Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
serious crayons:
I've been in debates about this on either side. On one end, there's a school of thought that says Ennis can't be freed of his homophobia; it's too ingrained. On the other end, people argue that Ennis should have realized that his homophobia was keeping him from happiness with Jack, and gotten over it.
Personally, I'm somewhere in between. People can free themselves of insecurities and prejudices instilled by their parents. But doing that usually means hearing from people with different views -- at college, for instance, or somewhere away from home. And they might get some therapy on top of that. Ennis had no opportunity for either. He couldn't talk to people, or read books, or join groups, or take classes, or hear ANYTHING that would tell him that his sexuality is OK and homophobia is wrong. As far as he knew, everyone in the world except maybe Jack agreed with his dad (and even Jack was slightly ambiguous on this issue). (And Ennis seeing a therapist? ::) :laugh: I don't think so.) So he's stuck.
I think Mr. and Mrs. Twist were the first people Ennis knew who didn't appear homophobic. Seeing that may have helped him accept himself a bit more in the end, as it may have helped Jack be relatively comfortable with his own sexuality from the get-go.
What do you all think?
Front-Ranger:
Maybe he was being on the way to okay at the end of the movie. Maybe he was at peace. I think it would take a transformative experience to put people like that on the path to okay-dom. And finding the shirts was certainly a transformative experience. It was an immensely redeeming and healing experience. Just climbing the stairs in that eerie light. Looking out at the road and the barn, and that star-shaped swathing machine in the barn. Being gazed upon by the madonna, Mrs. Twist. Standing up to the Jehovah-like judging old man. Being reduced to a paper bag container. Being at Lightning Flat and at the family plot. Being enveloped by the wind. Maybe, just maybe, he was there.
One thing that struck me as I saw the film in high-definition at the BBQ. Did you notice the blue light at the end? In between the window and the closet, there's a streak of blue light that I never noticed before. It made a big difference in my understanding of that scene.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on June 05, 2007, 11:47:17 pm --- I think it would take a transformative experience to put people like that on the path to okay-dom. And finding the shirts was certainly a transformative experience. It was an immensely redeeming and healing experience. Just climbing the stairs in that eerie light. Looking out at the road and the barn, and that star-shaped swathing machine in the barn. Being gazed upon by the madonna, Mrs. Twist. Standing up to the Jehovah-like judging old man. Being reduced to a paper bag container. Being at Lightning Flat and at the family plot. Being enveloped by the wind. Maybe, just maybe, he was there.
--- End quote ---
Good point and nicely put, FRiend!
Brown Eyes:
You know I agree with what Lee says too. I love the blue light observation! Very profound detail and something I absolutely never noticed until it was pointed recently.
I think baby-step by baby-step Ennis was making progress and the argument by the lake maybe pushed Ennis to begin to be more honest with himself (i.e. all the possible implications of the pie scene and his decision to stop pretending to have a relationship with Cassie, at least). And, yes, of course he changes a lot following Jack's death.
In terms of the things that help Ennis come to accept himself or at least come to terms with his very problematic internalized-homophobia (beyond Jack's consistent love for him over 20 difficult years) were his newfound mobility following Jack's death (at the very least he goes to Lightning Flat) and his exposure to new people (i.e. Mrs. Twist as Lee points out). His lack of willingness to travel (only traveling around the coffeepot) while Jack was alive caused his view of the world to be extremely narrow. He wasn't exposed to other more positive viewpoints beyond what he believed he perceived in his small society in Riverton and the traumatic childhood he had in Sage. By meeting a person, such as Mrs. Twist, who treats him with kindness and compassion and seems to silently respect his relationship with Jack, Ennis begins to see that people aren't always going to have a knee-jerk negative reaction to him or his sexuality. The implications of Old Man Twist's reaction to Ennis are clearly more complicated... and negative... and we know that it's been debated whether OMT's negativity was based on homophobia or something else. But, the experience in Lightning Flat, I'm sure is meant to be a profoundly transformative moment for Ennis for the combined impact of the discovery of the shirts and the silent bond he strikes up with Mrs. Twist.
So, to answer the question posed by this thread, in general, I think increased mobility and increased experience of a broader range of people and social situations might have helped Ennis deal with the issue of homophobia (and in a hypothetical situation might have been able to help Ennis with this issue earlier in his life while Jack was alive too).
ifyoucantfixit:
I dont know if this is completely off topic, but have you ever wondered about the reason for old man Twists
horrible remark...He knew without doubt that it would cut Ennis to the quick? Do you think he was so disgusted by Jacks homosexuality, or so mad at Ennis for not moving up there, maybe blaming him for his sons death, as a result of his lack of movement to the ranch..that he wanted to hurt Ennis for allowing his son to die, even though he was always mean to Jack also..It has always been a tough one to figure out for me. The old mans motivation...
At any rate I thought he may have moved Ennis one way or another, but i wasnt sure which way that might be.
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