Momma's Boys

I probably shouldn't put up another Brokeback Mountain post, but I read something today that made me think of Jack Twist's mom. I've blogged about my folks' own reaction to the film -- they loved it -- and how it made me feel. All of this talk about parents makes me realize that when I talk about BBM, I talk about the Jack/Ennis relationship and the Husband/Wives relationship, and the Gays/Society relationship, but I haven't really touched on what means the most to me.

Not really being the marrying type, at least not yet, the love-interest stories are interesting to me but not wholly relatable. However, the exchange between Ennis and Jack's parents near the end of the film is something I can appreciate. (Haven't seen the film yet, have you homophobe? Get to it already!)

While my father ain't Jack's unemmotional pentecostal grump, I can appreciate Jack's mom, played wonderfully by Roberta Maxwell. What I appreciate most is how much she truly loved her son. It's clear they knew he was gay. It's clear that it's not what they wanted for him. But it's just as clear that it doesn't get in the way of a mother's love.

Everyone talks about BBM for the way it successfully portrays the burden of the closet on a gay man, his sham marriage, his wife and kids. What I don't hear a lot about his how the conflict of a parent's love and their own homophobia destroys them. Mrs. Twist was a devout Christian who was taught to believe that homosexuals were deviants, perverts, sinners against God. But she knew that her son -- a man she birthed, raised and loved -- could be none of those things. How did this homophobia interfere in her relationship with him? After he was taken from her prematurely, she longed for any connection to him.

Maybe this is one of the most poignant elements of the story. I love you Mom and Dad!

NOTE: If you like her performance, you might want to know a little more about Roberta Maxwell. She's quite the accomplished actor, and boy does she love the gays. She's appeared in: Brokeback Mountain, Queer as Folk, What Makes a Family, and Philadelphia.