
 &**) &**)  &**)  &**)

This is great. Much sooner than I expected since it had been released on HD.
Sorry it's a simple dup of the HD release, it'd been nice if they added some stuff, but maybe some day.
we get to drinkin' and talkin' an all

Offline tpe

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #3 on: Jan 23, 2009, 04:54 PM »
&**) &**)  &**)  &**)

This is great. Much sooner than I expected since it had been released on HD.
Sorry it's a simple dup of the HD release, it'd been nice if they added some stuff, but maybe some day.


Someday, we hope!  :)


Offline tizi17

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #4 on: Feb 08, 2009, 12:20 PM »

i am completely...  (t)

the austrian TV is showing our film on sunday 22th (call it coincidence..  ???  ) at 8 pm.. i can't believe it..

BUT.... there's a big but there.. it says in the program duration 120 min, while we know it's 130 min... so..  :s)  i wonder if they dare cut it like they did in italy - airing it at sunday prime family time?  :s)

i have my weapons armed in case they do...  ^^)
".. a love that dare not speak its name.." oscar wilde

Offline Romeo164

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #5 on: Feb 09, 2009, 12:40 AM »
You have to let us know how it goes. I can't think of any other movie that draws this much excitement and anticipation, even in a censored version on a TV slot.
Your folks just called you Ennis?

Offline Annika

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #6 on: Feb 13, 2009, 05:40 PM »
i am completely...  (t)

the austrian TV is showing our film on sunday 22th (call it coincidence..  ???  ) at 8 pm.. i can't believe it..

BUT.... there's a big but there.. it says in the program duration 120 min, while we know it's 130 min... so..  :s)  i wonder if they dare cut it like they did in italy - airing it at sunday prime family time?  :s)

i have my weapons armed in case they do...  ^^)

Same here in Germany and it's the first time you can see BBM in free TV. I'll have to look out if they'll dare cut anything. I'm with you  ^^)
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.   (Dr. Seuss)

Offline tizi17

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #7 on: Feb 16, 2009, 04:00 AM »
PRO7 said they would not cut, not even the scene where ennis jumps into the water.. can't remember being it cut?  :s)

but i am afraid for the austrian TV, really...  ???
".. a love that dare not speak its name.." oscar wilde

Offline myprivatejack

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #8 on: Feb 16, 2009, 11:54 AM »
Yesterday by night BBM was shown in Spanish public television,without any cuts ¡ &**) .What's an "heroism",bearing in mind that it began at 10 p.m.;not a very late timetable,even if it's not time for children watching TV...Everything was shown without cuts nor changes,from FNIT to nude scenes;now I'm looking forward to see share quote and public reactions.But it's a very good news,IMO ¡. :clap: :clap: :clap:
Ennis’s eyes gone bright with shock, mouth opening then closing again. “Love?” Ennis said finally, voice strangling in his throat.

Jack smiled sad. “Yeah, Ennis. Love.” Leaned forward and kissed Ennis’s temple, whispered, “What’d you think it was, all this time?”
("If I asked")
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You will be forever in my heart,friends.

Offline tizi17

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #9 on: Feb 17, 2009, 02:53 AM »
this is great news!  :clap:
i just so hope for austria too..
".. a love that dare not speak its name.." oscar wilde

Offline syg

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #10 on: Feb 17, 2009, 11:18 AM »
hey!
i´m really going to enjoy bbm on austrian tv! can´t imagine our good(?) old orf found something really good to show us (or will it run on atv?)
but i know after the movie my one-week-crying for ennis and jack will start again...

Offline myprivatejack

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #11 on: Feb 17, 2009, 02:34 PM »
You can be sure of this,syg ¡ I have watched it in Spanish TV and I'm almost devastated...There's no reins on this one... :c)
Ennis’s eyes gone bright with shock, mouth opening then closing again. “Love?” Ennis said finally, voice strangling in his throat.

Jack smiled sad. “Yeah, Ennis. Love.” Leaned forward and kissed Ennis’s temple, whispered, “What’d you think it was, all this time?”
("If I asked")
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Heathcliff Andrew Ledger (1979-2008)/Rajel Karen Ashkenazi (1986-2008)
You will be forever in my heart,friends.

