TOTW 24/08: Extras and small roles in the movie

[Penthesilea]

Howdy BetterMostians,


this week we have the extras and small roles of the movie as topic.

Extras are mostly overlooked and not factored in when interpreting specifics. But boy, how important they are. Imagine Ben Hur without extras . Would look pretty empty .

So extras are filler elements.

Another purpose of them is to set a specific surrounding, specific mood or make the circumstances of a scene immediately recognizable.

Since Ang Lee and crew took so many efforts with small details, I believe (some) extras in Brokeback Mountain serve more purpose than just being 'fillers' respectively setting for the main characters.

Take for example the heavily tattooed lady we see when Ennis dances with Cassie for the second time. I know we've talked about her a little, but to many her appearance is still puzzling.

Some of the extras or very small roles are really outstanding and (possibly) carry meaning. Similar to props like containers or the cross in Ma Twist's kitchen.


Here are some characters of extras/very small roles which I find outstanding:

• The tattooed lady when Ennis dances with Cassie for the second time
• Little boy with firecracker; Fourth of July scene
• Old man, sitting, with US flag; also Fourth of July scene
• Saleswoman in Monroe's grocery store
• Bartender suggesting calf roping in the Jimbo scene
• Bartender when Jack is waiting for a maitin' call
• The Basque
• Jack-like guy in Ennis's alley
• Older man in Jack's alley (Mexico)
• Guys with white hats/black hats surrounding E&J

What do you make of them? Are there more examples which come to your mind? Or do you disagree with some of the listed examples as being „outstanding“?

[Penthesilea]

OK, this week I'll go first, providing some pictures and thoughts.

The heavily tattooed lady:
She keeps puzzling me. What on earth does such a heavily tattooed lady do in Riverton in the late 70ies/early 80ies? Why did Lee place her so obviously?
We've talked about her previously and the tenor was that she was there to show that being an „outsider“, being outside the beaten track, does not necessarily have bad consequences, like Ennis always fears.

That's one possible interparetation. But I think it could also be more or less the opposite: showing how „underclass“ or even „at the very bottom end of society, bordering on criminal“ people are, meaning the society in which Ennis lives is not much different (therefore similar dangerous) as in his father's time. A slippery slope, that thought, playing with prejudices. Therefore I put the words in quotations.

Another idea came to me just as I was typing this: we have another heavily tattoed character in the movie: one of the bikers Ennis beats up in the Fourth of July scene! Maybe a bookend, connecting the dancing scene to the 4th of July scene?


         




Boy with firecracker and old man with flag at the 4th of July scene:
We discussed those two before; the idea was they could represent a younger and an older version of Ennis. Both are very noticeable, and similar dressed as Ennis.
Alas I couldn't find any pictures of them.

Your thoughts?

Edit: Fran gave me pics of both, the little boy and the old man. Thank you Fran!











Salesgirl in Monroe's grocery:
I don't know why she catches my attention. She seems bored. (And why didn't Monroe go after her instead of Alma? )






Bartenders in both scenes when Jack is on the rodeo circuit:
I only have a picture of one of them. What smirk he shows.

[Penthesilea]

The Basque:
Aww, somehow all Brokies seem to like him. He's cute. But what else?







Jack-like guy in Ennis's alley:





Older guy in Jack's alley:







Guys with black hats/white heads surrounding our boys:
The theory is that Jack is often surroundend by men in white/light colored hats, reminding him and us of Ennis. Vice versa Ennis is often surrounded by men in dark/black hats.
We already have a thread about this. It's here: http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,1266.0.html
But I wanted at least to give it a short mention, since it also fits here very nicely.

This pic is only one of many examples. It's a bar scene with Jack, spurrounded by light hats.
 


Two men who vaguely resemble our boys (one with black hat and solid blue shirt, the other one with white hat and light checkered shirt) obviously buying bus tickets together, travelling somewhere together.

[Mandy21]

Hey Chrissie, interesting topic.  I like all of your suggestions.  And god help me, in the 200 times I've watched this, I never one single time noticed that tattooed lady at ALL.  I have noticed all the others, though, and wondered the same type of things about Ang's direction as to their placement.

