“Brokeback Mountain”: CSUDH Shares

Screenwriter and producer Diana Ossana appeared at Claudia Hampton Lecture Hall on the CSU Dominguez Hills campus on Friday, March 3, before winning an Oscar with co-screenwriter Larry McMurtry the following Sunday at the 78th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood. Her talk, “Is the Success of ‘Brokeback Mountain’ a Sign of the Times?” described the team’s challenges of bringing their adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story to the screen.

“The reason I did this was for people to see the movie,” says Ossana, after being greeted by a large audience of students, faculty, staff, and members of the community, who came from as far as San Diego to see her. “Coming here was such a nice respite from the Oscar vortex that you get sucked into. This is real, to me, this is real. I had a great time.”

The CSUDH community expressed its appreciation to Ossana and to Dateline for Ossana and McMurtry's efforts in bringing to life what many feel is a groundbreaking film.

My hope is that it would bring a great deal of understanding. Being on the cynical side, I think people who are entrenched in homophobia, the people who really need to see it, probably won’t. But I would hope it would at least break that wall. We heard today that it is kind of an “Ah-ha,” that gay people are capable of genuine love. This understanding will perhaps engender respect for that type of relationship.
Lindie Banks, member, Omnilore Learning in Retirement Program, College of Extended Education

It will show that not only straight people can hurt and love. We’re the same people, just because we have a different sexual orientation doesn’t mean anything.
Jesus Barboza, freshman (History)

It will bring more attention to those issues because of the fact that we are all constructed to have passion and to be able to show some form of affection. You can identify what that emotional state is, no matter who is the object of that affection. People who look at a movie like this with a degree of sympathy and without bias, will realize that it is possible for men to have affection and appreciation for each other. That’s one step in helping out the situation of what appears to be a lack of insight into the gay community and what men in that community typically feel for each other.
Douglas Borcoman, instructional design specialist, College of Health
and Human Services

It’s a really important film, to display not so much the stereotypical point of view of the queer community. It’s exciting to see movies like this out there. But I also think it could also be a double-edged sword, it could bring a lot of negative attention to our community and as it is, we have a lot of stigmas and discrimination to deal with. But it’s a good step forward.
Carolina Couto, senior (Psychology/Philosophy)

It gives a lot of insight into the lives of people who maybe the general public hasn’t thought about before, gay men who have to hide themselves and don’t feel free to express their feelings. I hope that gives people something to think about, I think it will.
Jeff Hanna, San Diego

This is an eye-opener for everyone, so that they can see that there are people who hurt like them, and that it doesn’t just happen in heterosexual relationships. Maybe they can’t perceive it in real life, but this is an easier way for them to be able to see it, on the screen.
Lizet Hernandez, sophomore (Liberal Studies)

The film has brought a great deal of exposure to the issue. There are a lot more people who have had to look at how the way the stereotype has been broken by the fact that it’s cowboys in the movie. It’s made it’s impact by exposing the issue and it’s likely to spawn some other kinds of artistic expressions that will broaden the discussion. These things don’t change in one generation, obviously, it’s going to take several generations before homophobia is dealt with in a positive way.
Gary Levine, associate vice president, Academic and Community Partnership

Everyone is talking about it, everyone knows about it. I still think that the people who need to watch it won’t watch it. I was thinking earlier that we’re living in a generation where gay rights are expanding. Twenty years from now, we’re going to look back like we do now on the 1960s and 1970s and the problems they had.
Ravi Patel, senior (Graphic Design)

Anytime you can take a stereotype and make it a real person, you can get more empathy. People react differently to individuals than they do to groups.
John L. Pierce, graphic designer, University Communications and Public Affairs

When a person yells, no one really listens. Those other films are doing a lot of yelling, a lot of preaching. "Brokeback" doesn’t do that, it whispers to you. It shows the whole world that gay men do love and hurt. It is a myth, even in the gay community, that we don’t. We’re forever hearing, “You’re gay, why aren’t you sleeping around?” That was something that was done in the 1970s and 1980s and really done out of shock value. What I loved about “Brokeback” is that it said that men, especially gay men, were not like that at all. The movie doesn’t preach to you, you wind up preaching to yourself.
Johnny Pujols, Los Angeles

Just going around in everyday life with people knowing that I am gay, and for them to openly ask questions that they would not have otherwise attempted, is because of the crossing-over of this film. I believe the substance of the work will speak volumes and carry through years from now.
Tomas Tamayo, assistant professor of dance

From the historical perspective, the movie will open up dialogue for people to be able to discuss these issues. Homophobia is still around. The Christian right is trying to take away the rights of gay people and gay marriage. It’s a very timely movie.
Joseph Yellin, senior (Psychology)

Photos above: Students, faculty, staff and the community gathered in Claudia Hampton Lecture Hall to hear Oscar-nominee Diana Ossana tell the story behind bringing "Brokeback Mountain" to the screen.

Tomas Tamayo, assistant professor of dance, presents Ossana with a commendation from CSU Dominguez Hills and a gift of appreciation.