Offline myprivatejack

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #12 on: Feb 18, 2009, 12:19 PM »
I'm a little disgusted,by the way,with the results of BBM watching in Spanish TV last Sunday night¡. ^*) In the summary of the five most seen programs of the day,it only appears in fourth place, after the news of two chains and a stupidity called "Marriage's scenes",being watched by 3.200.000 persons. But it's more disgusting still that in the summary of Catalunya it doesn't appears even among these most watched five programs¡... ^*)
It is necessary to say, however, in defense of my fellow Spanish and Catalonian,that in the magazines that offer the programming of all the following week,it was said " Non concreting program"on Sunday night and we only knew they were going to put the movie that same morning(perhaps did they prefer to have enough time to decide if they programmed it or not?). But,whatever it's the reason, it seems to me one TV share quite low… ^*) ^*) ^*)
Ennis’s eyes gone bright with shock, mouth opening then closing again. “Love?” Ennis said finally, voice strangling in his throat.

Jack smiled sad. “Yeah, Ennis. Love.” Leaned forward and kissed Ennis’s temple, whispered, “What’d you think it was, all this time?”
("If I asked")
                         ----------------
Heathcliff Andrew Ledger (1979-2008)/Rajel Karen Ashkenazi (1986-2008)
You will be forever in my heart,friends.

Offline tizi17

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #13 on: Feb 19, 2009, 03:46 AM »
i can understand how angry you are...  :ghug:
no, here at least programs all show it, with pictures and good texts, not rubbish as i feared...  :-\\

and then i saw the first TV trailer last night.. and they showed the reunion kiss... so i am hopeful they won't cut anything....

(needless to say that even at that short  trailer i started to sob  :\'(  it was just the emotion to actually see it on state TV... what brought my son to the exclamation "what? after having it seen for 27 times now you start to cry at the TRAILER?"  ;D
".. a love that dare not speak its name.." oscar wilde

Offline myprivatejack

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #14 on: Feb 19, 2009, 11:41 AM »
i can understand how angry you are...  :ghug:
no, here at least programs all show it, with pictures and good texts, not rubbish as i feared...  :-\\

and then i saw the first TV trailer last night.. and they showed the reunion kiss... so i am hopeful they won't cut anything....

(needless to say that even at that short  trailer i started to sob  :\'(  it was just the emotion to actually see it on state TV... what brought my son to the exclamation "what? after having it seen for 27 times now you start to cry at the TRAILER?"  ;D

No,here they had showed also a trailer,pics and a text-where BBM was very good considered,by the way;I'll translate it if you want me to...-.But only on Sunday's newspapers,instead of having the movie already programmed a week before...I must say,however,that in the trailer nothing was showed that could be "indiscreet",let's say-nothing of reunion kiss...-.
Ah,your son is right ¡ But he doesn't know his mother is a crazy Brokie,just like all of us ¡. ;D :c)
Ennis’s eyes gone bright with shock, mouth opening then closing again. “Love?” Ennis said finally, voice strangling in his throat.

Jack smiled sad. “Yeah, Ennis. Love.” Leaned forward and kissed Ennis’s temple, whispered, “What’d you think it was, all this time?”
("If I asked")
                         ----------------
Heathcliff Andrew Ledger (1979-2008)/Rajel Karen Ashkenazi (1986-2008)
You will be forever in my heart,friends.

Offline chameau

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #15 on: Feb 19, 2009, 06:59 PM »
Better put this here until it is confirmed.

Thu, 19 Feb 2009

"Brokeback Mountain" filmmaker Ang Lee is set to make a film adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel "Life of Pi."

Though the Yann Martel's best-selling fantasy adventure book was first deemed to be "unfilmable," Lee is seriously considering the project. Fox 2000 studio is hiring a new screenwriter, Variety reports.

The coming-of-age novel won the Booker Prize in 2002. It tells the story of a youth who is the lone survivor of a sunken freighter and winds up sharing a lifeboat with a hyena, an injured zebra, an orangutan and a hungry Bengal tiger.

The film, produced by Gil Netter, will use a mixture of live action and computer generated imagery.

