Advertising the Closet

Monday night, after the holiday's had officially ended, DB and I decided to take in a movie. After much decision and a game of Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo. We decided the Mo's one and struck off to see Brokeback Mountain. The buzz that this film has generated, as well as the Golden Globes nominations are well placed. We both enjoyed the movie and were moved, not only by the love story, but by the stories of the others whose lives were intertwined with the two central characters.

This post is intended not to be another wordy review of the film itself, but about the uncomfortable surprise I had during the advertisements before the film. Let me start by saying that I am opposed, completely, to commercials before a movie. My thought is that you have already paid for the movie. If we will have to sit through commercials, then the movie should be free.

But what really disturbed me was a carefully placed commercial just before the movie began. It wasn't for Coke or Reebok. No, it was for the National Guard. My first thought was, 'Do these people know who the audience for this movie is?' My second thought was one of outrage. I am having a hard time digesting the audacity of advertising a government group that refuses to allow open homosexuals to join, before a movie that is about the heartbreak caused by those who have to live their lives in the closet.

I'm not sure where the real blame lies here, but my thought is that it lies with Loew's. It's reprehensible to lure gay patrons in with a story that speaks to the troubles that many have gone through, and then ask them to go back into the closet to join the National Guard.

I am left wondering if my fellow theater-goers shared my outrage.