Sometimes it’s not easy, living in Utah.

My home state is scenically beautiful, it has an interesting history and a pleasantly varied climate, and for a relatively small city, Salt Lake actually boasts a disproportionately (and surprisingly) large number of cultural amenities. But the rest of the world never seems to talk about these things. No, when you hear about Utah in the national press or popular culture, it’s always something to do with polygamy or green Jello or the eccentricities of the predominant local faith. Or it’s something ugly and embarassing like the current flap over Larry H. Miller yanking the acclaimed film Brokeback Mountain from the schedule of his Megaplex theaters because it was too gay for his tastes.

For those who haven’t been paying attention to this story or who don’t live along the Wasatch Front, some background information is probably in order. Larry H. Miller is the Big Man in these parts, a self-made multi-millionaire who owns, among other things, most of the car dealerships in the Salt Lake Valley; the local NBA franchise, the Utah Jazz; and a small but growing chain of well-appointed (and very popular) movie theaters. He is also a well-known member of the LDS Church who has recently helped to bankroll the film adaptations of a series of Mormon-themed novels called The Work and the Glory. And if that’s not enough trivia for you, he was in the same high school class as my mother, who remembers him as a socially awkward nerd. I guess he’s one nerd who certainly got his revenge.

The Brokeback situation started just over a week ago. The film — which I haven’t seen but is, as I understand it, an intelligent, grown-up movie about a decades-long relationship between two gay shepherds — had already been playing an exclusive engagement at Salt Lake’s arthouse cinema, the Broadway Centre, for a couple of weeks without incident. It was scheduled to go into a wider local release on Friday, January 6th, including a well-publicized run at Miller’s Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons. As the Salt Lake Tribune‘s resident film critic, Sean Means, notes on his blog, the theater had even been running newspaper ads for advance ticket sales to this particular film. However, late in the day on Thursday, Jan. 5th — too late to change the next day’s movie listings in the paper — the film was pulled from the Jordan Commons schedule, presumably on the orders of Larry H himself. Disappointed filmgoers arriving at the theater the next day were greeted by a sign that said only that the film wouldn’t be playing there after all. No explanation was given, and no one in the Miller organization has commented as yet.

Not surprisingly, the press was all over this one. The story made international headlines, Jay Leno cracked a joke about it in his Tonight Show monologue, and Heath Ledger — one of the film’s stars — said that he thinks Utah must be a very immature society to have made such a decision. (Apparently no one informed Mr. Ledger that the film did open in a number of other theaters in this area and is reportedly doing quite well here.) Once again, as so often happens, my home has been made to look like a provincial backwater populated by small-minded zealots and bigots. Harsh language, yes, perhaps an inaccurate generalization, but that is what people who live outside Utah’s protective dome think of this place, and Larry H. Miller’s actions in this matter have only given them one more piece of evidence to support their opinion.

Miller has his defenders, people who say that he is entitled to play or not play whatever movies he sees fit at his own theaters, and I can’t argue with that logic. He is. But the way this whole story developed, with the film first appearing on the schedule and then suddenly being pulled, demands an explanation that wouldn’t have been necessary if Brokeback had never been booked for Jordan Commons in the first place. What was Larry’s reason for the sudden change of heart?
It couldn’t have been purely a business decision because, as I said, the film had been (and still is, thanks to this controversy) doing surprisingly well in the Salt Lake area, despite its sensitive subject matter. By cancelling the film’s appearance at Jordan Commons, Larry did nothing more than send business up the road to his newly opened competition, the Sandy Century 16. Even worse from this perspective, the controversy is no doubt driving even bigger ticket sales, so Larry is losing even more money than if he’d never booked the film to begin with. A sharp businessman like Larry Miller surely could’ve predicted that outcome.

Another possibility is that Larry was following the teachings of his church, which is widely known to frown upon homosexuality. But if that was the case, why doesn’t Larry also follow the church’s teachings about R-rated movies in general? Good Mormons are counselled not to see any R-rated movies, and yet Miller’s Megaplexes show them all the time. Indeed, the very day that Brokeback was supposed to open at Jordan Commons and didn’t, the Miller-owned theater started running two other R-rated movies, Grandma’s Boy and Hostel. The former is reported to be an extremely crass drugs-and-sex comedy, while the latter is all about young men lured by promises of sex to a place where wealthy sadists like to torture and mutilate their captives to death. Don’t these films both sound like charming, family-friendly viewing? I think if Miller ever does comment on this situation publicly, he’d better steer well clear of making any high-handed claims about how he was only upholding community standards, unless he’s willing to discuss why he thinks his community finds gory dreck like Hostel acceptable but can’t handle the thoughts of two men in love. The truth is that he’s willing to show certain kinds of R-rated films and profit handsomely from them, but he apparently draws the line at other kinds of R-rated films.

And that leads to, in my opinion, the only logical reason for pulling Brokeback that Miller could’ve had: he’s got a problem with fags. He apparently doesn’t find morally bankrupt tales of secret torture clubs offensive, but two guys “crossing swords” would seem to equal “icky” in his book. He’s not alone in feeling that way, but the average guy’s feelings about homosexuality don’t draw headlines and make an entire state look bad, do they?

Again, I don’t disagree with the contention that Larry H. Miller can run anything he wants at movie theaters that have his name above the marquee. He could show nothing but scratchy old prints of The Little Rascals if he wanted to, assuming he could make enough money with such a line-up to keep the doors open. (Actually, I’d probably be open to an occasional evening of Our Gang comedies, but then I’m weird…) But if Larry feels so strongly about gay subject matter, why was the movie booked at a Miller theater to begin with? I doubt anyone would’ve raised an eyebrow if Brokeback Mountain had never even appeared on the schedule. Oh, there may have been some quiet grumbling about Miller’s lack of guts or his affiliation with the LDS Church, but in general no one would’ve even noticed. However, the way things came down has drawn lots of notice, and, quite frankly, it pisses me off because it makes my home look bad. Again. I don’t like hearing jokes at Utah’s expense on national television, and I don’t like having to explain to my friends on the outside that not everybody in this state is a sanctimonious blue-nose.

The way I see it, Miller only ever had two good choices when it came to Brokeback Mountain. As I’ve suggested, he could’ve not scheduled it at all, but my hunch is that Larry doesn’t usually get involved in the booking process and had no idea what the flick was about until the day before it opened, so this option was unavailable. Or, when he realized his theater was about to show “that gay cowboy movie,” he could’ve just gritted his teeth, kept his mouth shut, and let the box office decide what the community thought of this film. If the people who regularly attend movies at Jordan Commons — and that would include myself and the lovely Anne — found a gay-themed movie offensive or uninteresting, the nightly receipts would’ve reflected their attitudes in very short order and he’d have been entirely justified in dumping it after a week or two. But he didn’t give his regulars a choice on the matter, so we’ll never know what would’ve happened. And that, to me, is far more offensive than anything that could possibly be in that movie.

Some people are calling for boycotts on Miller-owned businesses. Personally, I don’t feel strongly enough about this situation to swear off Megaplexes forever. But I also don’t feel strongly motivated to go back to one any time soon. Miller may have a problem with fags, but I’ve got a problem with bigots and those who would presume to tell me what’s good for me and what’s not. I wonder how many people in this state feel like me, and if Larry will notice any difference at the box office, and if he still thinks he made the right decision?