Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
"I was supposed to control the weather"... Jack and the Wind
loneleeb3:
--- Quote from: retropian on December 30, 2008, 04:28:03 am ---This probably belongs on another thread, but controlling the weather and curing pneumonia would be miracles. That and the association of Jack with the wind/Pentecost; the spirit of the Lord coming upon his disciples like a wind. Supports the idea of Jack as a Christ figure (IMO). The only miracle Jack could perform was his love for Ennis. Perhaps at the end of the lake scene Jack performed his final miracle; he let Ennis go for Ennis's sake. Jack gave up on his dream of a sweet life with Ennis to set Ennis free from his anguish. Self-Sacrifice, Jack's greatest miracle.
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Friend,I think you are so right!!
--- Quote ---That is a beautiful thought, though sad, like most beautiful things are.
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Amen!! Wonder why beauty and pain are so intertwined?
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: loneleeb3 on December 30, 2008, 12:17:29 pm ---Amen!! Wonder why beauty and pain are so intertwined?
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Because beautiful things always seem to be fleeting and impermanent. This is the premise of the first novel ever written, The Tale of Genji, by Lady Murasaki. Genji was a Jack, always pursuing truth, happiness, and beauty, and always disappointed and eluded.
I thought of this concept again when viewing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on December 30, 2008, 01:54:49 pm ---Because beautiful things always seem to be fleeting and impermanent. This is the premise of the first novel ever written, The Tale of Genji, by Lady Murasaki. Genji was a Jack, always pursuing truth, happiness, and beauty, and always disappointed and eluded.
I thought of this concept again when viewing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
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Nice observation Lee! 8) The concept of fleeting happiness... or the theme of recognizing happiness in the moments when it does arrive (while recognizing that it won't be permanent) is also a brought up in the movie The Hours. I still haven't seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
So, I'm here because some thing that I was reading in a fanfic story recently actually caused me to think about this thread and the wind theme again. It's a scenario where Ennis is talking about Jack's "gift" for language, conversation and talk while he regrets that he isn't more skillful with verbal language himself. Often Jack's talkative-ness is seen as a point of humor, but I thought it was interesting to think of it in a more somber and positive way.
And, it makes me wonder if, much like Jack's affinity for wind instruments (harmonica)... talking is an extension of the wind motif (since talking involved pushing air in and out of the lungs). And, I wonder if Ennis's silence is an extension of his "earth" motif. In some ways he almost seems to have an inability to express himself verbally (as in the motel scene... in the film at least... where he responds to Jack through only touches to some of Jack's question), which to me might go along with the fundamental silence of the earth/ ground/ soil, etc.
I don't know if this has been brought up before here or not... but I thought it was interesting to ponder.
fernly:
--- Quote ---So, I'm here because some thing that I was reading in a fanfic story recently actually caused me to think about this thread and the wind theme again. It's a scenario where Ennis is talking about Jack's "gift" for language, conversation and talk while he regrets that he isn't more skillful with verbal language himself. Often Jack's talkative-ness is seen as a point of humor, but I thought it was interesting to think of it in a more somber and positive way.
And, it makes me wonder if, much like Jack's affinity for wind instruments (harmonica)... talking is an extension of the wind motif (since talking involved pushing air in and out of the lungs). And, I wonder if Ennis's silence is an extension of his "earth" motif. In some ways he almost seems to have an inability to express himself verbally (as in the motel scene... in the film at least... where he responds to Jack through only touches to some of Jack's question), which to me might go along with the fundamental silence of the earth/ ground/ soil, etc.
I don't know if this has been brought up before here or not... but I thought it was interesting to ponder.
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Lovely observations, Amanda, thank you. This'll be interesting to mull over.
Front-Ranger:
You're right that these allusions are related, friend Amanda. And what's more, they're all interwoven. This shows the masterwork of Annie Proulx. She barely mentions the harmonica flattened by a lucky throw from the touchy mare. The harmonica theme is expanded by screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana in the movie. Interestingly, AP chose a similar instrument, the accordion, and focused an entire novel on it, Accordion Crimes.
"Flatness" occurs in the very first part of the story...Jack comes from Lightning Flat. The harmonica is introduced during the mountain scenes, and then flatness comes up again at the end. Jack is "pumping up a flat" when it supposedly explodes and the tire rim hits him in the jaw. He dies by suffocation...blood fills his lungs.
Also, in the prelude of the story, the wind, which has been wailing around Ennis' trailer, temporarily "dies" leaving a brief silence, while Ennis has been dreaming about his old sheepherding partner on the mountain. Does flatness refer to lack of wind (breath)? Or does it mean more than that, the "flattening" that is caused by our being beaten down by life, being "hit by the hammer of life" as AP refers to it?
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