When Brokeback Mountain hit the silver screen back in December 2005, it was quickly labelled as a ‘gay cowboy film’ (derogatory). There was also scepticism that the film, which tells the love story between Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, respectively played by the late Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal – both of whom are straight – would shape up to be nothing more than a parody.

Brokeback Mountain is set in Wyoming, in post-war America in the 1960s, a time when LGBTQIA+ rights were non-existent to the point of being illegal in many states. However, this time period echoes the themes of the film in many ways.

The American 60s is defined by free love and conscientious objection, but it was also the beginning of social change and collective action for LGBTQIA+ people. Attitudes surrounding homosexuality were archaic, cruel and suffocating, a theme that runs through Brokeback Mountain – but so do the shifts in attitudes, even if they are internal realisations and not attached to broader cultural awakenings.