‘The Greenwood’ in Maurice and Brokeback Mountain - André Hielkema

The Sorrowful Farewell of a Hope-giving Metaphor

Maurice (1987) and Brokeback Mountain (2005) have been two very successful films of the
last twenty years (1) bringing developments in the struggle of the gay liberation movement
in the West to the forefront in a remarkable way. Both are named after the literary works
on which they are based: Maurice by E.M. Forster (1879-1970) which was written in 1913-
1914 and published in 1971 and the novella Brokeback Mountain (published as a story in 1997
in The New Yorker) by Annie Proulx (born in 1935 and living in Wyoming since 1994). These
films and stories are alike in a number of ways. ‘They’re about being gay and in love in a
world of misunderstanding and prejudice. Maurice and Brokeback both say there’s no choice
about who you are, who you love - there’s only a choice of what you do about it,’ observed
American film critic John Teegarden. (2) In this article, we will compare these two stories and
investigate the correlations Teegarden highlighted. In light of current homophobia and homosexual
intolerance, ‘the greenwood’ stemming from Forster’s book, forms a central theme.