I want to echo my thanks for revitalizing this thread! I'm sorry I missed it earlier. I don't care how much analysis we do - it keeps deepening my experience, when I think that surely there can be no more, making it worthwhile from my point-of-view. The posts here show some real insight, I think.
And I'd like to submit that just because there will probably be no conclusive resolution, it is still completely valid to analyze and interpret to our heart's content. I daresay that in 10 years when we watch BBM we will view it differently still, because much of our experience is filtered through the lens of our personal experience.
There are people who believe that a lot of the symbolism and allusions related to classic works are not necessarily intentional on the part of the artist, but instead an unintended subconscious output of their genius...the fact that much is open to unending interpretation separates merely good from great.
Heath's hands are very expressive, when he caresses his daughter's neck, when he bats away Jack's hand, and especially when he embraces the shirts after he just found them in Jack's closet. His hand, with its long fingers, is held cupped upward in a prayerlike way. I find it very touching...pun intended.
Absolutely true...and let's not forget Ennis' grasp of Jack's lapel in the dozy embrace.
We've seen all the everyday objects -- fans, buckets, coffee pots, water, snow, shirts, hats, colors, wind, hair, guns, trucks, elk -- can carry big metaphoric meaning.
...
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.
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?
Katherine, we must add kitchen scales to your list of everyday objects because they're a personal favorite of mine (Alma & Monroe's Thanksgiving kitchen contrasted with Mrs. Twist's in terms of judgement, condemnation, and redemption), after the buckets, of course. And thank you for the abandoned building and horse/rodeo cowboy thoughts...I had not looked at them in quite this way before, but your words ring true for me.
Can anyone tell me if the tattooed woman dancing with a cowboy (while Cassie and Ennis dance in the bar scene w/Junior) has been thoroughly analyzed? I've got some thoughts on her, but I would love to read what others have said before I go into my dissertation on the subject...
-Lynne