Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Broken in Two
Front-Ranger:
In the story, Jack said "I ain't no broke-dick rider." I'm not sure but I think he was referring to penniless rodeo cowboys who just keep on because they're addicted to rodeoing. And at the end of the movie, Ennis said, "You forgot what it's like bein broke all the time." I wonder when the word broke came to be used to mean, out of money? It also seems to connote, used up, wasted, done. I think this is part of the mystique of the Brokeback Mountain name. The real Brokenback Mountain got its name during pioneer days when people were trying to reach Oregon by going over the Rocky Mountains. I read in a brochure that the mountain was named for a man who hurt his back while trying to repair a wagon with a broken axle. Two brokes in one!! There were other mountains and ranges with similar names, bestowed by pioneers who had to turn back in failure or who pressed on and barely made it, or who lost members of their party in the process.
serious crayons:
When Ennis tells Jack he doesn't remember what it's like, "bein broke all the time," it's kind of a forshadowing of his own future, when he'll be broke(n-hearted) all the time.
LauraGigs:
A poster on IMDB pointed out that no vehicle in the film had matching, working pairs of lights*. Not Ennis' truck, not Lureen's red car, et cetera. He also pointed out that these period vehicles are kept in immaculate shape ― so this would have to have been deliberate.
Yet another visual symbol reiterating the theme of separation, mismatch and breakage.
*I'm not sure about the semi at the beginning; will have to check.
Front-Ranger:
Your lists are heartbreaking and so true, adiabatic!!
Front-Ranger:
With credit to moremojo, I copy this quote:
The world breaks everyone, and afterwards, many are strong at the broken places--Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
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