Ang Lee's big gay tragic historical love story, Brokeback Mountain, was released internationally in late 2005 and early 2006. Lee's film told the story of two cowboys who fell in love while shepherding on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963. Although the film narrated a demonstrably American story, appeals to a socio-historical connection were widespread in Australia. Indeed, Brokeback Mountain's cinematic release in this country coincided with “Australia Day,” a national day of celebration in which beginnings, nationhood, and “settlement” are reaffirmed. In this article, we track the explosion of publicly-audible conversations that took place in Brokeback Mountain's wake in Australia in 2006. On the one hand, we seek to historicize this film; on the other, we also consider the political ways in which it historicized. As the “noise” about Brokeback Mountain became almost impossible to ignore in Australia, we noticed the film tended to be viewed as a cause for celebration. Through an analysis of the politics of historical stories and the gendered politics of emotion, we seek to complicate the notion that this film signified a radical departure from homophobic cinematic and cultural traditions.
2005 — The way we saw it. (2005, December) DNA, pp. 46–47.
2.
AckermanP. (2006, February 19). All eyes on the bride. Sunday Herald-Sun, p. E6.
3.
AdamsonA. Director (2005). The Chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe [Motion picture]. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
4.
AngelidesS. (2001). A history of bisexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
5.
BordoS. (1997). Twilight zones: The hidden life of cultural images from Plato to OJ. Berkeley: University of California Press.
6.
BrodH. (2006). They're bi shepherds, not gay cowboys: The misframing of Brokeback Mountain. The Journal of Men's Studies, 14(2), 252–253.
7.
Brokeback move criticised. (2006, January 13). Townsville Bulletin, p. 3.
8.
BrooyM. L. (2006, February 3). Raw hide's the real beef for Melbourne's cowboy crowd. The Age, p. 13.
9.
Burn Toast. (2006, January). DNA, p. 5.
10.
BurtonA. (2001). Thinking beyond the boundaries: Empire, feminism and the domains of history. Social History, 26(1), 60–71.
11.
BurtonA. (2003). Introduction: On the inadequacy and the indispensability of the nation. In BurtonA. (Ed.), After the Imperial turn: Thinking with and through the Nation (pp. 1–26). Durham and London: Duke University Press.
12.
ButlerJ. (1997). The psychic life of power: Theories in subjection. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
13.
ButlerJ. (2004). Undoing gender. New York: Routledge.
14.
CameronJ. Writer/Director (1997). Titanic [Motion picture]. United States: Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corporation.
15.
ChristopherJ. (2006, March 8). Oscar raises his eyebrows as actors get serious. The Age, p. 15.
16.
ClacherI. (2006, May). David a Big Brother favourite. Queensland Pride, p. 3.
17.
CondonB. Director (2004). Kinsey [Motion picture]. United States: Qwerty Films.
18.
CosicM. (2006, January 13). Ultra-selective moral crusaders. The Australian, p. 13.
19.
Cowboy Snub. (2006, January 13). The Australian, p. 3.
20.
Cowpokes to get “Brokeback.” (2006, February). Queensland Pride, p. 3.
21.
CravenP. (2006a, January 21). Men in chaps. The Age, p. 33.
22.
CravenP. (2006b, June 17). The truth is out there. The Australian, p. 27.
23.
CrayfordP. (2006, January 21). Love story from cinema's high ground. Australian Financial Review, p. 34.
24.
CremenC. (2006, February 25). New-fashioned love stories. The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 33.
25.
CurthoysA. (2003). We've just started making national histories, and you want us to stop already? In BurtonA. (Ed.), After the Imperial turn: Thinking with and through the Nation (pp. 70–89). Durham and London: Duke University Press.
26.
DamousiJ. (2002). The politics of grief and injury in Australian history. Australian Historical Studies, 118, 100–112.
27.
DentN. (2005, September). Jake of all trades. (not only) Blue, p. 22.
28.
DitzT. L. (2004). The new men's history and the peculiar absence of gendered power: Some remedies from early American gender history. Gender & History, 16(1), 1–35. DNA. (2005).
29.
DotyA. (1993). Making things perfectly queer: Interpreting mass culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
30.
DowS. (2006, February 3). Gay abandon. Sydney Morning Herald, p. 6.
31.
ElliotA. (2006, January 21). Brokeback bigots. The Age, p. 1.
32.
EngD. L. (2000, Summer). Melancholia in the Late Twentieth Century. Signs, 25(4), 1275–1281.
ForbesC. (2006, January 29). Full range of emotions. Sunday Herald-Sun, p. E9.
35.
FoucaultM. (1998). What is an author? In FaubionJ. (Ed.), Michel Foucault: Aesthetics, method, and epistemology (pp. 205–222). (HurleyRobert, Trans.). New York: The New Press.
36.
FraserJ. (2006, February 4). Strewth. The Australian, p. 14.
