Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
lovable subtle details
Meryl:
Hi and welcome to BetterMost, inwood. 8)
Please check out this great subforum for extensive writings on the symbolism in Brokeback gleaned from our early discussions on IMDb. Some of your questions may be answered there. I've included a link to one particular discussion about your first question.
IMDb Remarkable Writings Rewound: http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/board,61.0.html
--- Quote from: inwooder on December 30, 2009, 11:11:49 pm ---1. When Ennis and Alma are at the drive through-why did Ang pick that movie and that scene? What did it mean?
--- End quote ---
Check out this thread by Casey Cornelius: http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,13719.msg0.html#new
The Open Forum also has 18 pages of topics discussing the movie. You'll find answers here to questions you never thought you had. Enjoy the exploration! :)
Meryl
Front-Ranger:
Inwooder, I'm researching those two visuals, one seen at the drive-in and the other on television. But while I'm doing that, I'd like to address your comment:
--- Quote ---What did Ang mean by the following "back ground clips"? I am assuming they all have some meaning and were chosen for a reason-
--- End quote ---
I agree with you that these scenes were chosen with a lot of thought. To give you an example of another small loveable detail, consider the snatches of harmonica playing we hear from Jack. As explained below by EDelMar (from earlier in this thread), these tiny bits of songs are actually clues to the plot and the personality of Jack:
--- Quote from: EDelMar on January 30, 2007, 02:39:53 pm ---Jack's harmonica, both times he plays, is positively a variant of "He Was a Friend of Mine". Gustavo Santaolalla is the actual player, and using his own harmonica, in a recording studio. (The "amateur" sound he's mimicking is actually quite hard to duplicate... but gives the flavor of someone not very good at playing harmonica.)
Open up the first harmonica sound bit (campfire scene). It has 4 sections. Here are the corresponding lyrics to those sections:
#1: Heeeeeeee was a friend of miiiiiiiine. He--- [cuts off here]
#2: Heeeee--
#3: Was a friend of mine.
#4: [He] just kept on movin',
On the 2nd harmonica piece as they're going up the hill. It has 5 sections back to back.
#1: Heeee was a friend of miiiiiiiine.
#2: [He] just kept on movin',
#3: Heeee waas a frieeeend (bad key...improvised)
#4: Was a frieeeeend (again bad key...improvised)
#5: Was a friend of mine.
It's a contortion of the song really...again deliberately warped and twisted. :)
"He Was a Friend of Mine" as we know it today is the collaborative work of 3 artists circa 1960: Bob Dylan, David Van Ronk and Eric von Schmidt. Dylan once said he got it from Blind Arvella Gray, a street musician in Chicago, but that's probably not true. WELL, he might have heard "Shorty George" being played by this musician. (See below). David Van Ronk stated at a concert once (right before playing the song), "I learned this song from Eric von Schmidt, who learned it from Dylan, who learned it from me". Around 1980 the 3 artists mutually decided to split royalty monies for the song.
Dylan recorded his version (upon which the Willie Nelson version was based) in 1961.
The ORIGINAL version is Shorty George, a southeastern US african spiritual or something written by Smith Casey. I have this recording; it's not readily available, and was recorded in 1939 for the US Library of Congress.
If you want to hear all 3 versions, come to Brokeback BBQ 2007 (http://www.brokeback2007.com) and I will have them there along with a large portion of the rest of the master soundtrack and early versions of stuff.
In the late 1960s the Grateful Dead played a song called "He Was A Friend of Mine" as well. Different lyrics, and that was really just a PORTION of another song, by Mark Spolestra from 1965, "Just a Hand to Hold". THIS SONG undoubtedly was inspired by "He Was a Friend of Mine" by Dylan/Van Ronk/von Schmidt because 1 year after Dylan recorded his version, Spolestra performed with him AND Van Ronk in New York City frequently.
-Ennis
PS: Ossana and MacMurtry originally scheduled Jack's 2 harmonica pieces to be "Kaw-Liga" and "Bad Brahma Bull". I have those too; come to the BBQ!!
--- End quote ---
Ang Lee certainly chose his audio and visuals for a definite reason!!
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: Meryl on December 31, 2009, 04:42:30 pm ---
Check out this thread by Casey Cornelius: http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,13719.msg0.html#new
Meryl
--- End quote ---
Meryl, thank you for pointing us to that illuminating thread by Casey Cornelius about the use of the Surf's Up movie clip!! It is very enlightening!
Did Casey ever discuss the use of the Olympic ice skating music in the argument at Thanksgiving scene between Ennis and Alma?
inwooder:
The Open Forum also has 18 pages of topics discussing the movie. You'll find answers here to questions you never thought you had. Enjoy the exploration! :)
Meryl
[/quote]
Hi Meryl,
Thank you for the link. I have found, read, and now understand the drive in movie scene. I think its a strong statement that Ennis is now trying to do the "right" thing. Marry a woman and have a child. And society is telling him-through the movie- that what he wants to do is illegal. (be with Jack as reminded to us by Alma grabbing his hand and pulling it down to her belly)
Meryl:
You're welcome, inwood. Glad to be of help! 8)
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on December 31, 2009, 07:04:52 pm ---Did Casey ever discuss the use of the Olympic ice skating music in the argument at Thanksgiving scene between Ennis and Alma?
--- End quote ---
It's quite possible, but I don't remember a specific thread where it might be.
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