Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Possibly misguided mini-metaphors
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on May 12, 2006, 07:30:02 pm ---When Ennis drives up to the Twist ranch, he parks next to a dark, abandoned-looking, shell of a houselike structure. It's actually some kind of ranch outbuilding. But when I saw it, it made me think of the home that Ennis and Jack never had together.
--- End quote ---
Wow, I don't know how I've missed this thread for so long. This idea is one of the saddest things I've heard lately. Amazing observation. I think a big thing that happens during the Lightning Flat sequence is Ennis finally has a concrete example of what a real life with Jack really could have looked like. He was not able to imagine a probable scenario while Jack was alive. But here it all is... laid out for him. The fact that the house is crumbling and the ranch is in disrepair maybe are metaphors of the neglected state of the relationship between Ennis and Jack. If they had spent more time together and "tended" to their relationship it would not have wound up in such disrepair. If they had lived at the ranch, the exta house would be at least live-in if not pristinely madeover and if they had "tended" the ranch, it would undoubtedly be in much better shape than what we see has happened to it.
--- Quote --- When Ennis goes into Jack's room and picks up the little horse-and-cowboy statue, it's clearly reminiscent of the horse (no cowboy) he was seen carving on Brokeback. It's not the same one, yet it's too coincidental for there not to be a connection. So what does it mean? Does Jack's statue symbolize a life he'd envisioned as part of a couple (the horse and rider), while Ennis' statue represents his expectations of a life alone?
--- End quote ---
I think of that cowboy toy as an indication that Jack already was dreaming of cowboys even when he was very young. It's exactly the type of toy you'd expect to find in any kid's room... but the idea of a cowboy would be very different for Jack as he grows up as a gay kid and teenager. It reminds me of the flashback where he watches Ennis ride away... his ideal cowboy (maybe symbolized by the toy) is suddenly his lover in the form of Ennis. It's probably almost unbelievable to him. The kind of thing a person often doesn't dare hope for.
And for Ennis, I'm sure that toy cowboy reminds him just flat out of Jack (plain and simple). It's been discussed that the moments when Ennis gazes at Jack on his horse on Brokeback are some of the first major clues that he's attracted to Jack and that Jack probably fulfills some kind of cowboy fantasy in Ennis too. But I'm sure Jack's toy also reminds him of the animal that he carved in the tent on Brokeback. I think (as you've suggested in other threads) that everything in that room reminds Ennis of Brokeback (even the slanting white wall that recalls the tent). I hadn't thought of the idea that the single cowboy might remind Ennis of his loneliness. That's awfully sad. But, it's true that it's right at the moment that he touches that toy that the tears become really prominent in Ennis's eyes.
I love how Ennis touches so much in that room. He seems really sensitive to touching things, and this is probably the most important instance of his habit of caressing inanimate things. It's like when he caresses Jack's first postcard gently with his fingers as he reads it... and the way his fingers linger on the tie at the entrance to the tent when he wakes up after the first tent scene and looks out towards the camp fire. In this Lightning Flat moment it's like watching Ennis trying to make tactile memories... or revive tactile memories.
:( :'(
nakymaton:
--- Quote from: atz75 on June 01, 2006, 10:34:55 pm ---I love how Ennis touches so much in that room. He seems really sensitive to touching things, and this is probably the most important instance of his habit of caressing inanimate things. It's like when he caresses Jack's first postcard gently with his fingers as he reads it... and the way his fingers linger on the tie at the entrance to the tent when he wakes up after the first tent scene and looks out towards the camp fire. In this Lightning Flat moment it's like watching Ennis trying to make tactile memories... or revive tactile memories.
:( :'(
--- End quote ---
And to that list, I would add the last moment with the shirts, gently buttoning Jack's shirt, as if he was putting it back together after one of those kisses that Jack was always wanting...
:'( :'( :'(
(I should not have watched that scene last night....)
serious crayons:
Thanks for revitalizing this thread, you guys!
Amanda, this is an especially nice idea:
--- Quote --- his ideal cowboy (maybe symbolized by the toy) is suddenly his lover in the form of Ennis. It's probably almost unbelievable to him. The kind of thing a person often doesn't dare hope for.
And for Ennis, I'm sure that toy cowboy reminds him just flat out of Jack (plain and simple). It's been discussed that the moments when Ennis gazes at Jack on his horse on Brokeback are some of the first major clues that he's attracted to Jack and that Jack probably fulfills some kind of cowboy fantasy in Ennis too.
--- End quote ---
OK, here's another idea that you can add to my electric knife and postcard-wringing gallery of gutter-minded imagery. The last couple of times I've watched, I've noticed something about an early scene of Ennis and Alma's marriage -- the one where the girls are crying with runny noses. Ennis is coming into the kitchen, and from off-camera we hear this banging/thumping sound that to my mind recalls a bed jouncing against a wall. But then the camera pans over to Alma scrubbing away on the washboard. To me, it's a subconscious hint of: no exciting sex life here, just household drudgery.
Seriously, am I the only one who thinks of these things? That's kind of scary.
Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: atz75 on June 01, 2006, 10:34:55 pm ---Wow, I don't know how I've missed this thread for so long. This idea is one of the saddest things I've heard lately. Amazing observation. I think a big thing that happens during the Lightning Flat sequence is Ennis finally has a concrete example of what a real life with Jack really could have looked like. He was not able to imagine a probable scenario while Jack was alive. But here it all is... laid out for him. The fact that the house is crumbling and the ranch is in disrepair maybe are metaphors of the neglected state of the relationship between Ennis and Jack. If they had spent more time together and "tended" to their relationship it would not have wound up in such disrepair. If they had lived at the ranch, the exta house would be at least live-in if not pristinely madeover and if they had "tended" the ranch, it would undoubtedly be in much better shape than what we see has happened to it.
.......
I love how Ennis touches so much in that room. He seems really sensitive to touching things, and this is probably the most important instance of his habit of caressing inanimate things. It's like when he caresses Jack's first postcard gently with his fingers as he reads it... and the way his fingers linger on the tie at the entrance to the tent when he wakes up after the first tent scene and looks out towards the camp fire. In this Lightning Flat moment it's like watching Ennis trying to make tactile memories... or revive tactile memories.
:( :'(
--- End quote ---
You did it again. Look, that's me now: :'(
Yet another repetitive habit of Ennis: caressing inanemate things. We collected some of Ennis's mannerisms on the I love everything Ennis thread. This one fits to the list. Do you like to post a new, expanded list on the "I love...", since it was your post with the list? Sniffing on clothes is missing over there, too.
I wonder whether Jack has such mannerisms, too. His tongue (still wondering if this is Jack or Jake, probably both) - but other? Maybe looking relaxed and sexy while leaning on cars ;) Will think about it.
Sorry for being slightly ot here.
chefjudy:
:) just when I thought we had dissected BBM fully and completely, someone (atz75) points out a new thought, idea or gesture that was previously missed - i.e. the tears in Ennis' eyes when he picks up the little cowboy in Jack's room - as if I needed another reason to watch the movie again - never enough time, never enough.................. :'(
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