Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

TOTW 05/07: Should Ang Lee have showed more affection between Ennis and Jack?

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Penthesilea:
Mornin, folks and happy new week  :)

This week we have another first: we don't discuss within the movie/story, but try to step back and have a look from the outside.
We have been profundly moved by Ang Lee's movie, by the love between two characters, which shows so clearly to us. But yet, others didn't see the love so clearly, and with all the restraint Lee put into his work he left us with the feeling of "never enough".

Should Ang Lee have showed more affection between Ennis and Jack?

What would have been the effects if he had? Isn't this "never enough" feeling part of the fascination? Would it have been marred, had Lee shown more affection? How about non-Brokies? People who saw the movie, but weren't hit by it like a ton of bricks?

Tell us what you think  :).

SFEnnisSF:
All I ever wanted, and hoped for, was a brief 5-10 second clip of them being affectionate up on the mountain the first summer.  Show them sharing a cigarette.  Showed Jack cuddled up behind Ennis with Ennis arms around Jack around the campfire.  Hell, even 3 seconds would've been enough.

Lots of folks said "they were just friends" or "they didn't see the love".  This left a lot of folks "not getting the movie".  I do feel that Ang was a little reserved in this here.  I swear, I think a 3, 5, or 10 second clip as I mentioned above would have made a world of difference to those who didn't "see" the love and to those of us who "wanted more"!

Brown Eyes:
I perceived tons of chemistry between them from the beginning... I think they have boat loads of chemistry.  I even think Jake and Heath have lots of chemistry in real life (in interviews, etc... like on Oprah). 

And, yes, I've always thought Ang Lee should have shown more affection... at least a moment or two of affection... during the later camping trips after the reunion.

I've always thought that after the reunion the film focused *too* much on the lives of the wives, children, Cassie, etc.  That aspect of the film is just so different from the story where the attention is always on Jack and Ennis.

ifyoucantfixit:



          I agree with Amanda, in that I could have had less focus on the family, but it would have then been more difficult to sell to the general public..They needed to see the devastation they were causing by their illicit behaviors.
          I agree with Eric partially too.  I would have liked to see the affection and love that kept them returning again and again to each other after the reunion.  I felt that they only showed the negativity of the relationship, after the first time, when Jack stroked Ennis's neck when he was showing such sorrow.
          But as to showing the affection and not sex part only for a few seconds,, I thought that the scene that Aguirre watched was entirely that.  Horseplay, fun and affection all rolled into one..But I will have to say I thought it was cut way too short...I would have liked to see a few more seconds of that. " Never enough time never enough."

Brown Eyes:
I think the sense that editing out some moments of affection might have been done to appeal to a "general audience" is one of the more annoying implications of this issue (of the lack of affection in the second half of the film and the over-emphasis on the families). 

The one aspect of it that I think works artistically, is it gives the relationship between Jack and Ennis a sense of privacy.  It makes it feel like after the reunion, we're not invited to watch them anymore and that their interactions are purely for them.  Some of the edits are so striking... as in the camping trip after Jack finds his blue parka and is cooking corn waiting for Ennis.  The camera cuts just as the two of them make contact.  And after that all the later camping scenes show us the bare-minimum for us to understand that their relationship was progressing.  I appreciate the idea that their relationship is given space and is not sensationalized in the later parts of the film.  Somehow, I also think it sets the dozy embrace flashback up for being extra-romantic since it's the first really romantic physical contact that we've seen since the reunion (the very brief and somewhat ominous TS3 moment aside).

So, I can argue both pros and cons for the lack of affection in the later part of the film.  I do find it irritating if the decision was done for a marketing reason.

The contrast between the first and second halves of the film is definitely striking though.

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