A few weeks ago, I was driving home from work and I thought I might pick up a few videos since it was supposed to rain all day. "Brokeback Mountain" had just come to DVD two days before, and I included it in the 2 videos I had chosen. There were about 16 copies of the film at the video store and I was the only one in the general Ravenel area that had rented a copy. I thought this a bit bizarre. I opted not to rent "Capote" at the same time, because I knew I would be placed on some list or lynched or burned or something. I took the videos to the counter (I think I also had "The Chronicles of Narnia") and the lady told me if I rented 3 I got the 4th free. Of course this was such a great deal I went off to find 2 more videos.
About 10 seconds later, I heard the lady say "You know what this is about don't you?"
I shot her a smug, condescending smile and replied with only "Yah"
"Well there are a lot of scenes in this film that are not suitable for children and I just wanted to let you know"
"It got nominated for a boatload of awards, and I heard it is an excellent film. Besides, I don't have any kids and I don't think the dogs will mind." I replied.
At that point, she started back-tracking. She said she liked the movie, but her husband would never "watch anything like that", etc.
I was tempted to grab "The Crying Game" and "TransAmerica" , but I'd already seen the former and the latter was not yet out on video.
I picked up "Kong" and "Harry Potter" and left.
I thought about this encounter a lot. It was genuinely harmless, but it is a good example of the small minds that are still very much alive in small town America.
By the way, this Jewish redneck from Georgia (living in SC) thought "Brokeback Mountain" was an excellent film.