Comments on: Davis: Keeping the Movies Safe for Straight Guys

By: AliDavis

AliDavis — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:38:01 +0000

Medved did praise the movie when it first came out – and praised conservatives for being so swell as not to try to shut it down.

But he only did that while he thought it was going to stay a marginalized, art house movie.

Once Brokeback started getting played in mainstream theaters to mainstream audiences and getting nominated for big awards, Medved did some very public hand-wringing about how the movie’s publicity didn’t adequately warn people about how they might see some gayness in it.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2006/01/the_mountain_co.html

http://www.newshounds.us/2005/12/20/oreilly_claims_media_using_brokeback_mountain_to_indoctrinate.php

By: Trace

Trace — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:11:20 +0000

Now you’re not going to find me agreeing with 99% of Michael Medved’s positions. He is the only Right Wing commentator that I can even stomach listening to. (He does well on CNN.)

But Ali, you fail to mention that Medved actually liked Brokeback Mountain. He recommended it for adult audiences.

I generally agree with most of Medved’s movie reviews. He tends to review them based upon their expected audience. (ie – SciFi for SciFi fans, fantasy for fantasy fans) He will note language, violence, sex, etc. It’s not simply a “gay” thing.

Ya really should be a little more informed on how someone does their job before criticizing them.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:22:47 +0000

Straight people kiss?…….Yewwww

By: Dr. Peter

Dr. Peter — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:01:21 +0000

Ms. Ali Davis, you must be (are) one of the wittiest, razor sharp, most intelligent woman on the planet Earth! I love your work—always. And a very special thank you for your wry comments in between clips of bringing us The Rachel Maddow Show. WE love you both!

By: Drewski

Drewski — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:48:21 +0000

@ScottNH–HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Was in Columbus last weekend for an, uh, event that, uh, might’ve had horny gay men as its primary constituency. The staff were cool. Got back to work, and yeah, I heard somebody make some comment like what you described. It’s always fun when the guy who says it is a guy you seem to have a strangely confusing rapport with…almost sexual energy…not that THAT ever happens when one of the guys is, uh, “str8.”

@Jacquemar et al–I know str8 women who like to watch guys make out. The women who like it are typically self-conscious, self-aware, and strong (my informal assessment). Some chick wants to watch me with a dude? Hell yeah! Maybe join in too–nothin’ wrong with that.

@Leeanne–again, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Not that anybody would wanna let Medved on the Gay Bus…he’d bring that Misery Funk Cloud with him and put everybody on a down.

Ali–there’s one str8-guy movie stereotype you left out. Of course men don’t cry at movies, right–unless it’s heroic, like “Brian’s Song.” You can cry about sports…right?…I mean, you’re not a homo if you cry about a dying football player?…

By: Yukkuri

Yukkuri — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:37:15 +0000

If there’s straight sex or stripping involved I generally have to look away. Not because it disgusts me, but because I end up wondering what in the world everyone else in the room will think of me.

My mother will try and make some cutesy remark to embarrass me because she’s incredibly annoying despite the fact she knows I’m gay. My stepdad, who doesn’t, will probably start thinking I’m straight.

..even then I just don’t care to see either of them in general, they just make the situation a bit complicated.

By: ScottNH

ScottNH — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:35:06 +0000

Adding Anne Rice and Patricia Nell Warren to Dermot’s list.

By: ScottNH

ScottNH — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:29:09 +0000

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Time to call the homophobes on the carpet – why do they obsess about gay lovin’ so much? I used to work in hotels and invariably two businessmen sharing a hotel room would make a big scene at the front desk – ‘TWO beds, please!!! I like you, man, but not THAT way!’ – to which I always wanted to reply that I was gay myself and the farthest thing from my imagination was the idea of the two of them getting it on (OK, with VERY rare exception) – but apparently it was right there FRONT AND CENTER for them. The extent of the hypocrisy is amazing. How many titillating ‘Business Trips of Shame’ does the average salesman – or movie critic – take per year?

By: Dermot

Dermot — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:24:17 +0000

The presumption that straight women don’t like to see men making out is always kinda funny to me. Sure, maybe there are a lot of women who don’t. But I know of a lot of women who do. Their ranks include writers of gay male fiction, artists of gay male romance art, and more or less the entire community of Japanese “yaoi” producers along with their mainly female fans.

In fact, for a perfect example of how influential straight women can be in the process, you need not look further than Brokeback Mountain itself: Book written by Annie Proulx (a straight woman), and screenplay co-written by Diana Ossana (another straight woman). Was Michael Medved aware of that when he proclaimed that fictional gay male relationships could not appeal to straight women?

By: kerry

kerry — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:53:20 +0000

Medved is has always been a conservative bore.I clued into his intolerance years ago,and have no interest, on his take on movies.