Cowboys and angels and affective queers

Resumo

Taking into consideration the critical and media attention American writer Annie Proulx’s story “Brokeback Mountain” has received, this paper offers a reading of the aforementioned work while problematising issues of heteronormativity in the plot. Using Sara Ahmed’s and Heather Love’s theoretical contributions, this investigation interweaves queer theory and affect studies to highlight how heteronormativity is an affective orientation in which feeling bad is crucial to maintain the structure of oppression. Although more questions rather than answers are provided, this study concludes that political mobilisations are possible when affects are read and questioned, especially those considered backward.