The (De-)Construction of the Western Genre and the Expression of Masculinity in 'Brokeback Mountain'

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Ruhr-University of Bochum, language: English, abstract: The movie 'Brokeback Mountain', directed by Ang Lee and published in the year 2005, tells the story of two young men, Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, who are hired to look after a flock of sheep on 'Brokeback Mountain'. The two discover an intense sexual attraction. But because of social limitations, the two have to maintain their heterosexual facade. Ennis marries Alma and Jack marries Lureen. However, over a period of twenty years, Ennis and Jack contrive to meet periodically for trips to 'Brokeback Mountain'. 'Brokeback Mountain' is often depicted as the first gay cowboy movie or gay western movie. In this term paper we firstly constitute the historical background of 'Brokeback Mountain'. For the recapitulation of the GLTB history we will use the book Queer America. A GLBT History of the 20th century by Vicki Eaklor which is interesting as it precisely describes how queer activism developed from 1890 to 2005.