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Robbie Williams has a new video out for a single called Shame. It’s a duet with former Take That mate Gary Barlow and it’s up on Robbie’s site now.

In the blurb beneath the video you can read that:

Starring both Robbie and Gary Barlow on screen for the first time in fifteen years, the hilarious music video for Robbie’s new single, Shame, sees two of the newly re-united Take That members share a spot of topless bromance in the rocky mountains surrounding Los Angeles!

Ah. Bromance. The new way of saying “yeah this looks gay, but it’s totally intended, pun-like and straight”. No, really, I highly enjoy lots of media that runs with this genre, but addressing the subtext does really not remove the subtext. It just makes it seem even more legitimate to point out that, you know, they look like they’re doing it.

Anyway, back to the video. I have to give the website that linking this to Brokeback Mountain is quite a good idea – and it’s an accurate description of much of the action going on in the video. It seems to reference the film quite a few times.

In the opening, Gary is leaning against a wall in a pose struck by Jack in the opening of Brokeback. There’s not contact, no talk, and the soft guitar has a sound reminiscent of the melancholy, longing one in the Brokeback theme. Just, you know, a good deal less tear-jerking.

One I noticed right away is that Robbie and Gary go fishing together – the very activity that throughout the decade-long span of Brokeback is used as the cover for Jack and Ennis when they get away together. They never fish, though, which is how Ennis’ wife finds out what’s going on; his fishing gear was never used (that, and she sees him kissing Jack earlier on).

There’s also dancing with women while sending looks at each other. This is not as much a reference to Jack and Ennis, but to the lives they have apart – both of them are seen dancing with women, Jack is the one who most directly aims his look and thus desire at other men whilst doing this, but there’s still a parallel. Last there is, of course, climbing rocks/cliffs outside L.A. I mean, mountains. Come on.

So in conclusion, this video isn’t hiding its references, it’s embracing them, playing with them, highly enhancing the homo-social going on homo-erotic of the video and is backed up by the text of the song. Heck, even the guitar in the opening measures could be linked -vaguely- to the sound of that longing, melancholy tune that is the theme for Brokeback.

So with this unabashed queer text that appears out of coupling that text and song with that video… why pretend it’s still straight?

You can see the video at Robbie Williams’ official site here or from YouTube below.

ETA: The YouTube video is mirror-image for some reason. The one on the site is not and I assume that is the correct one.

Disclaimer: I bet there are several other types of readings and references going on, but this is mine.