Another RIP
As I’m sure is already well known, Heath Ledger died the other day. He was 28. When I went to my husband and said ‘guess who’s dead under thirty’ his first guess was Brittany Spears. My first guess would have been someone like Amy Winehouse, who, by the way, entered rehab today. I don’t think any of us could have guessed Heath Ledger.
It’s going to make seeing the new Batman movie more emotional. I’ve heard his performance as the Joker is haunting.
The Joker isn’t why so many of us sighed over him. That popularity had far more to do with cowboy hats and flannel shirts.
I made my husband take me to see Brokeback Mountain. He agreed because he loves me and was one of several very pained looking husbands in the theater. The movie was good, groundbreaking, sexy, romantic and all that it had been whispered about but it also dragged slowly along at points and when we look back now, really didn’t change the movie industry a great deal. Oh sure, fag-gate on Grey’s Anatomy wouldn’t have made such a splash maybe and maybe more people like Neil Patrick Harris would still be firmly in the closet but nothing really has changed. There hasn’t been another Brokeback made since.
I don’t live within the same universe as hollywood. What I saw in our small little corner of the world while waiting for Brokeback to start, was a theater filled with middle aged women. Not teens, not the standard demographic of yaoi fans, not twenty somethings or gay men. 50 + married, white women. In small groups or with sighing husbands.
To me, that’s the legacy of Brokeback and in a way it’s Heath Ledger’s as well. It’s proof that the craving for our brand of romance isn’t a mere three or four years old, lurking out there, namelessly waiting for cowboys to kiss.
As much as we adore pretty boys, none of us wish them to check out while still pretty. Heath Ledger gave us something other actors were too timid to attempt. For that fictionalized slice of reality, and of our own hearts, thank you Mr. Ledger.
January 25th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Yeah, all of my girl friends were heartbroken. He was really good in 10 Things I Hate About You. And I wouldn’t miss seeing him play the Joker for anything.
RIP Heath, you sexy man you.
-Sam
February 12th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Well, at least your corner of the world showed the movie when it came out. I had to wait for the dvd because our small minded community didn’t run it. And yes, I’m one of the 50+ married white women. Why is it that no one ever reads the ‘don’t take the following drugs together or with alcohol’ warning anymore? Another one gone, that might have made a difference…
So sad.