Landscape ecologist Gordon Brent Ingram observes that, “like most other environmental amenities in late capitalism, queer space is increasingly commodified.” Exacerbating this queer experience of a shrunken public sphere is what Ingram calls the “‘homophobia by design’” of nature-based venues such as public parks and beaches. In this talk, I assess Ang Lee’s film Brokeback Mountain (2005) as a commentary on this contemporary reality – in which sexual “liberation” entails a retreat to the private sphere, and, more specifically, a privatized relationship to the environment. I read Brokeback against the much lighter text it briefly incorporates, the 1964 beach romp Surf Party; I compare how the films shed light on the relationship between the expression of unruly desire (queer on the one hand, teenage on the other) and access to public natural space.

Faculty Research Forum is a forum for talks by our faculty and the occasional guest on humanities and social science topics of interest to interdisciplinary audiences.  These forums are sponsored by the Commonwealth Center with assistance from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Faculty Research Forums are held in the Bingham Humanities Building, Room 300 and begin at 3:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.