Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
TOTW 05/08: What do you make of the "Maybe Texas?" scene?
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: atz75 on February 19, 2008, 12:24:02 am ---Well, that's a good point... that the Denver suggestion does seem to indicate that Jack at least perceives a disconnect between rural life and being gay. I guess it is sad.
It's interesting that with the Denver comment it does seem entirely hypothetical or rhetorical (or something like that). But, with the "maybe Texas" in the movie, there seems to be a lot of real intention there.
--- End quote ---
You're right, people in Wyoming really do think of Denver that way. It might as well be Hollywood or Las Vegas. Good thoughts, Amanda, and LauraGigs, I really liked your pointing out how mum Jack is for once!
Sandy:
I guess most of you will disagree with me but I actually see the beginning of this scene as being a positive step for Ennis.
I think that he is beginning to attempt to start trying (phew!) to define his relationship with Jack. I have always said that I think Ennis started ‘this thing’ as a homophobic man trained to be so by his father. When his relationship with Jack turned sexual, I don’t think that he spent time thinking about what it meant. I think that he was scared to think about it because of the inevitable conclusion, so any thoughts about Jack were deliberately pushed out. He loved Jack and missed him (which could be, if you want it to be, rationalised by saying he was his friend and they were alone on the mountain with needs).
Around the campfire, after the reunion scene, he refers to what they have as “this thing [that] grabs hold” as if it is an object, something that they can’t control, with a mind of its own. By asking Jack about others looking at him “like he knows”, “like they know too” he is referring to that they have as being a part of him, i.e. while looking at him what do they know about him?
Secondly, Ennis immediately rejects the move to Texas by mentioning his girls. Ennis is a man of few words and I think that anything he says is to be taken at face value. He doesn’t, at any point during this conversation, say about it being unsafe. He talks about the long move from his girls. He is reminding Jack that it’s not just about them, they can’t just live together as if they were on the mountain as young men. They have responsibilities now. Jack hasn’t got it all figured out, like he thinks.
Regarding the plates flowing down the river, Ennis was holding onto the plates and during the conversation, lets go of them. He was, for the first time since the reunion scene, entering into a serious discussion with Jack. He was attempting to let go a little at which point, Jack grabbed on. He asked one question and the conversation ‘ran away’ from him. The plates, to me, are more about Ennis’ fears of letting go, as if he does, who knows where he'll end up?
souxi:
I agree with you Sandy. I think you,ve got that spot on actually. The only thing I don,t agree with is the plates, I think he just dropped em lol. ;D
Why couldn,t it have been like that always? Why couldn,t the world just let them be? :(
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: souxi on February 19, 2008, 07:53:05 am ---The only thing I don,t agree with is the plates, I think he just dropped em lol. ;D
--- End quote ---
Um, it was a bucket floating down the river...if you want to know more about the buckets, go here please!
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,569.0/all.html
serious crayons:
Yeah, Front-Ranger's theory about buckets really fits this scene, IMO. The bucket represents Ennis' relationships -- for example, when fighting with Alma he kicks a bucket full of ashes -- and in this case he's letting his relationship with Jack slip away.
Sandy, good point about this scene showing Ennis attempting to define their relationship. The very fact that he fears people "know" indicates that he understands there is something TO know. It's really solid evidence that, certainly at this point (though I would argue, the whole time) he understands that he's homosexual. And I like the idea that the knowledge of the people on the pavement is also about the knowledge in his own head. (If that's what you're saying. That's how I read it, anyway.) Ennis so carefully compartmentalizes what he knows about himself -- his love for Jack is in one box; his belief that homosexuality is wrong is in another -- that it's almost like they're the thoughts of different people within his own mind.
--- Quote from: Sandy on February 19, 2008, 07:27:08 am --- Ennis is a man of few words and I think that anything he says is to be taken at face value.
--- End quote ---
I don't, however, quite agree with this. IMO, Ennis rarely says what's actually on his mind. In this case, yes, he wouldn't want to move far from his girls, and they are genuinely important. But just like in the post-divorce scene, I don't think it's really all about the girls. He just can't commit to Jack.
Here's another issue. It's odd of him to say everyone "on the pavement" looks at him, rather than everyone on the street. What's that about? Is there a connection between his saying that and the much earlier scene where he's laying pavement with Timmy?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version