I have to say that my favorite extra/small role in BBM, the one that really stood out to me, for some reason, was the guy sitting behind the two bikers on the 4th of July, and just how quickly he stands up.  Some people might have seen that guy and thought he was getting up because he was scared of one of those big bikers falling on him.  But when I saw him in that scene the first time and every time after, I thought that he was getting up, fully ready to join in on the fight, to defend what Ennis was saying to them.  I always thought 'man, that guy is cute AND brave', and wondered if he even knew Ennis, or if they were neighbors, or if he was just an all-around good guy who could instantly tell right from wrong, and was willing to fight for it.  Or maybe he represented exactly what Jack would have done, had he been sitting there.  Don't know what that actor's name is, but I keep looking for him in every movie I watch:)

[retropian]

How about two scenes where guys dressed like Jack appear. 1st as Ennis turns into the lot behind his apartment above the laundry. Jacks postcard waiting for him upstairs, he almost hits a guy dressed like Jack, and 2nd when Alma is leaving to work an extra shift at the grocery store and Ennis is mad because he wants her to serve dinner. Just as she turns the corner out and is out of sight there is a guy dressed like Jjack walking across the street. I think the 1st is letting us know Jack is on his way, and the 2nd is that Jack is affecting Alma and Ennis's marriage.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

I like the really old guy dancing with the younger woman at the 1978 Childress dance. He has probably passed away by now.

[Brown Eyes]

Boy with firecracker and old man with flag at the 4th of July scene:
We discussed those two before; the idea was they could represent a younger and an older version of Ennis. Both are very noticeable, and similar dressed as Ennis.
Alas I couldn't find any pictures of them.

I love this interpretation of Ennis's three life-stages (childhood, adulthood and old age) represented in the fireworks scene with the inclusion of the child and the old man.  But, I always wonder why this is included in the fireworks scene specifically and not at some other point in the film?  What is it about the fireworks scene that calls for this kind of idea to be included?

Two men who vaguely resemble our boys (one with black hat and solid blue shirt, the other one with white hat and light checkered shirt) obviously buying bus tickets together, travelling somewhere together.

The other thing I love about the background detail of the  black-hat and white-hat guys buying bus tickets together is that the counter is covered with candy for sale.  As if to imply those two guys are going to go off and find their sweet life together.

This scene seems to be so much about missed opportunities.

[Brown Eyes]

I was just looking around on Striped Wall for certain images of extras/ minor characters, and it's interesting to see how many of those types of shots Striped Wall does not have available.  The incidental/ in-between moments are not actually captured frame-by-frame as are the major scenes between Jack and Ennis.

What I was looking for was a picture of the ominous figure who walks by outside the window of the bus station/ diner at the very beginning of that scene.  It's a dark figure with a dark hat, and I've always had a very grim feeling about that figure.  To me it signals that Jack is now gone... or it's almost like a visualization of him leaving the film.

[Fran]

I was just looking around on Striped Wall for certain images of extras/ minor characters, and it's interesting to see how many of those types of shots Striped Wall does not have available.  The incidental/ in-between moments are not actually captured frame-by-frame as are the major scenes between Jack and Ennis.

What I was looking for was a picture of the ominous figure who walks by outside the window of the bus station/ diner at the very beginning of that scene.  It's a dark figure with a dark hat, and I've always had a very grim feeling about that figure.  To me it signals that Jack is now gone... or it's almost like a visualization of him leaving the film.

While I like your interpretation, Amanda, after a closer look, the guy with the hat appears to be Carl (with Cassie just before they enter the building).

There is another guy on the other side of the street, walking in the opposite direction, but he's hatless.

[optom3]

The Basque I think is giving us a clue that Ennis is already caring/falling in love with Jack.
Ennis seems to act sheepish/defensive when questioned about the soup as if he feels he has been uncovered /exposed and departs fairly quickly. I am sure the Basque has seen it all in his time and has become fairly shrewd in his character asessment.

The scene with Ennis on his own toying with a cake, is sad enough,and yet we get further reinforcement of his loneliness and isolation by the 2 cowboys who are pictured in the same scene. Couple that with Cassie and Carl and there is no escape the utter desolation of Ennis's situation.
The 2 cowboys almost seem to be there to taunt Ennis, look at us, think of how it could have been for you. It is interesting to note that we see 2 men together, not necessarily gay, but representative of that element, and we see Cassie and Carl.
We are left with the inescapable fact that Ennis has not succeeded in either type of relationship. He is like a boat adrift at sea.There seems to be no place where he can find a safe harbour.
So seems destined to spend his life permanantly adrift, not to mention drifting from one place and job to another.
Here again we see the parallels.The 2 cowboys obviously have a destination in mind, and Cassie although maybe not entirely happy does seem to have reached journeys end.
Twenty years and many miles later, Ennis still has not reached his journeys end. I find that whole scene utterly soul destroying.For Ennis to have travelled so many miles over the years and yet still arrived nowhere, is sad beyond words.