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

Religious symbolism in Brokeback

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TOoP/Bruce:
From the thread "Why Brokeback Mountain is a Masterpiece of Art - by ClancyPantsNasty"

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,10346.0.html

“Also, is there significance that Ma Twist's cherry cake has only one cherry in it?”

I believe there is. In a Christian imagery sense, Ma Twist offers Ennis communion. The communion bread and wine are represented by the cake and coffee. Ennis declined the cake, but accepted the coffee. Ennis declined the bread, but accepted the wine. The bread is the body (of Christ) and the wine is the blood. Jack is present in two ways: the ashes (the body) and the shirts (the blood). Ennis came expecting to get the ashes, the body, but the ashes/body will stay in the family plot. What Ennis ended up getting was the shirts, the blood. Again, he declined the cake, the body, but he accepted the coffee, the blood. The cake, representing the body has a single cherry in it, the heart. Ennis cannot take the body, the ashes, or the cake with Jack’s heart in it, but he gets the shirts, the blood -- Lev. 17:11 “For the life of a creature is in the blood”.

TheravadaAskesis:

 Here's a brief explanation of the anchor symbol in Christianity, specifically the Anchor Cross. I found it on a website dedicated to Christian Symbolism, www.christiansymbols.net
 The website has a search feature if there are symbols you come across in BBM and want to understand them better. Anyways, here's the quote

  -THE ANCHOR CROSS – 1. A cross in the form of an anchor. It symbolizes hope and stability in Jesus. The anchor cross is an ancient Christian symbol, dating back to the 2nd century. It was frequently used in the catacombs to decorate the tombs of the dead. Because it was illegal to practice Christianity in the Roman Empire, symbols used in the catacombs were frequently of common objects (anchor, shepherd, dove, etc.) that could hold double meanings. In this way the symbol would not look blatantly Christian, concealing its Christian meaning from all but the informed few.

 I find the connection between the use of the anchors in the catacombs and its appearance Jack's room interesting. Of course, in the case of Jack's room, the meaning is inverted. Christianity is not what needs to be kept hidden from "all but an informed few", but instead Jack and Ennis's love for each other. Maybe here it's meant to symbolize Jack's hope in Ennis, specifically Jack's hope for stability. Notice the anchor in Jack's room is also a source of light.

Artiste:
Wow!

Informative!

More...

hugs!

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