37.
FrearsS. Director (2005). Mrs Henderson Presents [Motion picture]. United Kingdom: BBC Films.
38.
GeorgeS. (2006, March 17). Crash, bang, wallop: Awards don't add up to ticket action. The Australian, p. 14.
39.
GibsonJ., & DickT. (2006, January 19). Wish you were queer … there's manliness and there's Manliness. Sydney Morning Herald, p. 22.
GrayJ. (1992). Men are from mars, women are from Venus: A practical guide for improving your communication and getting what you want in your relationships. London: Thornsons.
44.
HawkerP. (2006, January 25). Ledger extraordinary in his depiction of pain of ties that bind. The Age, p. 15.
45.
HeardJ. (2006, January 20). Fear not and feel the love. The Australian, p. 8.
46.
JacksonP. Director (2005). King Kong [Motion picture]. New Zealand & United States: Universal Pictures.
47.
JagoseA. R. (1996). Queer theory. Carlton: Melbourne University Press.
48.
JohnsonC. (2002). Heteronormative citizenship and the politics of passing. Sexualities, 5(3), 317–336.
49.
JohnsonP. (2005). Love, heterosexuality, and society. London; New York: Routledge.
50.
KnightD. (2006, March 1). Minority report. Sydney Morning Herald, p. 3.
51.
LeeA. Director (2005). Brokeback Mountain [Motion picture]. United States: Focus Features.
52.
LevettS. (2006, March 1). The outsiders. Sydney Morning Herald, p. 4.
53.
LusetichR. (2006a, March 7). Lovers spurned by Oscar — Academy Awards. The Australian.
54.
LusetichR. (2006b, March 7). Memoirs of a lone Aussie winner. The Australian, p. 14.
55.
ManelisM. (2006, July 1). Devil may care. Herald-Sun, p. W8.
56.
McMahonN. (2006, March 4). Meet Heath's mate, the real gay cowboy. Sydney Morning Herald, p. 1.
57.
MinghellaA. Director (1996). The English Patient [Motion picture]. United States: Miramax Films.
58.
MitchellP. (2006, January 27). Love not sex is the key to Brokeback Mountain. AAP General News.
59.
NobleK. Producer (2006). Big Brother [Television Series]. Brisbane: Network Ten.
60.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. (2006, December 23). The Townsville Bulletin, p. 42.
61.
PatemanC. (1988). The sexual contract. Cambridge: Polity Press.
62.
PintoS., & BoucherL. (2006). Fighting for legitimacy: Masculinity, political voice and Ned Kelly. Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, 10(1), 1–29.
63.
ReinerR. Director (2005). Rumour Has It [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.
64.
RicoeurP. (1984). Time and narrative. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
65.
RogersC. (2006, May 5). Cowboy romance treads a fine line. The Centralian Advocate, p. 38.
66.
RoperM. (2005). Slipping out of view: Subjectivity and emotion in gender history. History Workshop Journal, 59, 57–72.
67.
RussoV. (1987). The celluloid closet: Homosexuality in the movies. New York: Harper & Row.
68.
RyanT. (2006, January 29). The secrets of mountain men. The Sunday Age, p. 10.
69.
SavranD. (1998). Taking it like a man: White masculinity, masochism, and contemporary American culture. Princeton and Chichester: Princeton University Press.
70.
SchwartzL. (2006, January 11). Breaking camp with a love that dare not speak his name. The Age, p. 5.
71.
SedgwickE. K. (1985). Between men: English literature and male homosocial desire. Cambridge: Polity.
SomersM. (2001). Narrativity, narrative identity and social action: Rethinking English working-class formation. In RobertsG. (Ed.), The narrative and history reader (pp. 354–374). London & New York: Routledge.
75.
SpielbergS. Director (2005). Munich [Motion picture]. United States: DreamWorks.
76.
SpivakG. C. (1999). A critique of postcolonial reason: Toward a history of the vanishing present. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
StannardD. (2006, January 15). No gay cowboys? I'd beg to differ. Sunday Mail, p. 7.
79.
StrattonD. (2006a, February 4). Hot shots. The Australian, p. 21.
80.
StrattonD. (2006b, January 28). No gay cowboys, just a beautiful, sad love story. The Australian, p. 22.
81.
SullivanA. (2006, March 1). The love that dares to show its face. The Australian, p. 14.
82.
ToplinR. B. (2003). Cinematic history: Where do we go from here?The Public Historian, 25(3), 79–91.
83.
TwomeyC. (2006). Problems in Paradise: Gender, race and historical “truth” in Paradise Road. Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, 10(1), 30–52.
84.
Vent your spleen. (2006, February 14). MX, p. 12.
85.
WalkerS. (2006, January 21). A big screen breakthrough. Queensland Pride, p. 9.
86.
WattsR. (2006, January 26). Brokeback breaks the straight jacket. The Age, p. 15.