Other filmmakers previously attached to the project during its development stage include Dean Georgaris, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and M. Night Shyamalan.

http://www.icelebz.com/movies/news/ang_lee_to_translate_novel_life_of_pi_into_a_film/
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Offline rlh03

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #16 on: Feb 22, 2009, 08:07 PM »
       and I hope everyone saw the announcement that Brokeback Mountain worldwide gross has exceeded the $1,000,000,000 mark.  Yes, as in BILLION.   :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:


Offline tizi17

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #17 on: Feb 23, 2009, 04:14 AM »
wow!!!!  (t)

ok, AUSTRIAN TV has not cut anything.... and apart of being in german  :i  we enjoyed a perfect vision of the entire film...  <^(

now let's see if there are reactions...
".. a love that dare not speak its name.." oscar wilde

Offline Annika

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #18 on: Feb 23, 2009, 07:44 AM »
wow!!!!  (t)

ok, AUSTRIAN TV has not cut anything.... and apart of being in german  :i  we enjoyed a perfect vision of the entire film...  <^(

now let's see if there are reactions...

Since it was the same TV channel in Germany, the same goes for Germany. No cuts. I'm proud of them.  ^f^

It was the first time I saw it in German. It was really odd and I have to say I like it in English a lot better.
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.   (Dr. Seuss)

Offline myprivatejack

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #19 on: Feb 23, 2009, 12:20 PM »
Since it was the same TV channel in Germany, the same goes for Germany. No cuts. I'm proud of them.  ^f^

It was the first time I saw it in German. It was really odd and I have to say I like it in English a lot better.

Hooray,then,for Spanish,Austrian and German televisions ¡  :clap: :clap: :clap:
Ennis’s eyes gone bright with shock, mouth opening then closing again. “Love?” Ennis said finally, voice strangling in his throat.

Jack smiled sad. “Yeah, Ennis. Love.” Leaned forward and kissed Ennis’s temple, whispered, “What’d you think it was, all this time?”
("If I asked")
                         ----------------
Heathcliff Andrew Ledger (1979-2008)/Rajel Karen Ashkenazi (1986-2008)
You will be forever in my heart,friends.

Offline chameau

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #20 on: Feb 27, 2009, 07:14 PM »
Better post this here, so far I was unable to find a link in English but it looks like Ang Lee will preside the next Mostra (Venice film festival) jury.  Ang won twice the Golden Lion in Venice.  The first time for Brokeback Mountain :) and the second time for Lust Caution.
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Offline tpe

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #21 on: Mar 16, 2009, 08:18 AM »
I want to restore some of the excellent reviews of the BBM Blu-ray release.  I recall that Cham was saying that he was buying a suitable player soon!  Jackster (?) I think commented on the very lovely hi-res pictures in these reviews...

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=3741&show=review

http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=13280

Offline tpe

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #22 on: Mar 19, 2009, 08:54 AM »

Offline Romeo164

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #23 on: Mar 20, 2009, 03:32 AM »
Thanks, Thomas, for the links. I read al three reviews and they brought tears to my eyes. It's hard to believe over 3 years have passed, but then again our forum has been going strong that long too.
Your folks just called you Ennis?

Offline tizi17

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #24 on: Mar 20, 2009, 03:47 AM »
Thanks, Thomas, for the links. I read al three reviews and they brought tears to my eyes. It's hard to believe over 3 years have passed, but then again our forum has been going strong that long too.

 :ghug:  :ghug:  <^(
".. a love that dare not speak its name.." oscar wilde

Offline tpe

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #25 on: Mar 30, 2009, 09:12 AM »
Thanks also, Romeo and Tizi.  :)

Here is the M&C review of the Blu-ray release:

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/dvd/reviews/article_1467285.php/Brokeback_Mountain_%96_Blu-ray_Review

Offline tizi17

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #26 on: Jun 05, 2009, 01:39 PM »
another comment from afterelton..

