Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Double meanings: Lines that can be taken more than one way
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: meryl on June 11, 2006, 01:08:01 pm ---Too true. I think Ennis suffered from low self-esteem from childhood on (his habit of keeping to himself was a product of it). His marriage helped heal that, gave him an accepted place in society and a wife and children who looked up to him. When he made the decision to continue his homosexual relationship with Jack, he put that in danger.
To preserve his tenuous hold on self-esteem, he had to look down on Jack as one of "those boys" and think of his passion for Jack only as "this thing." If he were to set up housekeeping with Jack, then of course his family and friends would know he was one of "those boys," too. Being the object of their contempt (and by association, his father's) was an insurmountable horror to him, a betrayal of his deepest wish to be accepted and respected in his life.
The fact that he continued to take the risk of meeting Jack over the years was a testimony to how much Jack meant to him. But I do think he blinded himself for a long time to the fact that what he felt for Jack was more than physical passion and friendship. He was forced to acknowledge this by two things: Alma's "outing" him at Thanksgiving, and when Jack finally hinted that he was ready to "quit" Ennis. After this, he had to admit to himself that he was never going to fit in like he wanted to. He belonged on Jack's side of the fence, and there was no more denying it.
--- End quote ---
Very well and succinctly put, Meryl. Thank you!
Meryl:
Thank you, Jeff, I appreciate your commenting on it! :-*
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on June 12, 2006, 10:40:23 pm ---"Sure, and you could try to convince Alma to let you and Lureen adopt the girls. And money would rain down from L.D. Newsome and we could just live together herding sheep and whiskey would flow in the stream..."
When you think about it... this is a really wierd thing for Ennis to even think of... why would Jack and Lureen adopt Ennis's kids under any circumstances? It's sad that Ennis can't wrap his head around any scenario that would allow Jack and Ennis to raise their kids together (this I know would be way too progressive for Ennis to consider or even imagine as a possibility), but still... why is this idea of Jack and Lureen adopting the girls a solution he even imagines (even in his sarcastic state of mind). I truly don't know how to interpret it.
The other sad thing I think, is that even in his sarcasm he realizes that living together with Jack herding sheep was the best time of his life (and that he probably really would like to do that in an ideal world).
:'(
--- End quote ---
Hi everybody!
Amanda, I definitely agree that the line suggests that Ennis thinks of that time as his ideal world -- so ideal as to be, at that point, an unrealistic fantasy. That's so touchingly underlined later when Lureen, quoting Jack, echoes the whiskey phrase (a moment made all the more hearbreaking :'( when Ennis is slightly smiles, amid his grief, at the memory and knowledge that Jack had felt the same way and repeated the phrase).
As for the adopting the girls thing, my impression was that he was being sarcastic -- he meant that, among all the other pie-in-the-sky aspects of the suggestions, he couldn't see leaving the girls behind, which made moving to Texas even more of an impossibility.
Mikaela:
--- Quote ---he couldn't see leaving the girls behind, which made moving to Texas even more of an impossibility.
--- End quote ---
and
--- Quote ---I wonder if Ennis was curious about Jack's family.
--- End quote ---
and
--- Quote ---the scene where he lets Bobby drive the tractor for a second certainly shows us that he was fun around kids too.
--- End quote ---
One thing I'm so very, very grateful for, is the way the film depicts the two men as fathers. It omits a couple of unflattering scenes from the short story (Jack saying he didn't want any kids, Ennis giving up on seeing his daughters after the Thanksgiving fiasco) and instead inserts scenes that show the two of them caring for and loving their kids (such as Jack and Bobby's tractor ride, Jack being the one of Bobby's parents who has been nagging the school).
The depiction of both of them as fathers is a direct contrast to how we learn that their own fathers treated *them*. That is all the more remarkable because abused or mistreated children very often end up being violent or abusive towards their own children in their turn. I'm so very happy for this characterization choice - I expect much of it is directly attributable to Ang Lee.
In the film, with the way Ennis focuses on his girls, and the way he several times asks Jack about Lureen, it's strange that after the Reunion they never are seen specifically discussing Bobby, or Jack's relationship with his son. Neither do either of them or the film address how Jack, who appears to love his son, still seems so ready to just leave everything behind, including Bobby..... Perhaps Jack too feels, like his father-in-law does, for the longest time that his son is mostly a Newsome? I get the feeling that it's Jack holding off talking about Bobby - that Ennis would not have minded doing so.
Jack and Ennis never get far enough into considering a life together to talk about what their staying together would mean for their children, in terms of possible ostracism, for instance. (That's actually and sadly still a hot topic *today* in political discussions in the country where I live, in debating whether married gay couples should have full adoption rights, which they do not have today.) Ennis's quip about Jack and Lureen adopting the girls, - which I agree means he can't put his head around leaving his girls behind, figuratively and literally speaking; - may possibly be the closest the film comes to addressing the issue of impact on their children. That, plus the fact that IMO one of the several reasons why Alma keeps silent, even under and after the divorce, is the thought of how it would affect their daughters, should the true nature of Ennis's fishing trips ever become known in the family or - even worse - public knowledge.
I should try and twist this someehow back on topic, I suppose. Jack's and Bobby's tractor ride. I adore that little scene. I can just imagine how wonderful the little boy thinks it is, being trusted to drive that huge tractor. And it gives more depth to something Jack says earlier, because it's such a complete and intentional and beautiful contrast to it: "Never taught me a thing. Never once come to see me ride".
serious crayons:
Mikaela, I have been thinking of starting a thread about relationships between parents and children in the movie and story. I'm inspired in part by your comment earlier that you'd thought a lot about this topic, and by insightful comments you and others have made. I will go ahead and do it; hope you will contribute more of your thoughts!
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