Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
An Accurate Time Line of BBM - Let's Figure It Out Together!!
Brown Eyes:
<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/midsize/4380404-3a2.jpg" border="0" />
Hey Friends!
Let's all put our heads together and come up with the most accurate time line for Brokeback Mountain possible. I know there are lots of clues in the film, the screenplay and the short story to work with in creating a relatively reliable chronology of events. We can use things like the schedule of the full moon for the summer of 1963 to determine certain dates for the initial Brokeback summer for Jack and Ennis. And then, there are lots of text-based clues from Proulx's story/ the screenplay and prop-based/dialogue-based clues from the film itself.
The time line we come up with may be used in creating certain design features here at BetterMost. And, it seems like such a fun opportunity for a group project. Figuring all of this out can be tricky for sure. But, I think we can learn a lot about Brokeback Mountain as a group in the process!
8)
Brown Eyes:
So, let's start with the very beginning and try to figure out the '63 summer in as much as possible.
I'll start by posting the calendar of full moons for 1963 for reference. This list is according to this website:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/fullmoon.htm
1963 Jan 9 23:09 Wed
1963 Feb 8 14:52 Fri
1963 Mar 10 07:49 Sun
1963 Apr 9 00:57 Tue
1963 May 8 17:23 Wed
1963 Jun 7 08:31 Fri
1963 Jul 6 21:55 Sat
1963 Aug 5 09:31 Mon
1963 Sep 3 19:33 Tue
1963 Oct 3 04:44 Thu
1963 Nov 1 13:55 Fri
1963 Nov 30 23:55 Sat
1963 Dec 30 11:05 Mon
So, If this is the case...
And, if we can interpret this as a full moon...
<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/midsize/2650142-c1c.jpg" border="0" />
Then it probably occurred on June 7, 1963, since this is so early in their experience on Brokeback and since May 8 seems too early and July 6 seems too late.
Fran:
"The first snow came early, on August thirteenth, piling up a foot, but was followed by a quick melt."
So this must be the morning of August 13, 1963. (Ennis is surprised to see the snow, so I'm assuming it started snowing after he went to sleep.)
Now we can fill in the blanks between June 7th and August 13th. :)
belbbmfan:
--- Quote from: JudgeHolden on April 30, 2008, 02:16:07 am ---I actually did sit down and work this out myself once, for a story I did, and used the lunar calendar as a basis, though the individual components of the original story, screenplay, and direction dont always quite slide together. thes tory to screenplay struck me as filled with the kind of errors a writer has in his (and her, in this case) first draft that you flag and take care of later, like the time of year Bobby and Lureen met, I never thought she was prgenant with another guys kid, I just figured the banner with the "August 1963" on it at the rodeo was an error on the part of whoever did the props that couldnt be fixed later. From the hurried nature of a lot of the screenplay in the "Story to Screenplay" book, Id bet they never imagined the mount of interest it would generate and it was something hurriedly rushed into the publishing house to capitalize on it.
But both Ang Lee and Annie Proulx are masters of their craft, and they alternate between sparsity and lushness of narrative that makes me assume thart little in the final product is chance. Also, Ang Lee uses symmetry and parallelism a lot, as do I, why I latched onto it probably. For example, the opener, a shot of Ennis riding in a truck against a backdrop of hills at the break of day, everything he has of value in the world in a paper sack. And at the end, Ennnis rides in atruck from the other diretion, against a backdrop of hill at the close of day, everything he has of value in the world in a paper sack.
So with that in mind, I'm betting the line "the wedding's June 5th at the Methodist church" uttered by Alma Jr at the end (and Ennis's bearely detectable wince) is mighty significant: Jack and Ennis met on June 5th.
--- End quote ---
What a fantastic observation (especially about Ennis wincing). The reminder of the date, the fact that Alma jr. is getting married all leads to Ennis saying 'Jack, I swear'.
j.U.d.E.:
--- Quote from: atz75 on April 29, 2008, 08:31:15 pm ---So, let's start with the very beginning and try to figure out the '63 summer in as much as possible.
I'll start by posting the calendar of full moons for 1963 for reference. This list is according to this website:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/fullmoon.htm
--- End quote ---
I think it was said before, but according to this website Amanda, Heath Ledger died on a full moon............. Maybe even at that exact time..... :'(
-> 2007 Dec 24 01:17 Mon 2454458.553
-> 2008 Jan 22 13:36 Tue 2454488.067
-> 2008 Feb 21 03:32 Thu 2454517.647
j. U. d. E.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version