Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Double meanings: Lines that can be taken more than one way
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on June 14, 2006, 09:37:25 am ---"Kill us a nice elk."
I was thinking this morning about how much that line stands out. Others (Amanda?) have pointed out how elk symbolizes their relationship and the compromises they make for each other, as an elk solved the sheep/beans conflict on Brokeback. So implicitly he's talking about making a compromise and restoring peace.
But it's funny in this context, because it's hard to imagine them taking the time to hunt and dress a huge animal. After all, they never even bother to fish!
--- End quote ---
Well, yes, I think elk is really important in their relationship. My spin on elk though is that I think it functions as an aphrodisiac. They have one of their very first moment of physical contact during the elk hunt on Brokeback and they clearly bond a lot over eating the elk, etc. And then there's the wonderful Elks building that Ennis drives by in the lead up to the reunion scene (he's on his way back to the apartment right before Alma tells him about the arrival of Jack's first postcard). So, I see this elk building as a sign that their romance is about to be rekindled... it's also sets up a great contrast between the mountain and town (on the mtn. elk is a wild animal while in town elk is a sad, unappealing building). Then in the argument scene I think Ennis is definitely trying to make a compromise... he's trying all sorts of things to try to calm Jack down. And, mentioning elk, I think really is meant to evoke some romantic nostalgia in Jack. But, Jack is too angry/ hurt here to focus on it.
And I think you're right, Katherine, at this particular moment neither of them probably cares very much about the actual act of hunting... It sort of functions as a code for dealing with their relationship. Ennis mentions elk because he wants Jack to "lighten up" and Jack ignores it because he's mad at Ennis. But, maybe it's a bad sign that Jack is somehow able to ignore it. Ennis's use of the word "kill" in reference to the elk seems ominous too. I guess most of this scene has an ominous feel to it...
:-\
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on June 15, 2006, 12:36:21 am --- Ennis's use of the word "kill" in reference to the elk seems ominous too. I guess most of this scene has an ominous feel to it...
:-\
--- End quote ---
That's for sure!
And that's a good way to express the elk metaphor. The elk hunt on Brokeback is the first time we see them touch each other, in that cute flirtatious way. And good point about the mountain/town contrast. The ways in which lovely mountain images are echoed in bleak town images could probably make a whole thread, I'll bet. The only one I can think of offhand is the water from the river vs. Alma's dishwater and laundry water. But maybe there are others ...
jpwagoneer1964:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on June 14, 2006, 09:37:25 am ---"Kill us a nice elk."
I was thinking this morning about how much that line stands out. Others (Amanda?) have pointed out how elk symbolizes their relationship and the compromises they make for each other, as an elk solved the sheep/beans conflict on Brokeback. So implicitly he's talking about making a compromise and restoring peace.
But it's funny in this context, because it's hard to imagine them taking the time to hunt and dress a huge animal. After all, they never even bother to fish!
--- End quote ---
I think the did some fishing. In the middle camping trip Ennis is shown getting out of his truck with all his gear. The river was always near and they had to eat.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: jpwagoneer1964 on June 15, 2006, 01:17:41 am ---I think the did some fishing. In the middle camping trip Ennis is shown getting out of his truck with all his gear. The river was always near and they had to eat.
--- End quote ---
You would think so. But I was thinking about how the price tag was still on the tackle after five years, and how Alma's note had never seen water in its life, and how they never brought any fish home.
In a long-ago comic thread, there was a line advising that cowboys on fishing trips should: "Always bring some fish home. Make sure it is thawed by the time you get there."
Mikaela:
I think Ennis and Jack don't fish on their trips because Ennis deliberately avoids fishing.
The "fishing buddies" tale popped out of nowhere when Alma asked how Ennis knew Jack, - and just there and then Ennis had a narrative safety buffer he seemed to need in compartmentalizing his married life from his love for Jack.
He has to tell his family *something*, however little, after those trips - and he evidently comes home spinning tales specifically about the fishing (based on what he told Alma after that trip when we *know* he didn't fish). In talking about fishing that never occurred, I think Ennis manages to limit the risk that anything of the real events and his real emotions, ever creep into what he tells Alma. He doesn't have to sift through his trips to tell censored half-truths, and everything real and true about his relationship with Jack remains all the more hidden safely away in his mind and heart and memory.
Otherwise I can't really see why Jack and Ennis wouldn't fish, being so close to running streams and having the fishing gear available. From the glimpses we get of their outings, there's focus on food and drink, and it's not like they spend all their time cuddling in the tent (more's the pity... ) ,and they did apparaently actually go hunting at one time. So realistically they would do some fishing unless they specifically decided not to.
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