Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
TOTW 18/07: Do you think classic cowboy icons like the "Marlboro Man" were proto
moremojo:
Yes, that screen capture is exactly it. In the context of the narrative, this is the moment when Ethan (John Wayne's character) has brought the captured Debbie "back home" to her original culture and people, and we have just seen the various characters enter the door to be swallowed up by the interior darkness and its implied "normalcy". Ethan stands outside, alone, and turns to confront and go out into the sunlit outer world, distancing himself from his family, his culture, and his own history.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on February 20, 2008, 02:13:46 pm ---The concept of the eternal outsider certainly seems relevant to Ennis... or to how Ennis probably felt by the end.
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--- Quote ---And, when it comes to Ennis... the idea that he's revealed to have many of the expected exterior characteristics of a stoic, tough, silent cowboy (visually the iconic package in many ways)... those characteristics are also exactly simultaneously characteristics that define a rather frightened, closeted gay man trying to survive in an environment that he perceives as hostile.
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--- Quote from: moremojo on February 20, 2008, 02:36:39 pm --- Ethan stands outside, alone, and turns to confront and go out into the sunlit outer world, distancing himself from his family, his culture, and his own history.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, that's another aspect of the cowboy archetype that BBM plays with and subverts. The cowboy, in American myth, is the ultimate individualist. Like Ennis, he's often a terse, stoic loner. But traditionally the cowboy goes his own way, refuses to conform to society's rules, is free to follow his own path. And that's the antithesis of Ennis, who is shackled by society's rules and does not feel free to live the way he wants to.
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: ineedcrayons on February 20, 2008, 02:55:49 pm ---Yeah, that's another aspect of the cowboy archetype that BBM plays with and subverts. The cowboy, in American myth, is the ultimate individualist. Like Ennis, he's often a terse, stoic loner. But traditionally the cowboy goes his own way, refuses to conform to society's rules, is free to follow his own path. And that's the antithesis of Ennis, who is shackled by society's rules and does not feel free to live the way he wants to.
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I think that's really profound. The idea of Ennis (embodying visual aspects of an archetype and simultaneously subverting aspects of the archetype) makes the image of a cowboy in a cultural context seem to be a kind of a mask. Ennis could comfortably slip behind the mannerisms of a stoic individualist cowboy... and sort of hide in plain sight (while the behaviors of being alone and quiet are also aspects of being an outsider or in his case a closeted gay man). The inversion of the issue of freedom/independence vs. constraint/trying-to-fit-in-with-conventional-society in Ennis is pretty interesting.
I think the idea that the cowboy can mask lots of underlying realities is exactly what causes so much anxiety among folks who dislike BBM.
Crayons, at the moment this bit from one of your earlier posts really stands out as I'm thinking about this post...
--- Quote from: ineedcrayons on February 19, 2008, 12:27:15 pm ---
The fact that they're cowboys is also a big reason homophobes find the story so disturbing. Ernest Borgnine, in declaring that he wouldn't watch BBM, said, "If John Wayne were alive, he'd be rolling over in his grave."
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moremojo:
--- Quote ---The fact that they're cowboys is also a big reason homophobes find the story so disturbing. Ernest Borgnine, in declaring that he wouldn't watch BBM, said, "If John Wayne were alive, he'd be rolling over in his grave."
--- End quote ---
Ironic in light of the story (unverified, but still interesting as titillating gossip) that I seem to remember reading about director John Ford being caught by Maureen O'Hara giving good ole Wayne a smooch on the lips. ::) (I seem to recall reading this way back in the day on an IMDb message board; has anyone else heard anything remotely like this concerning Wayne and/or Ford?).
One other contrast between the endings of The Searchers and Brokeback Mountain that seems relevant in light of Katherine's insights is that in the former we see Ethan turning away from the house, heading towards the outside and the unknown, while in the latter we see Ennis turning towards us, his back turned to the closet and the window with its promise of openness and freedom, and retreating out of view, ensconced in his little trailer--safe but sad.
serious crayons:
--- Quote ---Quote from: ineedcrayons on Yesterday at 10:27:15 AM
The fact that they're cowboys is also a big reason homophobes find the story so disturbing. Ernest Borgnine, in declaring that he wouldn't watch BBM, said, "If John Wayne were alive, he'd be rolling over in his grave."
--- End quote ---
:laugh: I dutifully copied that quote from imdb but just now read it closely enough to see that it's a Yogi Berra-ism. If John Wayne were alive, he wouldn't have a grave to roll over in.
--- Quote from: atz75 on February 20, 2008, 04:17:05 pm ---I think the idea that the cowboy can mask lots of underlying realities is exactly what causes so much anxiety among folks who dislike BBM.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, if Jack and Ennis were accountants BBM might still be good, I guess, but it might have slipped quietly into arthouse obscurity.
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