Hi B.W.!
I'd say my feelings towards the film have changed very little over the years- I'm still as amazed today as I had been back then at its beauty, quality and complexity and how well it still holds up (can't believe it's been 16 years already...how time flies).
It was unlike any film I'd seen before and it kept drawing me in- I just couldn't stop watching it. I remember staying up many a night replaying some of the scenes and then coming back to this forum to see what others had written, going back to the film, returning here for more analyses and on and on and on until the first rays of the morning light. I was captivated for months. Then something happened, I suppose I'd maxed out on the "feels" and I haven't watched it or read the story since. Until a few weeks ago, that it. So that's how come me end up here, as Ennis would say!
One thing that did change is my attitude towards life in general, I think. Happens to us all with time, I suppose. Let's say I used to empathize with Jack a lot more back then, I couldn't fully appreciate the complexity of Ennis' character and even though I adored them both, I sort of resented Ennis in a way for being so closed off and difficult. This time round it's much easier to see things his way.
I'm not sure. Like you've said, I don't think the impact would be quite the same. I can't really see two straight actors playing these roles today, to begin with. Also, I feel like more and more LGBT+ themed films end on a slightly more positive (or at least not as tragic) note these days- which is great, God knows we've had enough of the "bury your gays" trope. But Brokeback was always so much more than that anyway.
Though I am not LGBTQIA+ myself, the few LGBT-themed films that I've seen like
"PHILADELPHIA" (1990), Gus Van Sant's
"MILK" (2008) or Kimberly Peirce's
"BOYS DON'T CRY" (1999), I liked. Of course,
"BOYS DON'T CRY" is based on a tragic true story about a young adult transgender man who was one of three innocent people who were brutally murdered in a small town in Nebraska in the 1990s by people whom he thought were his "friends", and all because they had such a hatred and lack of understanding of his gender identity; which helped give the film a bit of its power, the fact that it is based on real people and actual events. I've always liked Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny as actresses.
"MILK" was also inspired by a historical person and on real events, which gave that film a degree of power. Harvey Milk's political career and murder are practically the stuff of American social and political legend. I've seen numerous films that have LGBT characters but they are not specifically LGBT-themed films. But none of the LGBT-themed films that I have seen have managed to equal or surpass the emotional feelings that Ang Lee's
"BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN" stirred in me.
I can't imagine anyone else playing Jack Twist or Ennis Del Mar in the way that Heath Ledger or Jake Gyllenhaal did, gay or heterosexual. Those two actors just put a little bit of their hearts and souls into these characters So many of the cast members who worked on this film were longtime fans of Ang Lee's previous films and felt the script was "perfectly written". To them, it was a "dream project". The film dealt with issues that Ang Lee had explored in some of his earlier movies. He was the right person to direct this film. Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry were the right people to write the script for the film. Without them, there may not have ever been a film adaptation of Annie Proulx's short story. No films studio wanted to produce the movie, even though as time went on it was known as one of Hollywood's greatest unproduced screenplays. And yet, the characters in the film, none of them are real people. They never were real people, and they never will be real people. Yet the story of Ennis and Jack's doomed love affair reflects cultural and societal realities that many same-sex couples and individual LGBTQIA+ people have lived through and continue to live through.
I can understand why it is important for LGBT+ folks to see stories about LGBT people that have happy endings. But, I would say that Ang Lee's
"BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN" does end on a hopeful note despite some of the tragic elements that are implied in the film. The film is so subtle, and doesn't shy away from the difficulties that the two men face in their everyday lives. It doesn't attempt to answer the hard questions it poses. But, the film does end with some sliver of hope for Ennis.
