Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
lovable subtle details
Front-Ranger:
Remember, we catalogued all the Ennis/Jack stage right, stage left back in September of 06?? Here's a link to it, and I don't think we made any definitive conclusions:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,569.msg83363.html#msg83363
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on March 17, 2008, 12:55:07 pm ---Remember, we catalogued all the Ennis/Jack stage right, stage left back in September of 06?? Here's a link to it, and I don't think we made any definitive conclusions:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,569.msg83363.html#msg83363
--- End quote ---
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I guess I'd forgotten that thread Sister Mod! After all that time, the left/right trend is definitely still something that jumps out when thinking about patterns while watching BBM. I don't know that this has any huge or particular symbolic meaning (or a singular meaning)... but it just seems to suggest how carefully and deliberately composed BBM is in general as a film.
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: ineedcrayons on March 17, 2008, 12:07:56 pm ---Broke, a lot of us share that obsession. I know of one person who thinks it's a mirror, literally scene for scene. Personally, I don't think it's quite that symmetrical -- there are reflecting scenes that aren't in perfect opposite sequence, and little mini-mirrors thrown in here and there, to keep the pattern from being too neat.
But definitely there are matching reflected images, the most obvious being the opening scene with Ennis riding in a truck going in one direction at dawn, carrying a bag with two shirts, and the scene near the end of Ennis riding in a truck going in the opposite direction at sunset, carrying a bag with two shirts. In fact, that one is SO obvious it almost seems like a deliberate suggestion to viewers to look for others.
--- End quote ---
agreed
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: atz75 on March 17, 2008, 12:26:50 pm ---I agree that the mirroring/symmetry/palindrome pattern isn't always completely neat and tidy. But, there are certainly lots of recurring patterns (as we've all noticed)... sometimes having to do with content/narrative/dialogue and sometimes having to do with subtle things as in how certain shots are composed.
On Friday night while watching BBM the idea of certain shots being composed in similar ways really struck me. Particularly in the examples on Brokeback where Jack is either standing to the right in the frame (or is entering into the frame from the right) and Ennis is either mounting his horse on the left/already sitting on his horse to the left or riding away to the left. The three examples of this that I can think of are (1) at the time of the job switch... Ennis is with his horse to the left and Jack approaches from the right and says "you won't get much sleep..." (2) the morning after TS1 (3) the moment immediately following the dozy embrace.
I think the interesting point to bear in mind is that there are patterns... of many kinds and varieties. And, sometimes different patterns overlap or intertwine. And, none of this is absolutely precise all the time. There are some examples that seem pretty precise (like the trucks driving horizontally across the screen/landscape at the beginning at end, but in opposite directions... and like the paper bags at the beginning and at the end) but precision is certainly not the rule.
--- End quote ---
agreed, the palindrome pattern is not neat and clinically exact, but it is so apparent that clearly it was done deliberately to give the film a structure of parallels. The film is guiding us to think in terms of the twin lives and how they interact and repeat. I personally believe that the palindrome effect is one of the subliminal reasons why the film has such a deep impact, certainly I have recognized that this is responsible for much of the film's effect on me.
Brown Eyes:
I was looking at stills from the bar scene today and the cigarette in the ashtray between J & E all of a sudden really struck me. It's placed so carefully!
I love it. 8)
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