Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Joe Aguirre: what do you think of this character as portrayed in the movie?
moremojo:
--- Quote from: ineedcrayons on December 14, 2007, 08:16:28 pm ---Well, I'm not saying that in his spare time he's writing big checks to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. But I think his degree of homophobia is ambiguous at best.
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He certainly shows no sign of being virulently or violently homophobic. And it's true that the kernel of his disapproval of Jack (and Ennis) is that the job he hired and payed them for was not done to his satisfaction. I could easily see Aguirre saying some equivalent of the rose-stemming rebuke if Jack had been caught having relations with some woman on the mountain. Nonetheless, I think we are meant to see Aguirre as homophobic (probably more so, at any rate, than Old Man Twist can be seen as such).
moremojo:
--- Quote from: injest on December 14, 2007, 08:47:09 pm ---I also think Aquirre is NOT the owner of the sheep....he is the foreman.
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Are there specific clues in the story and/or film that lead you to think this, Jess? I had always assumed Aguirre was the owner.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: injest on December 14, 2007, 08:58:50 pm ---the car he drives, his general demeanor, the office he works in. all signs to me of a man that is not at the top of the heap....like a man that is scrambling and has gotten a little power and lords that little bit of power over other people.
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That's how I interpret him, too -- as the guy who was hired to hire the guys who tend the sheep. The actual sheep-owner, I think, would be fancier.
moremojo:
This is interesting...he certainly doesn't seem particularly wealthy (though such things can be relative, for any given context). He definitely doesn't seem like a happy man...potentially reflecting his position in the pecking order.
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: injest on December 14, 2007, 09:04:11 pm ---I think it would explain why he didn't fire Jack and Ennis that summer....he wouldn't want to have to tell the boss he made a bad choice....and probably the reason he made them bring the sheep down early...the storm was a convenient excuse to get Jack and Ennis off the payroll.
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Ooooooooo... great point Jess!
:)
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