Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
TOTW 01/08: Do you think Jack was murdered or was it an accident?
serious crayons:
In the accident scenario, Jack's truck trouble early in the movie could be seen as foreshadowing his death. When they leave the mountain, Ennis helps him with it, but in the end, Ennis isn't there to help him.
And in between, Jack helps Randall with HIS truck trouble.
("Truck trouble" is starting to take on a sexual subtext! ;))
moremojo:
It occurs to me that if Jack did indeed die by gaybashing, it wouldn't necessarily have involved Randall (or the unnamed ranch foreman in the original story) at all, in terms of the two being seen together and others in the community speculating on their relationship. We know that Jack made trips to Mexico for sexual purposes, and it is quite possible that he continued this pattern even after meeting Randall (assuming that theirs became a sexual liaison). A profile of sexual impulsiveness and risk emerges on Jack's part. Jack may have placed himself in a knowingly sexual situation that turned ugly and deadly, and if so, he would not be the first gay man to whom this has happened. This hypothetical scenario would have rendered Jack as the vulnerable prey that JudgeHolden describes as the likely target of gaybashers.
pnwDUDE:
--- Quote from: moremojo on January 11, 2008, 04:43:52 pm ---It occurs to me that if Jack did indeed die by gaybashing, it wouldn't necessarily have involved Randall (or the unnamed ranch foreman in the original story) at all, in terms of the two being seen together and others in the community speculating on their relationship. We know that Jack made trips to Mexico for sexual purposes, and it is quite possible that he continued this pattern even after meeting Randall (assuming that theirs became a sexual liaison). A profile of sexual impulsiveness and risk emerges on Jack's part. Jack may have placed himself in a knowingly sexual situation that turned ugly and deadly, and if so, he would not be the first gay man to whom this has happened. This hypothetical scenario would have rendered Jack as the vulnerable prey that JudgeHolden describes as the likely target of gaybashers.
--- End quote ---
Randall is the 'unnamed ranch foreman'. I'm more likely to agree at your perspective if Jack's death wasn't an accident.
Brad
pnwDUDE:
--- Quote from: garycottle on January 11, 2008, 04:45:16 pm ---I always assumed that if other cops he worked with found out they might have beat the crap out of him.
--- End quote ---
Having been in his shoes at one time, it wasn't about getting beat up by fellow cops, it was about what they might think. I would drive 120 miles to the big city north of me to go to gay bars. I remember being petrified about a fellow cop seeing me go into a gay bar. Course, once I was comfortable with myself, I realized no one at work cared/cares. Most of it was in my head. Yeah, the Ennis stuff (although I was never afraid of being killed or beat up) and I was a cop in the 80's.
Brad
sorry to be off topic
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: JudgeHolden on January 11, 2008, 04:32:42 pm ---I discussed the general topic of gaybashing and hate crimes with a female deputy sheriff in the very kind of small red-state town where Jack Twist might of met his theoretical end, a gal of the age to have been on the job at that time, 1983.
--- End quote ---
Judge, thank you for contributing a great post (not just because you sort of complimented me ;) ). I won't take up the space to quote the whole thing here, just the first paragraph so readers will know to which I'm referring.
I'd particularly like to mention that I've thought about the prominence of the Newsomes in the community possibly also being a factor in any hypothetical "cover-up," so I'm glad you mentioned that.
What I want to say here is that I think it's possible that even if Jack's death occurred just the way Ennis envisions it, it still might, in a way, have been a crime of opportunity. If there were rumors about Jack circulating in the Childress area, and some low-life types had heard them, perhaps they just accidentally came on Jack, all by himself alone, changing a tire on some deserted back road, and decided to have a little "fun" with the alleged "queer."
Jack could have been having trouble with that tire, and the mechanics just happen by and offer to "help." There's Jack, all by himself, outside the truck (thus away from any firearm that he might have had inside the truck). Conceivably, he might even have handed the instrument of his own death--the tire iron--to his murderer.
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