Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
lovable subtle details
Casey Cornelius:
fernly and miniangel:
I'd confirm miniangel's thoughts that film folds in upon itself with the certainty that it is something we need to explore more. We've spent hours seeking out bookends and mirrors which are obvious and evident throughout the whole film, but I'm convinced that these are all arranged in a symmetry which miniangel has alluded to.
I've always been obsessed with the idea that the film is exactly symmetrical around a central image which has haunted me since about my 5th theatrical viewing of the film.
At precisely the 1:07:59 timing of the film, there is a shot of Ennis entering his bathroom in his Riverton apartment to retrieve his toothbrush. As he does so he opens his bathoom medicine chest which creates an image of his face mirrored symmetrically in the centre of the frame. This is followed immediately by a reverse shot from the rear of him exiting the bathroom which exactly mirrors the previous shot of him entering. If you trace outwards from that moment, one can track plot, verbal and visual elements which are exactly symmetrical on either side of that moment which is close to the exact chronological centre of the film's 2:14 running time.
In addition to those point out by miniangel my initial random observations would see :
1 - the Jimbo the Clown scene mirroring the Mexican Alley scene, Jack attempting to pick up another man;
2 - Alma and Ennis innocently frolicing in the snow mirroring the Thanksgiving debacle with the snow gently falling outside;
3 - exactly tracing out from the previous elements - Ennis self-inflicting pain on himself in the Signal alleyway, whimpering inchoately and yelling at an anonymous by-passer mirroring his picking a fight with an anonymous truck driver with the unconscious intent of stupidly inflicting pain upon himself with the beating in the road
4 - Ennis picking a fight and kicking with a balletic kick the biker in the presence of Alma and his daughters at the Riverton July 1 fireworks mirroring his picking a fight with Alma in the presence of his daughters and kicking over the ash-bucket with a balletic kick as a substitute while the girls play on a swing-set [with its appliqued star decals a possible visual symmetry with the fireworks, but that might be a little too much !]
5 - the obvious one which we've all mentioned of the opening and closing scenes taking place in similar looking trailers, Aguirre's and Ennis's, but adding to this the idea [discussed just last night in the chat room with Ellemeno, Meryl, azt and others] that the first meeting of Jack and Ennis has elements of a marriage ceremony mirroring the discussion of the same in Alma Jr's marriage to Curt.
6 - the final shot with the wind blowing through the grass visible in the open window on the right hand side of the frame balancing the icons in the closet on the left of the frame as homage to Jack's intensely felt absence from Ennis's life mirroring an opening shot of the film with Jack's impressive, confident profile on the left side of the frame balancing the wind blowing through the grass visible on the right side, the first time Ennis ever laid eyes on Jack. This use of symmetry within the frame is an obvious use of a technique championed by Michelangelo Antonioni, a film-maker whom Ang Lee has declared one of his major influences.
Just a few thoughts "for what its worth", but I am convinced that these are not random. True, it could be argued that the film uses so many of the same visual and verbal elements throughout that there is bound to be some repetition. But I have a gut feeling that the exact symmetry of the film which reads to me like the equivalent of a palindrome is an intentional structural feature by Ang Lee much as composers such as Bartok and J.S. Bach have been shown in musical analysis to have mapped a similar two-dimensional symmetrical structure on top of the fluid chronological, psychologically experienced medium of their multi-movement compositions such as the Music for Strings Percussion and Celeste or the St. John Passion.
Casey
Daniel:
Casey, it's good to see you on the boards. I too have pondered the concept of mirroring and symmetry in this film. It seems to be more apparent than in other films, and very possibly Ang's attempt to bring a Hitchcockian resemblance to the film. What I have been more captivated by is the spiritual and psychological transformations that the film seems to be alluding to.
For example, we could say that in that brief moment when Ennis is in the bathroom, he opens a mirrored medicine cabinet. The mirror is present but he does not look into it. Instead he reaches behind it. His mind is set, rather than on the present, on the future and he quickly moves beyond this moment into the rest of the film. The opportunity was there, to look into the mirror. To listen to what Alma was saying and what that meant for his future and his past. But he didn't.
Recently I have been reading a startling book of.... well, I suppose we would call it applicable philosophy: The Translucent Revolution So far, it has brought up some startling parallels between consciousness transformation and the less-acknowledge events of the film (in my opinion). And I will gladly share my readings and interpretations on my personal blog thread.
LauraGigs:
--- Quote ---Ennis picking a fight and kicking with a balletic kick the biker in the presence of Alma and his daughters at the Riverton July 1 fireworks mirroring his picking a fight with Alma in the presence of his daughters and kicking over the ash-bucket...
--- End quote ---
One thing Atz, Latjoreme & I pieced together on another thread: In each scene of outward conflict between Ennis/Alma and Jack/Lureen, ashes are spilled (in the scene above and just before Jack asks LaShawn to dance.) Followed by the final conflict between Ennis/John over where Jack's ashes will be spilled.
It's also worth mentioning that after the spectacular fireworks scene, no fire burns brightly again in the film. (Jack and Ennis' campfire, raging and blazing in the 2nd tent scene, is low and dying in their subsequent camping trips. And then there's the beautiful and devastating segue to the ashes/dying campfire in the dozy embrace flashback.)
(We could go on and on about this couldn't we!)
miniangel:
We could! It's fascinating.
The point you made, Casey, about the bathroom scene being the middle is most interesting. That is the moment when they begin the pattern of the rest of their lives together - camping out the back of nowhere.
Casey Cornelius:
Exactly miniangel:
I've always thought of that bathroom mirror shot essentially as Ennis acknowledging the end of his conventional marriage with Alma and the the start of his 'open', committed relationship with Jack.
Okay, that does it !!
This needs to become a separate thread - would lauragigs, Daniel and you miniangel re-post your comments if I copy my post to start a new thread.
This is too significant a discussion to be an adjunct to Amanda's thread and I do not want it to capsize hers !!
EDIT: Okay there's a new thread posted in the Open Discussion - Brokeback's filmic structure as a palindrome?
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