LZ wrote:

Ang Lee is from Taiwan, not China. In his comment, he did not refer to film-making in any part of Asia. What sort of moron are you?

Editors Note: Thanks, but we didn't say Ang Lee is from China. We just used China as an example because it was in Shanghai that he made him comments.

posted at June 21, 2006 03:26 PM

Kenn wrote:

Maybe the writer of the article on Ang Lee left some important information out that would help the readers to understand why we should consider his statements as socially insensitive. It makes sense to me that he would film the sex scenes first since the actors would come to this scene fresh and less intimately bonded to each other as they would after several days on set. The initial sex scenes serve as contrasts to the tenderness and intimacy portrayed by the characters towards one another later in the film. I value the film for what it says about gay love. If i want to see a film about gay sex i have plenty of hot, gay porn elsewhere to view.

His comments about the universaility of *Brokeback Mountain* only empowers gay men by reaffirming their stories as ones that have values that everyone can identify with, ones that enrich society as a whole. It also positions *Brokeback Mountain* as a mainstream film and *not* a gay exploitation film.

Though i feel that his comments on Hollywood focus more on the problem than the solution i don't necessarily think of them as verbal blunders. Perhaps Mr. Lee should have more personal accountability and take responsibility for any sell-out films he has made to further his career.

The throwing up of China as the obvious alternative to Hollywood film seems more of a "foot in mouth" comment. It seems a little more kitsch than postmodern and reminds me of the Us or Them diatribes of the Reagan 80s. I would wager that Mr. Lee had, moreso, venues such as Sundance and IFC in mind (both cable competitors with Bravo).

And why did the writer of the article leave Ang Lee's second film *The Wedding Banquet* off of the list of films? It would seem to have particular relevance for a gay, lesbian, bi, transgender themed website to mention that his second film also had a gay male couple as main characters. Why does the writer of the article want to focus negatively on a person who has chosen to treat gay stories in his work in a positive and universally valuable way?

Not that i, myself, want to seem like an ungrateful guest in this venue. I like a lot of the articles i've so far viewed on this site and am glad that i have the chance to put in my own queer 3 cents.

Kenn

Editors note: Wedding Banquet was left off this brief summary of Ang Lee's career, but so was Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. We're equal-opportunity editors here and cannot list every project Lee has been invovled with.

Yes, filming the sex scenes could have been a strategic move to keep the actors fresh. But Lee has said he did it because he didn't want his actors to think about what they were doing because otherwise they would get scared. Scared? Just the word sounds like the guys had something to be afraid of, namely kissing another guy.

"Brokeback Mountain" was almost universally praised by critics. The film was almost universally loved by audiences. But the word "almost" is key. Some critics didn't love it. Some audiences both gay and straight didn't like it. It's a big world: we just want to make room for a diversity of opinion.

Thanks for writing.

posted at June 22, 2006 08:03 PM

Dwayne wrote:

This is a one sided and unessary "post" or "blog" or whatever you want to call it. Ang Lee is entitled to his opinion about a system that everyone criticizes. Is he different because he wasn't born in the U.S.? I mean what is the point in even saying that?

Ed's note: Of course Ang Lee is entitled to his opinion. Where/when did we say he wasn't? When did we question where he was born? When did we even say where he was born -- because that doesn't matter.

posted at June 22, 2006 09:21 PM

Chris wrote:

I am from HK. I watched a TV interview he did in Taiwan, he claimed making a chinese movie is much much much more difficult than making that in Hollywood, as the infrastructure and system in the Chinese movie industry was far less developed than Hollywood. He was very exhausted and was sitting in wheel chairs for quite a while after filming CTHD. Now I could understand why he made such comment - First off, obviously to please the mainland chinese, and secondly to bargain for more autonomy for creating a movie his way, instead of the mode of the hollywood. Same as what he did in Taiwan to illustrate what the chinese movie industry to really improve themselves.

posted at June 23, 2006 12:05 PM