Gay Sex Scenes That Made Movie History
by
Christie Keith
, Contributing Writer



Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Jake Gyllenhaal (left) and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain
 
It would be hard to find anything new to say about Brokeback Mountain, and that's kind of the point. In addition to adding the word "brokeback" to the American vocabulary as slang for "gay," there has never been a gay-themed film that broke so many records — and hearts.
Brokeback Mountain was nominated for a staggering number of awards. To quote AfterElton.com's Michael Jensen, "During the awards' season leading up to Sunday night's Oscars, Brokeback Mountain became the most honored movie in cinematic history. It had more Best Picture and Director wins than previous Oscar winners Schindler's List and Titanic combined. Just to name a few, Brokeback won various awards at the Golden Globes, the BAFTA's, Venice Film Festival, NY Film Critic's Circle, LA Film Critics, National Board of Review, and the Independent Spirit Awards. (Click here for a complete list.)"
Nothing could be this big and not generate a certain amount of controversy. Brokeback was not a happy film, and given the shortage of counterbalancing images of gay men in mainstream cinema, its relentlessly grim story line was a little bitter to some gay viewers. It did not, however, shy away from the sexual nature of the bond between the two lovers, and their first sexual encounter was raw and explicit — so much so that it raised a great deal of controversy on its own.
Probably the biggest controversy of all, however, was that despite its record number of nominations and awards, Brokeback didn't win the Oscar for best picture, prompting an unprecedented outcry against the Academy for homophobia and an ad campaign paid for by the donations of fans praising the film.

Hotness: 7
Romance: 8
Significance: 10

http://www.afterelton.com/movies/2007/6/gaymoviesexscenes?page=0%2C7

".. a love that dare not speak its name.." oscar wilde

Offline lancecowboy

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #27 on: Jun 05, 2009, 04:33 PM »
 :\'( :ghug: Thanks, tizi. I can't help but shed another tear reading it.

there has never been a gay-themed film that broke so many records — and hearts.

I didn't know about this, so thanks!

It had more Best Picture and Director wins than previous Oscar winners Schindler's List and Titanic combined.

It's interesting that adding the word "brokeback" to the American vocabulary as slang for "gay," and other phrases crept into our vocabulary so subtly, just like the movie, that we hardly knew it.

Significance: 10

Indeed!  :c) ^f^
Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

Offline tpe

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #28 on: Jun 17, 2009, 07:00 AM »
I also posted this article at: http://ennisjack.com/index.php?topic=5007.msg940530#msg940530

 
http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18234

-----------------------------

Zipper Rippers
Women write gay male romance novels for women

By Heather Harris
Posted 6/17/2009


Daniel Krall

The romance novel, a static and predictable genre, is undergoing an evolution of sorts: storylines written by straight women for straight women . . . about gay men. Gay men are allowed to read them, of course--there's no gender ID check. But the authors want the books shelved with romance novels, not gay literature, and they are straight women writing the stories that they would want to read. Alex Beecroft, the author of False Colors, an "m/m romance" set in the mid-18th century British navy, doesn't see what the big deal is. "Whether your romance is m/f or m/m, love is the same," she writes in an e-mail from her home in England, "two people, heart and soul, fighting for something beautiful, something worth fighting for." Yes, but is it really a romance novel if there's not a heaving bosom?

The movie version of Brokeback Mountain is credited with ushering in this twist. Beecroft's publisher, Running Press, wrote in the book's publicity material, "The success of 2005's Brokeback Mountain demonstrated the lure of the subject for a female audience." Or maybe it demonstrated the lure of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Informal polls of straight women in the Baltimore/Washington area--i.e. conversations at parties attended by this writer--revealed that they loved the movie, but didn't feel aroused by it. Watching seemed to engage less of their imagination and stoke more sympathy than empathy. But reading requires imagination, which brings the reader's personal experience to bear, and this may provide False Colors with the opportunity to connect and arouse in a way that Brokeback Mountain didn't.

Beecroft's False Colors has many of the standard romance novel elements. Sexual tension is established in the first few pages. There are some bad double entendres: "his body seemed to pull towards the other man's as one pole of a magnet to the other." And when the boys finally get together, John is faux-resistant ("it would be terrible"), while Alfie is bound and determined ("He let go reluctantly, and only so he could peel off the rest of his clothes").

