Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Double meanings: Lines that can be taken more than one way
Mikaela:
--- Quote ---This movie is very ambiguous throughout, and the ending particularly so.
--- End quote ---
Yes! And oh, how much that makes it continue to engage our hearts and minds.... :)
In keeping with the "double meanings" theme, Ennis's keeping the shirts in the closet has several overlapping possible uses and meanings as well..... ranging from the entirely mundane to the heartwrenchingly symbolic.
- Protection and preservation from everyday stains or mishaps
- A "shrine" or "memorial" as a private focal point for Ennis to remember Jack and their love for each other.
- A hiding place, so that noone (aka society) will be meddling, questioning, or disapproving
- And the strongly symbolic implication to contemporary viewers. (I don't even know if the "in the closet" term had been coined in the early 80's)
Brown Eyes:
I'm popping in here to say congrats to this thread and to Katherine for starting it since it's now surpassed 100 posts! Wow, I go grab my 40 winks, go to work and come back here to find a zillion long and extremely thoughtful new posts. OK. I need to do some serious post-reading before I really join in here again. It never ceases to amaze me how much there is to discuss in this movie... even after all of our hours of discussion already, things just get more interesting and complex.
:D
Mikaela:
+ 100 posts !! Woot! :) :)
I'm disrupting the discussion to move on to another "double meaning" for a moment, but this one just occured to me (probably months after everyone else, but there you are.......):
When Ennis promises his daughters he'll be back in time for the church picnic, he says "All right...long as I don't have to sing!" And they laugh, as if it's a good and lighthearted joke. So the first thought that comes to mind is that his daughters think it's funny because they know that Ennis can't sing, or never sings, or sings so badly that it's a shared and internal family "thing".
But he *can* sing - he sings when he's riding under the blue sky, on his way back to Jack with food, and he sings to Jack during the dozy embrace. So maybe an unvoiced and subconscious sentiment behind "as long as I don't have to sing" is : "Because that's something special between Jack and me, something belonging to Brokeback - and I'll not sing anywhere else." :'(
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Mikaela on June 01, 2006, 10:10:36 pm --- + 100 posts !! Woot! :) :)
I'm disrupting the discussion to move on to another "double meaning" for a moment, but this one just occured to me (probably months after everyone else, but there you are.......):
When Ennis promises his daughters he'll be back in time for the church picnic, he says "All right...long as I don't have to sing!" And they laugh, as if it's a good and lighthearted joke. So the first thought that comes to mind is that his daughters think it's funny because they know that Ennis can't sing, or never sings, or sings so badly that it's a shared and internal family "thing".
But he *can* sing - he sings when he's riding under the blue sky, on his way back to Jack with food, and he sings to Jack during the dozy embrace. So maybe an unvoiced and subconscious sentiment behind "as long as I don't have to sing" is : "Because that's something special between Jack and me, something belonging to Brokeback - and I'll not sing anywhere else." :'(
--- End quote ---
Ooooo. Good one Mikaela! Yes, I think this is a good example of Ennis wanting to keep Brokeback special and private... and completely separate from his daily life. It's interesting though... you'd think he might be willing to sing to his daughters if he'd be willing to sing to anyone other than Jack (since he clearly loves his kids so much). But, it makes perfect sense to me that he wouldn't want to sing with the "fire and brimstone" church people. I think it's the sweetest thing in the world that he sings to Jack... and also a really significant song. I love that he says it's something he got from his Mother (well the "sleeping on your feet like a horse" comment came from his Mom, so I assume the song did too... but I could be wrong). Oh, it just breaks my heart that Ennis the orphan is sharing something like that with Jack (especially because this is a clue too that Ennis's Mother seems to have been a positive force in Ennis's life, unlike his Dad). I love that we can't quite hear what Ennis is humming to Jack (at least I can't make out what the actual tune is). To me that helps keep that moment "private and precious" and something that only our boys know.
Does anyone remember that fantastic old thread on the old board about the "Cowboy's Lament"? It was started by CaseyCornelius (I'm almost certain) and was all about the song the Streets of Laredo that Ennis seems to be humming before the bear incident. It was really smart. I seem to recall that it was all about the significance of the lyrics to that old song in relation to BBM. Is that thread in the Archives? I'll have to check when I log off here tonight.
This is all reminding me of one of the favorite old observations from the *original* "I love everything Ennis" thread on the old board. People used to say "I love Ennis because he laughs, jokes, sings and humms when he's around Jack."
Awwww.
richardg49:
I think there is a clever double-meaning in Cassie's line to Alma, Jnr when she says, 'You don't say much, but you get your point across.' This comment could equally well apply to Ennis as to his daughter. An inherited family trait, perhaps?
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