Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Why the Lie?
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on May 30, 2006, 01:19:55 pm ---I want to go back to this, because it's a really cool observation. I think it's really sad that Ennis never even says "Brokeback" to anyone -- not even to Jack. (Jack's the one who says "Brokeback got us good" and "All we've got is Brokeback Mountain," and asks Aguirre if he's got "anything up on Brokeback," and at least tells Lureen that he wants his ashes spread there. But Ennis? He never even says its name.)
I wonder if Ennis mentions being "fishing buddies" precisely because that's one of the few things that men do together, but that he never did with Jack? (Hunting... elk... Jack. Camping... tent... Jack. Rodeo... Jack. Riding horses... mare with a low startle point... Jack.)
--- End quote ---
Thanks, Mel. And back at you -- both of the above are very cool observations, too!
However, regarding the first one, I'm wondering -- does Ennis say Brokeback" when he's talking to the Twists about the ashes (I can't remember exactly! But isn't it something like, "I come by to offer to scatter Jack's ashes on Brokeback Mountain, like his wife said Jack wanted"?) Because if so, it could be significant that it's the first time. In other words, Ennis may be using the word in the same symbolic sense that Old Man Twist does when he says "Tell you what, I know where Brokeback Mountain is ..." Brokeback = gay. By claiming it for the first time, especially in combination with Jack, Ennis is finally acknowledging the nature of their relationship.
tiawahcowboy:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on May 30, 2006, 01:19:55 pm ---I want to go back to this, because it's a really cool observation. I think it's really sad that Ennis never even says "Brokeback" to anyone -- not even to Jack. (Jack's the one who says "Brokeback got us good" and "All we've got is Brokeback Mountain," and asks Aguirre if he's got "anything up on Brokeback," and at least tells Lureen that he wants his ashes spread there. But Ennis? He never even says its name.)
I wonder if Ennis mentions being "fishing buddies" precisely because that's one of the few things that men do together, but that he never did with Jack? (Hunting... elk... Jack. Camping... tent... Jack. Rodeo... Jack. Riding horses... mare with a low startle point... Jack.)
--- End quote ---
In the book, the only time time Ennis uses "Brokeback" in a sentence is when he is talking to Lureen and Jack's parents. You are quite right that when Ennis is with Jack from the the Reunion in 1967 until 1983, Jack is the only one who talks about Brokeback.
I say that Ennis said "fishin' buddies" because he actually owned fishing gear. He did have what he needed to go fly fishing for brown trout.
Mikaela:
His exact words are:
I come by to say that if you want me to take his ashes up there on Brokeback like his wife said he wanted, I'd be proud to.
He also uses Brokeback in the conversation with Lureen. So he only ever says the name after jack is dead. :'(
nakymaton:
--- Quote from: Mikaela on May 30, 2006, 01:47:07 pm ---I do think Ennis didn't tell Alma anything of emotional importance to him about his summer job on the mountain; - but I do think he had to tell her something.
--- End quote ---
Well, he might have just said "hunnh" or "mmm-hmmm." I mean, this is Ennis, after all. ;D I would assume that, if Alma knew him well enough to be engaged to him, she wouldn't have expected any kind of long, detailed story from him.
Somebody up-thread mentioned that the rodeoing might have just slipped out... that Ennis pauses, as if to collect himself just a little bit, before he tells the "fishing buddy" lie. As if Ennis let out more about that private part of himself than he ever intended to, in the heat of the moment when he saw Jack's postcard.
--- Quote from: latjoreme on May 30, 2006, 01:49:57 pm ---However, regarding the first one, I'm wondering -- does Ennis say Brokeback" when he's talking to the Twists about the ashes (I can't remember exactly! But isn't it something like, "I come by to offer to scatter Jack's ashes on Brokeback Mountain, like his wife said Jack wanted"?)
--- End quote ---
Doesn't Ennis say "Brokeback" when he's talking to Lureen? After she says that Jack wanted his ashes scattered there, Ennis manages to choke out something like "Me and Jack herded sheep up on Brokeback in '63." (Don't have the screenplay book in front of me, and can't remember a thing without a written reference.) But I think the point you made works in either case -- Ennis is sort of quietly acknowledging to Lureen that there was something important between him and Jack, even though neither one says anything directly about it.
(That was the line that did me in the first time I saw the movie, by the way. The look on Ennis's face when he finally says "Brokeback" there in that little lonely public phone booth.... :'( )
tiawahcowboy:
Well, "Brokeback" could have meant "sheep herder" to John C. Twist, Sr. because he was a cattle rancher. It might have been that he did not like the idea that his cattle ranch-raised son herded sheep. Traditionally speaking, ranchers and cowboys don't like sheep nor those that herd them.
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