Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Why the Lie?
nic:
Interesting thread. But I hope it doesn't turn into the mythicial "were they gay" thread on the DC board, except it would be the "was Ennis <insert suitable indubitable euphemism verb> while thinking about Jack in the 4 years before the reunion" thread LOL
On that matter, I'd say the general concensus is that the euphemistic version is what was intended but as with so many other aspects of the story, readers/viewers can have a spectrum of interpretations and the resulting discussions can be very illuminating. There are many questions I still haven't come to my own conclusion about, which is frustrating as I have an unquenchable need to.
--- Quote from: latjoreme on May 26, 2006, 02:30:33 am ---Yes, these concepts are from TOB. Sorry to talk in shorthand, though I don't want to go over things if people are already familiar with them. The threads were long, but as briefly as possible here are some of the main points:
Tar-spreading scene: The guy Ennis is working with reminds Ennis in a negative way of Jack (he's neither cute nor fun), and also of how Ennis himself could very well wind up in 20 years. Ennis is wearing a blue plaid shirt (Jack's colors). The big clue is the other guy says something like "the wife said I would break my back working blah blah blah" and it's those words that trigger Ennis to stand up and look wistfully off to one side into the distance, as he always does when thinking of Jack.
--- End quote ---
This may have been picked up before here or elsewhere - the fact that Ennis looks off to one side when thinking about Jack. Apparently when you are remembering something you subconsciously look off to the side of the brain where memories are stored. Conversely if you are lying you look off into the other direction as that is the side of the brain concerned with imagination. Unfortunately I don't know which side is which! I wonder if it works when Ennis when he is lying to Alma - I'll try to remember to check it out on next viewing.
nakymaton:
--- Quote from: Aussie Chris on May 29, 2006, 07:18:57 am ---I like even more that you picked up on "Broke back's and weak minds run in the family" reminding Ennis of Broke-back - actually I think he says "bad back's" but I might have miss-heard this. Thanks for pointing it out though! :)
--- End quote ---
Isn't it "strong backs and weak minds"? But before that, he says "...says I'm gettin' too old to be breakin' my back shoveling asphalt." So the reference is there.
I'd never caught that before.
(Has anybody seen "Surf Party"? I haven't, and don't know anything about the movie. Did the early version of the screenplay posted somewhere on the net have a different movie? I thought that "Hud" was shown in one of the early screenplays... and I haven't seen that, either. I'm curious about reasons why the screenplay changed from the early drafts to the one that was originally filmed. Especially for the reasons why some of the details changed.)
silkncense:
David -
Although I don't agree with ALL the interpretations, I also viewed the bar quote the same:
--- Quote ---The bartender sees Jack get rejected. So when the Bartender then says :" Ever try Calf roping?" I take that he is telling Jack "try sticking to picking up girls"
--- End quote ---
Tiawahcowboy - I just asked this on another thread but since you brought the subject up here & you have such an issue with how your "ID" name is addressed, why didn't you stick to TJ? Or Joe Allen Doty???
tiawahcowboy:
--- Quote from: silkncense on May 29, 2006, 10:13:51 am ---
Tiawahcowboy - I just asked this on another thread but since you brought the subject up here & you have such an issue with how your "ID" name is addressed, why didn't you stick to TJ? Or Joe Allen Doty???
--- End quote ---
Whom are you talking about? Who is "TJ? "Joe Allen Doty?" In regard to the latter, I heard that he has relatives in Tiawah. I do have a membership in one of his Yahoo Groups about cowboys.
Look at my signature line and see whose name is in it.
tiawahcowboy:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on May 26, 2006, 02:30:33 am ---Tar-spreading scene: The guy Ennis is working with reminds Ennis in a negative way of Jack (he's neither cute nor fun), and also of how Ennis himself could very well wind up in 20 years. Ennis is wearing a blue plaid shirt (Jack's colors). The big clue is the other guy says something like "the wife said I would break my back working blah blah blah" and it's those words that trigger Ennis to stand up and look wistfully off to one side into the distance, as he always does when thinking of Jack.
--- End quote ---
Oh, they are spreading (hot) asphalt, which is a mixture of pitch (contains a petroleum based black tar) sand, and fine gravel. They are putting an asphalt surface on a dirt road. I have worked for the county highway department and we did patch pot-holes in the roads which had an asphalt surface. I looked at the scene in the movie and they are putting that directly on top of dirt without the roadbed even being properly prepared with a layer of coarse gravel. In the movie, Ennis works on the highway crew BEFORE he moves to Riverton; but, in the AP story, AFTER he moves to Riverton, he has a full-time job with the highway crew and works on a ranch on the weekends to pay for keeping his horses there.
Oh, I think that one of the reasons that Ennis looks to the side while the other guy is yakkin' is that he is wishing that he was somewhere else and did not have to listen to the guy. I have met guys who will talk to anyone who has ears whether the other person wants to listen or not.
--- Quote from: latjoreme on May 26, 2006, 02:30:33 am ---Drive-in scene: The woman in the movie is emerging from a trailer, a reminder of Aguirre's trailer. There was some talk of what the actual movie is onscreen, which I missed, though I think that may be significant, too. (Starboardlight, if you read this, weren't you in on that discussion?) And Alma grabs Ennis' hand and presses it to her pregnant belly in a way reminiscent of Jack's grabbing Ennis' hand in TS1.
--- End quote ---
Well, it is like this, that ain't in the book, the drive-in movie scene, that is. I have known women who got married just so they could have babies and they did want their husbands to put their hands on ther tummies. As far as the reason the scene was added to the story, one will have to ask those who were involved with the making of the movie.
In the book, there is absolutely nothing really romantic in the relationship of Ennis and Alma.
Quote from the book which has some details about the birth of Alma Jr.
--- Quote ---In December Ennis married Alma Beers and had her pregnant by mid-January. He picked up a few short-lived ranch jobs, then settled in as a wrangler on the old Elwood Hi-Top place north of Lost Cabin in Washakie County. He was still working there in September when Alma Jr., as he called his daughter, was born and their bedroom was full of the smell of old blood and milk and baby shit, and the sounds were of squalling and sucking and Alma's sleepy groans, all reassuring of fecundity and life's continuance to one who worked with livestock.
--- End quote ---
That "all reassuring of fecundity and life's continuance to one who worked with livestock" makes me think that Ennis's attitude toward the situation was he and Alma might have as well have been keeping house in a barn. And the birth of a baby girl was, to Ennis, like the birth of a filly to a mare. We do know (according to the book) that Ennis called his horses and his daughters "little darlin'." He must have just called Alma, "Alma."
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version