Audience Laughter During the Gay Scenes in Brokeback Mountain? — Page 2

You can't consider much of the public to be the great unwashed who need to have their minds changed about gay people by seeing this movie and then complain about them behaving like the great unwashed.

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CS - something along the 'party line' of men needing football/sports in their lives.

I wouldn't grind away too hard on audiences laughter at BBM...

...think about this (and it's Broadway-related!!!)...

When "A Streetcar Named Desire" first went into previews, Blanche's violent rape scene got laughs as well. LAUGHS. Marlon Brando was beside himself. He was certain it was his fault and that he just pretty much sucked in the part. He was extremely frustrated and tortured about it. Why could they possibly be laughing at something so RAW like this??? His co-star Jessica Tandy explained it to him this way: She said they were nervous, and caught off-guard, and didn't know WHAT to do with their emotions. People laugh, almost as a knee-jerk reaction... a defense mechanism when they can't figure out what else to do. They're trying to "process" what they are watching and their own confused and mixed feelings all at the same time. And they laugh, and even smirk.

Brando said that for MOST of the run of "Streetcar" (don't forget this was the late '40s), the rape seen ALWAYS had people in the audience letting loose with "nervous laughter."

Granted the laughter you hear while watching BBM may not sound "nervous" to you... but that's exactly what they're doing... they're "laughing it off" because they haven't really figured out how to react to seeing (and possibly "caring" about) two gay cowboys in a movie.

I wouldn't get angry or upset by it. Hey, they were interested enough (for whatever their reasons) to buy a ticket and see this film. I give 'em points for that. The laughter is immature, yes... but it's a valid and honest reaction to something very new and unsettling to them. I would cut them some slack, and not stew too much about it. Give them a chance, and be patient. It's a small step in the right direction, at the very least, that they showed up at all.

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Well, I never heard "hysterical laughter" during Schindler's List, but I remember people openly sobbing during it. I mean LOUD, gut-wrenching sobs. A few had to leave the theatre to collect themselves.

Human emotions are very complex and powerful. And we (all) can lose control of them at times.

I'm sure the guys who laughed or snickered during BBM are thinking about it still. I'd bet money on it. That movie stays with you, long after it's over. It's one of the best things about it.

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I laughed out loud during the scene where Jack shot at the coyote, missed completely, it jumped and ran away.

This is coming from someone who wanted to move to Montana and save the wolves as a child, and also who played way too much Oregon Trail.

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JACXR71 --- The "nervous laughter" is from something short circuiting inside them emotionally. It can be homophobia, repulsion, arousal, fear, or anything else... I'm not trying to say what's going on inside ALL individuals heads and hearts while they're watching this. Everyone is different. They're all trying to process some sudden emotion at this point in the story... and it's short-circuiting on them... because many people in our society haven't dealt with how they feel about watching and/or caring about two gay lead characters in a film (in this case).

But the bottom line it that it's "nervous laughter." What's the cause of it? Many different reasons, for many different people. And yeah, stupidity might be one of them... but those people are not laughing because it's genuinely funny... they're laughing because they can't figure out what else to do inside their (underdeveloped) heads. But those are the same geniuses that laugh at train wrecks and murders.

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Updated On: 1/22/06 at 12:07 PM

I'm having a problem in understanding laughing at someone in real pain. I hope it never happens to me.

Cruel-love your av. He's an idol of mine!

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Your assumption is that laughter is aimed AT someone, which is an incorrect assumption.

Didn't you ever talk to someone who fought in Vietnam? One guy I know said that when the bullets were hitting the ground right next to him (and yes, he was shot), his first reaction was, "Gee, just like a John Wayne movie." He could see the humor of the situation.

Updated On: 1/31/06 at 12:32 PM

LaurenB, I agree that we laugh at many horrific incidents later, much later after they happened. We're able to look back and laugh. But to laugh while they are happening-well, I just don't have as much understanding as some of you do. I don't get it.

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DG-I'm not even talking about the film. I consider laughing at parts of a film which are meant to be taken seriously much less hurtful than seeing a person in real pain and laughing right at that moment. To me, that might be more hurtful than the pain. I have no understanding of that whatsoever.

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Laugther can be a terrific defense mechanism... and a very good one to keep one's "perceived" sanity. These people in the theatre are experiencing something they're not used to and it's throwing them off. Laughter is their way

Two random examples...

Ever watch M*A*S*H? The doctors (as characters) aren't joking in the operating room just to be cocky or to entertain us as the audience. Or because they think that someone arriving in the O.R. with bullets in them, or a leg shot off, is the right time to crack a joke. They're using (sometimes WAY twisted) humor at that moment just to keep their sanity. (Brilliant writing choice, by the way.)

Bonnie Hunt has often said that when she was working as a nurse with terminally ill patients that they had the BEST senses of humor... over everyone she's ever met, watched or worked with. These people knew FUNNY. They could and did laugh about anything, even the most irreverent or taboo stuff. Just to keep their sanity while they were slowly dying. She said that she learned the most from them... about humor, and about life.

Humor is a very powerful human tool.

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Jane - if you're talking in just a general sense - in the REAL world with REAL people in REAL pain - then I'm pretty much with you completely. I felt very 'out of the loop' during the "Schadenfreude" number in AVENUE Q, as I just don't get laughing at the misfortune of others.

YouWantitWhen???? --- Bravo! A very Yoda-wise post.



I'm glad to read this. The "theory" of gay acceptance and the "practice" of it, are two different things, and it's tough for people to own up to it. Thanks for being so honest here.

(...said the "homo" to the "straight.")

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