Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
ODDS and ENDS
iristarr:
Lynne, would you believe, after 11 viewings, I never noticed the tattoos? Sheesh! I can think off hand of a couple of metaphors, like disguising oneself, covering one's true self up, inflicting pain on oneself. Or, conversely, expressing one's true self, showing off, decorating and glorifying one's body/self. Your guess is as good as mine! Will this ever end? Carry on, woman!
Lynne:
Iris & Nancy,
I saw the tattoos my FIRST viewing - they were so startling - but I missed the nuzzle, so what could I know?! Between the two of you, maybe you'll keep me in some neutral, sane place :-) Being at home with mom is wonderful, but actually accomplishing any work is not yet happening...I'm going to have to start getting up a little earlier than she does for a couple hours of quiet time....Meanwhile evenings need to be for the board here.
OK...the tattoos...I'm going to get there in a roundabout way.
Did you guys see the post about Annie Proulx language being difficult - needing a dictionary, etc? I need to post back over there, because I did a little research. In her article about the red carpet being overshadowed by scientology purple in The Guardian, I counted 4 words/allusions I simply could not get...but I brushed past, getting the general idea from context...here are the 4:
1) stentorian - from m-w.com: extremely loud
2) plangent - from m-w.com: Etymology: Latin plangent-, plangens, present participle of plangere to strike, lament -- more at PLAINT 1 : having a loud reverberating sound; 2 : having an expressive and especially plaintive quality
The next two gave me fits:
3)culchah - googled it and found a pile of info, but nothing definitive...definitely related to music and may music as a societal music? It would take three days of intensive reading to really figure this one out.
4)heffalump - not in the dictionary, but seems to refer to a character in an A.A. Milne/Winnie the Pooh story
So all this reasearch reminded me of the dancing tattoo woman which reminded me of a story I read by Flannery O'Conner AGES ago...called Parker's Back. The gist of the story is that Parker is married to a fundamentalist Christian evangelical woman who abhors his tattoos - she sees them as defiling the temple of God, etc....So Parker gets a giant tattoo of Jesus on his back. His wife essentially sh*ts monkeys and Parker cannot for the life of him understand why she would object to that tattoo, completely missing out on the whole graven image, blasphemy message his wife has been trying to convey. Remember Jack & Ennis' innocence about the Pentecost?
So...I'm wondering if McMurtry has read Flannery O'Connor? I'm sure the answer is yes. Did he have that in mind?
Or is a tattoo, just a tattoo?
Iris - I think you might be right on with the disguising oneself idea...Is Cassie anything more really than his sincere but misguided attempt to cover up his true self? or redeem himself?
I hope this never ends..I'm listening to my soundtrack..Mom is in bed..it's nice around here tonight. i wish we had that chat option up and running...I know Phillip will get to it when he can.
BTW...I posted about this site over on www.suzannebrockmann.com's bulletin board. Her loyal readers have been very active in writing her publishers expressing support for her gay characters...so we may be seeing some of them coming over here perusing. I'm sorry to say that I was too involved in seeing this movie 19 times to go to that board for the past 3 months. It's not archived so I don't have a feel about their BBM reactions, but I explained a bit about my experience and our nice warm comfy ladies' corner.
Love y'all.
Lynne
BBMGrandma:
DAMN....I posted this HUGE reply to your post Lynne...and somewhere...SOMEHOW...I lost the friggin thing. Grrrrrrrrr!!!
DAMN.....!! And at the end I said I was soooo tired and couldn't write any more. DUH!!!!! I'm going to sleep....perhaps my sleepiness has made me a bit....GOOFY!!!
Night all....LOVE YA....Nancy :-*
iristarr:
Lynne - I thought I had replied to your question, but maybe in some other thread. I think "culchah" is Annie Proulx' phonetic spelling of a snobbish, British-derived pronunciation of "culture." I don't have a copy of her letter, so could be wrong about this. Anyone? Iris.
BBMGrandma:
I'm gonna try this post again....!!! I'm wide awake now so perhaps I'll get it together a wee bit better now.
as to CULCHAH~~>[ Even a definition of culture depends on culture. In the German, Scandinavian, and Slavic language groups, the word "culture" tends to mean a particular way of life, whether of a people, a time period, or a group. But in Italian and French, the word refers more to art, learning, and a general process of human development (Williams, 1976a, p. 81). Both meanings exist today as the word is used in English. It is helpful to distinguish so-called high culture (classical music, opera, ballet, art, literature, and so forth) from all processes and products of human activity. High culture is associated with class distinctions and is sometimes put down with the affected pronunciation "culchah" (Williams, 1976). We will use the term culture in its more general social sense to mean the customs of a group or a society.]
Sooooo...seems to me it's just a bastardized pronunciation of Culture...as Iris said.
As far as the Heffalumps...it seems to be a child's mispronunciation of Elephant!! An imaginary character constantly being pursued by Piglet with the help of all the other characters in the Pooh stories. My niece called them FUFFANTS....when she was a kid.
As for the tattoos...I almost dropped my teeth when I saw them. I flashed on that back during my first viewing. It was really disconcerting to me. My 'take' on it....is that it's a startling reminder that 20 years had past...that we were most definitely in the 80's...and that we were suddenly thrust into the "NOW" rather than the "then." I know that it REALLY made me sit up and realize that BrokeBack Mountain..and ALL that it signified...was GONE!! But then...when Ennis opens his closet...I was peacefully carried BACK to our Mountain...and the LOVE...mixed with total SORROW!! It was a totally surreal moment for me. I had a combination of LOVE and SORROW....both pulling at me at the same time. I was literally paralyzed in my seat!! Couldn't move...wanted to smile but the tears were flowing tooo hard. I was SOO very touched by the love that I was feeling for our 'boys' and at the same time....mourning...deeply.
There....I finally got THAT out!! Whew. Does anyone here feel like they've been dragged through a knothole...when reaching back into the emotions we're feeling? And at the same time....feel....<searching for the word here> close to being UPLIFTED into some special 'place?'
Anyway....much love to all.....Nancy :-*
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