Optom, you could also see it on another way, may I suggest?
Since you say:
I disagree totally, he may have felt the frisson, and there is no direct reference as to whether it was Jack, him or both who felt it. But If I feel a man is comming onto me and I am not really interested, does that make me anti men. No it doesn't, it just means I am not interested in THAT man. Not the whole male population.
The use of the word frisson in the screenplay is ambiguous and deliberately so I think,the frisson makes Jimbo uneasy, but maybe that is because he, like Ennis is deeply closeted by fear. At no time does he seem threatening to Jack, in fact the screenplay says he remains perfectly friendly.
...........
A- Optom, I thought that you wrote that it was Jimbo that had the frisson? Was that so written by Annie and/or the screenplay?
B- Concerning if a man comes directly to you cruising you, of course like you say, you would not be anti-man, since you are normal in the sense of civil, and you would re-act kindly, I'm sure since that is known about you! Like you say in a way, you would NOT certainly murder Jack like the Greyhound bus murderer, nor those two who murdered Sheppard, that gay young man picked up in such a bar - as you said Earl and Rich suffered and another word which I have no time to refind! But in this case, I see Jimbo as anti-gay (as well as a con-artist) and certainly not gay-closetted), and therefore, I note that Jimbo sensed Jack's friendship as coloured:
yes, as being gay as in homosexual, right? These two would certainly not become just booze buddies, right... as they could have begun to be even if one is straight and the other gay !?
You are normal in your reactions, but in this case Jimbo surely is not that normal, since he is a con-artist and/or anti-gay, I feel ! You don't see that ? Why those word of Jimbo's and his actions going back to the others ? What is your point on that and that??
Au revoir,
hugs!
The entire Jimbo episode exists only in the film and screenplay. It has not been written by Proulx.
The exact words in the screenplay are,
There is something, a frisson, a vibe, that gives the clown an uneasy feeling, although he remains perfectly friendly, takes his beer stands up.
Pulling bulls of you buckaroos is just my job,save your money for your next entry fee cowboy.
Jack watches Jimbo walk over , sit down with a table full of calf ropers.
So my take is that there is no violence implied.Jimbo is either a closeted gay who thinks Jack is taking a big risk in front of a crowded bar, or he is an out gay and does not fancy Jack or even if he does still thinks it's pretty risky in the environment.
It could even be that as he sits down with the table of calf ropers, he thinks Jack is out of his depth within the hierarchy.It would appear that calf ropers are more highly paid/skilled than bull riders.
The word frisson as it appears in the text could be a frisson that Jimbo feels, or that passes between him and Jack.It is definitely ambiguous.But it does say that Jimbo remains perfectly friendly.
If it was an action prompted by gay hate, he is doing a pretty good job of hiding it,why does he not just there and then start something, he has all his calf ropers to help out.Or wait until Jack leaves and then attack him.
I think Jimbos words just mean, thanks but no thanks,then goes back to join the others.Is he gay, maybe,we will never know, but we do know that Jacks' gaydar seems to be pretty reliable, eg Ennis and Randal. and presumably the others referred to in the S.S itself.
I do think in the interest of peace and harmony, we should agree to disagree on this one Artiste. Only the screenwriters themselves know the intended meaning of the scene.
So I guess if we really want to know we will have to ask McMurty and Ossana !!!!!
As Proulx herself said a book is not finished until it is read,implying that our experience in life will give all of us a slightly different slant on things. We will let our imaginations fill in the blamks, but will inevitably be distorted to some extent by the lives we have led.