Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Importance of the Jimbo Scene
Artiste:
May I add that you gals are not gay men!
I am a gay man and find that Jimbo is making an afront... by talking to the others there; and, is therefore sending out dangerous talk about Jack !!
Au revoir,
hugs!
optom3:
--- Quote from: atz75 on August 19, 2008, 09:47:14 pm ---No, I don't think Jimbo is dangerous.
Sometimes I even wonder if Jack was right about Jimbo. Jack very well may have known more about Jimbo to encourage him to approach him at the bar. And, there's a moment when Jack and Jimbo lock eyes for a second where there's something interesting in Jimbo's eyes. It seems possible that Jimbo rejects Jack because the bartender is hovering so close and watching so close. And, he may have also been nervous because there were so many other people around (again my point about how hard it can be to find and connect with a partner as a single gay person).
Jimbo may genuinely have been rejecting Jack because he was straight... but he may also have just been another scared gay man.
--- End quote ---
That is exactly what I have always thought.Jack picked the right man, but in completely the wrong circumstances.To try and pick up a man in a bar full of macho type men
right under the eye of a very suspicious barman, was reckless.But then Jack's character is reckless.
I suspect to cover his own tracks/sexuality, Jimbo goes back to the men and is undoubtedly less than pleasant about Jack, to allay any suspicion, we already know it was a very hard time and place to be gay.
I assume that a lot of men were like Ennis terrified of the consequences, Proulx herself said that the idea 1st came to her by seeing a man in a bar, totally on his own.
I sense no danger, just the humiliation of Jack, by Jimbo to cover himself. Jack subjects himself to humiliation on many an occassion by going to Mexico and paying for sex.
That too is a big difference between him and Ennis, Jack seems to have a much higher libido, but after the reunion scene, I think for Jack the sex with other men is just that.He can separate sex from love, in the way a lot of men, gay or straight can.
I often find myself wondering, had they got together permanantly, would Jack have remained sexually faithful. He seems character wise, to need the extra edge.
Jack's gaydar for want of a better word seems prety accurate, he sees what lies beneath with Ennis and even with Randal. I see no reason why a gay man should be any less astute than a straight man or woman. Most people know from subtle gestures etc, when soemone is interested in them.
So probably right call, but foolhardy place to attempt it.
If Jack can spot the sexuality, in someone as closed as Ennis, I suspect he can spot a less closed gay man at 50 paces.But as always with Jack, there is that need to be reckless.
Artiste:
Merci optom !
Since you finish with Jack as being reckless by asking Jimbo, isn't Jimbo more reckless by talking to the others about what Jack was after ?
Jimbo, surely puts Jack in danger ?
Au revoir,
hugs!
Brown Eyes:
Thanks for the great post Fiona. :)
I do think that Jack had really good gaydar (demonstrated at least twice with Ennis and Randall). So, I think it remains an open question what he knew or perceived about Jimbo.
If Jack and Ennis had gotten together on a permanent basis, I do think Jack would have been capable of being faithful. I think his wanderings (Mexico and Randall) that we see later in his relationship with Ennis were purely out of desparation. And, I get the sense that those experiences were making Jack quite bitter... on top of his frustrations about Ennis. My sense is that Jack was such a romantic about Ennis that a permanent relationship with him would have been very satisfying for Jack. I think his affair with Randall and obviously the encounter(s) with prostitutes were purely to scratch a physical itch. I don't think he would have probably had to worry about that issue if he was actually living with Ennis.
I agree that the original idea that Proulx had for BBM - the old man alone in the bar - might have really interesting relevance to all the bar scenes we see in the film.
And, as for the Jimbo scene and "danger"... I think we may be encouraged to wonder and worry a little bit about what the people around the pool table are saying. I think we are supposed to not really know if they're a threat or not. They don't really do anything other than glance Jack's way... and depending on one's point of view that can be seen as threatening or just idle curiosity on their part. This movie is so much about ambiguous perception. I'm sure someone of Ennis's mindset would immediately perceive a threat, while others wouldn't be so inclined to worry.
We don't know what Jimbo said to the people at the pool table. It could have been something very innocent.
--- Quote from: Artiste on August 19, 2008, 10:05:35 pm ---May I add that you gals are not gay men!
I am a gay man and find that Jimbo is making an afront... by talking to the others there; and, is therefore sending out dangerous talk about Jack !!
--- End quote ---
Artiste, I am a gay woman.
That's one of the reasons I started this thread... because I understand a bit of the difficulty that Jack encounters in locating a partner when he wants one in the context of his everyday life and in the context of the opportunities that exist for him. To me the most interesting thing about the Jimbo scene, is that this is one moment where we see him in a social context while he's essentially a single gay man. This scene seems to acknowledge a sometimes difficult aspect of gay life that Jack and Ennis don't experience in the context of their relationship. They have no trouble finding one another intitially. While the basic issue of finding a partner can be so difficult in other contexts.
And, as for the issue of recklessness... I would call it more a fearlessness.
Jack's a bull rider. That means he's willing to put his life in danger to do what he loves. To be a bull rider you need to know you could be killed everytime you get on the back of a bull... and still be enthusiastic about doing it anyway.
Artiste:
Merci atz!
Your post is well versed now and also appreciated !!
You say:
Artiste, I am a gay woman.
.........
Atz: yes, I know and I am glad that you are a gay woman!
And may I ask: Doesn't the gay women cruise differently from straight women?
And find that maybe a gay woman having cruised a straight woman, that that could be dangerous ?
.........
Atz, and may I add: I am a gay man, and wish to cruise again as I did in the past, but I now know that if I happen to cruise a straight man, that that could be indeed dangerous !! I have seen straight with knives !!
Jimbo here is, to me, obviously, a straight man or a con artist ?? A straight man would not talk to other men, about being cruised by a gay guy ? - Not unless, that straight man is bad, I say!
Au revoir,
hugs!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version