However, the pivotal points in the story are markedly different from an m/f romance. First, Alfie admits his attraction to John, who hasn't yet faced his own orientation, and John is embarrassed and demonstrably repulsed. Fifty pages later, John has his first homosexual experience; it is anonymous and disturbing for John, more realistic than romantic. As the climax of the book builds, John is asked to choose between his career and Alfie. It's 1762, and John can either become the captain of his own ship or he can risk the gallows by unsuccessfully defending Alfie against sodomy charges (John's ass is not in question here). This cynical reader rooted for him to take the promotion--it was just too hard to envision a happy ending. But of course John chooses love, and the resolution of the story does not disappoint.

It seems strange on the surface--gay male romance novels for straight women--but maybe this is just the latest iteration of the age-old against-the-odds, forbidden fruit love story. Whether it's the Capulet who can't be with the Montague, the princess who can't be with the stable boy, the beauty who can't be with the beast, the countless Hollywood leading couples who can't be together because someone is getting ready to marry another, or the two Georgian naval officers who will be hanged if they are discovered, isn't it the same basic story inspiring the romantic imaginations of women through the ages? They can't be together, so they must.

Another thing that seems strange is a straight woman writer who would leave her sex out of her love stories. Who is this woman with the gender-neutral name? Beecroft is a married mother of two. It was her idea, not some editor's or publisher's, to write these kind of stories. "I find it curious that people are surprised that a straight woman would want to write m/m romance, because for me it's such a natural thing," she writes. "It wasn't suggested to me by anyone. In fact, I started imagining stories in which the two heroes would get together pretty much as soon as I hit puberty."

Beecroft also sees her stories as opportunities for her to play with and transcend traditional gender roles. "M/M romance can be used to examine relationships which don't suffer from the same sort of built in power imbalances and gender role constraints that make m/f romance such a minefield," she writes. "And of course, unlike f/f which has the same advantage of equality, m/m allows the writer to use characters who are not mired in feminine gender roles either. So it has a big element of escapism to it, plus the advantage of two gorgeous heroes for the price of one."

So if the story is just a twist on forbidden fruit, and the author simply likes male characters and to be free of rigid male/female roles when writing romantic storylines, who is the audience for books like False Colors? In other words, who is brave enough to sell, purchase, read in a coffee shop, and discuss a romance novel with two brooding uniformed men on the cover? Running Press is advertising the book in romance-reader periodicals like Romantic Times and Affair de Coeur (these are actual magazines). Romantic Times claims to review every book that pays to advertise, but so far they have not reviewed False Colors. "That's not unusual," Beecroft writes." In fact that's RT's standard practice with m/m romance."

Originally, Borders and Barnes & Noble agreed to shelve False Colors with their other romantic fiction, but that hasn't worked out either. According to Beecroft, both booksellers immediately re-shelved the book in the much smaller GLBT section. But just as False Colors seemed to be facing market obscurity and the bookstore ghetto, Amazon gave it some free publicity.

In mid-April, as False Colors was being released and beginning to cross over to Amazon's historical romance bestseller list, Amazon dropped the ranking of tens of thousands of books, mostly with gay themes. According to the Wall Street Journal, books by E.M. Forster and Gore Vidal, along with Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain and False Colors were suddenly literary eunuchs. The public's response to what was dubbed "Amazonfail" was swift and Amazon quickly cried innocent mistake. Meanwhile, the cover of False Colors was splashed all over the reports, most significantly on Twitter, and the word was out. "The Amazonfail thing may, ironically enough, have been the best thing that could have happened to the book," Beecroft writes.

So the evolution is underway, complete with all the false starts and dead ends change brings. But the change is deceptively superficial. Whether m/m or m/f or f/f, the prosaic romance novel is still about escaping with characters who are, above all, true to themselves. Whether they have heaving bosoms or straining packages is of less consequence than whether they are heaving and straining against an oppressive society that would keep them apart. And if their equipment matches, the oppression multiplies, and the romantic-at-heart just might root for them even more.


Offline tizi17

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Re: News Coverage: 2009
« Reply #29 on: Jun 20, 2009, 02:13 AM »
oh thomas....  <^(
that made me smile...

http://ennisjack.com/index.php?topic=15197.90

a little..  *o)
but i had to...  ;)
".. a love that dare not speak its name.." oscar wilde