Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Black Hats, White Hats
Brown Eyes:
My question is... how did this thread sink all the way to page 5?
:o :D
serious crayons:
Wow, interesting details, Barbara. And your interpretations all make perfect sense.
Will the symbolism never end?!
This may have been mentioned before (maybe even by me, for all I know!), but I love the pattern of pre-makeout-session hat removal and how it reflects the participants' attitude about the procedings.
In TS2, as Ennis heads into the tent he takes off his own hat -- he is ready and willing to be with Jack. Yet he continues holding onto it -- still a bit nervous and hesitant. Jack gently takes Ennis' hat and sets it aside, encouragingly -- "s'alright."
In the "happy tussle," Ennis teasingly knocks off Jack's hat -- he has reached the level of comfort with their sex life where initiation can be mutual.
When Jack and Lureen are in the back seat of Daddy's car, Lureen takes off Jack's hat. She's leading the way.
In the reunion scene, Ennis appears hatless, already receptive, and as he pushes Jack to the stairwell he passionately knocks off Jack's hat.
ednbarby:
LOVE it, Barbara and Katherine. All excellent observations. The twist gone from the trim - wow - that's exquisite. And I think you're right, Barbara - it's gone in that last scene to symolize that Jack's strength and will to hold on to Ennis is gone - basically, that all hope and in essence his life force is gone. His eyes clearly belie that when the flashback ends and he stands there watching him drive away for the last time - all the life is drained out. But I never noticed the trim on his hats. Thanks for that.
2robots4u:
I noticed the variations of hat colors from the start, but I didn't see any significance. Just that they wore what goes good with their clothes and boots. Even cowboys have to be coordinated...that means hat, belt, boots must match. It also means they wore what they had if they couldn't afford a big wardrobe of hats for every "outfit". That fit Ennis, but Jack, well, he could afford it, and we see several different styles and colors. Symbolism at work here? Perhaps. Every movie can be scrutinized for hidden meanings (the eating scene in Tom Jones comes to mind); sexual inuendos are probably the most obvious, but do we see that sort of thing in BBM? So at this point, I take that stand that the hats don't mean anything more than what you see.
And by the way, the only hat I was interested in (and it's really not the hat, but what's under it that got my interest) was on the head of the guy dancing with the dark haired lady in the blue dress doing the twrills in the dance scene that opens the benefit story. There's a great shot of just his face framed between a couple in the foreground, over the right shoulder of Jack. I noticed this guy immediately and replay this scene over and over and over, etc. Just thought you might want to know. (Don't know how to insert the "wink face" here, so please visually insert it for me)...Doug
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: [email protected] on August 04, 2006, 02:03:01 pm --- Every movie can be scrutinized for hidden meanings ... but do we see that sort of thing in BBM?
--- End quote ---
Doug, there are tons of amazing threads on this board discussing the hidden meanings of all kinds of things in the movie: hats, rotary fans, elk, sheep, bear, binoculars, clothing, colors, snow, water, coffee pots, buckets, laundry, spitting, windows ... and this is an abbreviated list. As far as I know, no movie has ever been as packed with symbolism and metaphors as BBM. The idea that the symbolism is that detailed might sound implausible at first, and certainly some of the symbols that people suggest are subject to debate. But after studying the patterns and all of the significant and fitting ways these items appear in the movie, many (probably even most) people agree that the majority of them make perfect sense.
If you want help finding some of the threads, let me know.
(As for inserting the wink face, just place the cursor where you want it to appear, then click on the wink face above. Like this ;) -- on your reply it will just be a semicolon and a parenthese, but in the posted version there'll be a face.)
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