Talk:My Own Private Idaho

message: I'm a little unclear on the protocol for this but nearly everything on this page that was supposedly sourced from Harvey Greenberg's review in Film Quarterly (Reference #6) is blatantly not actually from the article. I believe most of the information is true but there is no way it is from Greenberg's review. Just thought I'd share. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.159.68.36 (talk) 07:00, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Sources

message: so far i have no clear answer to where the term comes from.  there's a "B-52s" song of the same title that pre-dates the film.  my real question is where did it originate though?
: Amy Taubin in a review reckons "“My Own Private Idaho” is an imaginary place where one is locked in the arms of love—that is, both protected and free. It is the promise of America, chronically out of joint with reality, especially for its most vulnerable inhabitants." criterion collection review page 5. I can't find or think of any other refs except the B-52s either. Alf melmac 10:04, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I forgot the title of the film and just searched Idaho, one of the ambiguation links linked me to IDAHO - the International Day Against Homophobia. Could this be the intended allusion?Tony2Times 01:20, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Title Origin

message: Does anyone know if there is any documentation connecting the title of this film, to the B-52's song, 'Private Idaho'? Perhaps an iterview with Gus Van Sant? -Alex.rosenheim 11:43, 18 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  B-52's? 

message: I moved this section out of the article and placed it here because it is unsourced and in list form. --J.D. (talk) 21:01, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  References in popular culture 

message: :This section has a lot of original research and needs to be sourced better with more citations. I'm putting it here until this happens.--J.D. (talk) 18:59, 3 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Themes

message: "The origins of My Own Private Idaho came from John Rechy's 1963 novel, City of Night, which featured characters who were street hustlers who did not admit to being gay.[1] Van Sant's original screenplay was written in the 1970s, when he was living in Hollywood.[2] After reading Rechy's book, Van Sant realized that it was considerably better than what he was writing, so he shelved the script for years"
The whole sentence is both ambiguous and paradoxical...if reading the novel triggered an initial hold-up of the script writing, it is not the "origin" of it! What do you think? --MarmotteiNoZ 08:23, 21 September 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: You're right, the two statements directly contradict each other. It simply is not possible that the novel was simultaneously the origin of and the reason for shelving the script. But you know what, Wikipedia doesn't care. It doesn't matter whether the statements are true, ambiguous, paradoxical or downright contradictory, what matters is that the editor has a source; and he does. Both statements are sourced, therefore they can both go in the article and Wikipedia is not interested in common sense, and even prevents you from being able to choose, calling editorial insight "original research". Which explains why it is in fact a lie to call Wikipedia an encyclopedia when it is  no such thing but just a collection of quotes; if someone else said it first, get it in. The amusing thing is both those statements are referenced to the same source, Graham Fuller's 1993 book about Gus Van Sant. If my previous experience of Wikipedia is anything to go by, when I eventually track down a copy of the book it will not actually say either of them. Cottonshirt τ 23:57, 27 September 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  I agree with everything said here and I am surprised no corrections have been made, despite much of the comments on this tslk page have highlighted these errors and for many years. I am perplexed to understand how this film is (as the article states) "loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V. Anyone who knows these works know this just is not true. If anything, the film has more in common with a modernised version of Oliver Twist. But alas, maybe it is true as one editor has pointed out above and that Wikipedia does not care.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.154.32.144 (talk) 08:53, 7 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  The novel is at the origin of the script, or not?