Like my hat, I got it off eBay? Brokeback Mountain. Photograph: Kimberly French/AP
I'm guessing that the buyer who stumped up $10,000 on eBay to buy a genuine Brokeback Mountain cowboy hat genuinely thinks they've got a bargain. Likewise, I imagine that Mr Tom Gregory remains deeply happy with his recent purchase of the two intertwined shirts from the same movie (a snip at $100,000). Earlier this month an unnamed telephone bidder rang Christie's to pay £427,000 for the little black dress that Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Presumably they regard this as money well spent, too.
But I don't get these trophy hunters; I can't work out what makes them tick. If you love a film so much that you want to possess it, then go buy the DVD. That way you get the whole thing, as opposed to some trivial, context-free bit of ephemera.
In fact I'm not even sure if love is the motivating factor here. These memorabilia hounds seem more driven by the thrill of acquisition and, perhaps, a hunger for reflected glory. By owning a dress that once adorned Audrey Hepburn, they maybe become a little more like Audrey Hepburn, or at least feel that they have some kind of stake in her. This is rather creepy. There is a slightly voodoo quality to it all.
But an old dress is just an old dress. And a hat that once sat on Jake Gyllenhaal's head is surely worth nothing without the man attached (even then, I'm not sure it's worth very much). Such souvenirs are the dead detritus of a movie. The real magic - the real thing of value - is at once utterly elusive and purely accessible. Most of the time you can buy it for under a tenner.
