Our campus Waterstones is nothing like your Borders. Or your MPH. Or your Kinokuniya. There are no endless rows of shelves with books on them, or nice comfy sofas where you can sit and while away the afternoon. I don't think there is even much carpeting, nor nice hidden spots where you can park yourselves for a spot of free reading. No, in terms of layout, our campus Waterstones is probably a lot like the Smart Bookshop at Bangi Utama.

But it did have a centerpiece that displayed a healthy selection of books on the 3-for-2 offer (that is, three books for the price of two, meaning the cheapest book is free, and not three books for the price of two pounds, just in case you were wondering). And in that selection was Annie Proulx's Close Range, a collection of short stories that included the one (of the same name) that became the movie Brokeback Mountain.

How to read for free

And because I wasn't going to spend eight quid on a book to read a story that was only thirty pages long, I figured I had to do it for free. (No I did not steal the book). Over the span of a week, trying not to catch the suspicious eye of the bookstore manager, I sneaked a few pages here and there... and voila, it was done. I now had part of the upper hand in trying to figure out exactly what the fuss what about.

I had seen the movie a week or so earlier legally, that is, by paying for it and sitting down in a cinema. Amidst the cringing of the two lads who were watching it with me, I managed to enjoy the film but it got me thinking. What indeed made movies Oscar contender material? What was it about Brokeback Mountain that seemed to have the critics and members of various film academies and/ or journalists giving it the two thumbs up? Obviously I couldn't perform a fair assessment without reading the story first, hence my hide and seek game with the Waterstones manager.

Tragedy, obviously, seems to play a major part in films that win awards. Million Dollar Baby. Titanic. Schindler's List. Braveheart. The English Patient. All elements of tragedy well embedded within, in varying proportions. Brokeback Mountain is nothing if not tragic. A tale of true love lost because of circumstance. Two people who could never be with each other, because it just wasn't the way things were. They didn't just have their community against them, they had the world at large disapproving their affairs. It was doomed from the word go. Ah, how not to evoke tears.

But would have Brokeback Mountain worked if it wasn't a tale of two gay cowboys? (Or perhaps, two gay shepherds, as argued by its producer when he stepped up to accept the BAFTA for Best Picture). If it was a heterosexual story of forbidden love, would we have wiped our snots with our sleeves and dab away at the stray tears falling down our faces, I wonder.

If it was the gay factor, then perhaps what makes a good movie is its ability to challenge the perceptions of those watching it. Someone once told me there are a limited number of stories in the world. What makes it good or bad is how we tell them. How we manipulate circumstance to weave what seems to be a different tale, but still appeals to everyone because its basis however subtle appeals to all. I agree with that. I recently watched Saving Face, which tackled the issue of homosexuality within a conservative Chinese-Asian community living in America. (I know, I know, what is it with all these gay movies?) But beneath all that, what was the basic theme? Filial piety. Tale as old as Oedipus himself.

One movie that perhaps asked many questions of its viewers was Crash. An ensemble piece, the idea behind the story was to portray a real human ugliness: racism. Set in Los Angeles, the centerpiece was a car crash, and how the lives of those affected by it revolved around each other without their realizing it; and how their prejudices play into everything they do, like second nature.

Xenophobia

I think we're all racist, just a little bit. We have issues with difference. Humans don't like things that challenge their comfort zones. Of course that then depends on how we define our comfort zones which is why people who have grown up mixing with people from all races find it easier to tolerate difference: their comfort zones already embraces this.

Racism and homosexuality, interestingly, became the point of comparison for a friend of mine after watching Brokeback Mountain.

"I didn't particularly enjoy those graphic scenes," she confided. "It quite turned me off. Does this mean I am homophobic?"

"I don't quite know, some friends of mine don't like watching heterosexual sex scenes in movies; I don't think that essentially makes them gay."

"But if I am homophobic," she mused, "That means I'm just as bad as those racists. Oh dear.."

Racism and homophobia the same evils? I leave that for you to chew on.

My friend reckons Brokeback will win the Oscars because half of Hollywood is gay, but that aside, I doubt Crash would win. Its insinuations hit too close to home for everyone. And I don't think Americans like to be told that they are wrong.

It's a pity Malaysian cinemas have chosen not to show Brokeback Mountain at the cinemas, because despite it being a gay themed movie, there are a lot of issues in it that are still close to home. I thought that the right-wing crowd might even enjoy the movie because its two characters actually tried to quit their 'alternative lifestyle'; and in the end, they don't end up together anyway.

But, no, we choose to deny the realities of life., happier to stay in our cosmic cocoon. It is almost as if to say, we don't want this movie here because it's gay, and we're not a country that agrees with this, because the gay lifestyle is not our way of life, and therefore, no one here is gay, so how can this movie have any appeal?

Heh.

Wake up and smell the espresso.

IDLAN ZAKARIA can be found at Waterstones, wearing a superhero costume. Email her at idlan@idlanzakaria.com .