Our BetterMost Community > Creative Writer's Corner
Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll
louisev:
I imagine he might have done ... if there were a sufficient trigger. But the problem with approaching it this way is of course... it requires changing the canon story. Annie Proulx did not give us a Jack who survived.
louisev:
Update to "The Red Stallion"
http://louisev.livejournal.com/141127.html "Chapter 61: A Can of Paint"
caramelle58:
Oh dear - now I'm having trouble connecting to the LJ. Is there an alternative to it or is it just us Laramie addicts trying in thousands to get into the LJ .... probably got stuck at the entrance :laugh:
Try again later
Caramelle
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: synne on October 27, 2006, 12:12:32 pm ---I read couple of reviews from my country critics about BBM, and curiously, they all agreed in one fact – the movie should be ending after J/E final meeting , because there already was dead, already was corpse- “corpse of their relationship” as Louise mentioned, so no need for further dramatic end for effect.
I just wish it were enough for Ennis to realize own mistakes, and he would learn to accept himself and move forward to genuine relationship even with another man. But this scenario would probably work for different character, not Ennis. Ennis really needed the hardest blow from life – lose Jack forever; otherwise he would be until the end of his life convinced – he only did right decision. ( as always)
--- End quote ---
I can't agree with the critics you referred to that the movie should have ended after their last meeting. It might have satisfied many critics' thirst for cynicism; but the following scenes are not just for dramatic effect.
An ending after the trailhead meeting, or after Ennis' discovery of Jack's death, would have resulted only in the crashing down of Ennis' efforts to construct a life where his sexuality could be denied and have an outlet at the same time. Yes, Ennis would need a very hard blow but to learn to accept himself and move forward to genuine relationship even with another man would not have been possible only with that. Ennis would have only the loss and would have had no inner resources. To put it another way, without the last few scenes there would have been a push only, and no pull.
With all push and no pull, we have the future for Ennis that many viewers and fanfiction readers seem to crave - a life of depression, alcoholism and a bleak inner and outer landscape in general. Consistent as this may be with the culturaly approved view of life as a nasty joke and all problems being insoluble, it would have been the difference between a tragedy and a standard-issue ain't-life-awful story.
Or put it another way, many people have said that this story, and the film in particular, changed their lives. That would not have happened with the ending the critics you refer to would have wanted.
If RL is any indication, there's always the possibility that the very tentative steps toward self-realization could have born some good fruit in November. But you're probably right; without this life-shattering jolt he most likely would have gone on believing that he was dealing with his life and circumstances in the best way possible.
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: TH on October 27, 2006, 02:10:17 pm --- I understand that there are detractors who want to remain locked in the bittersweet and not see Ennis 'move on' - as is said... Grow is a better term because many of us move on... but continue in the wasteland of our own inner bankruptcy (thinking of T.S. Elliot and Wasteland with it's "hollow men"). I wonder about those people... if they are in that same type of wasteland and either can't see or don't want to acknowledge, that there might be more than "measuring your life out in coffee spoons" (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - T. S. Elliot).
My point in this is that, consistent with canon here... in LS we see Ennis, because of Jack's death - a backhanded gift indeed, begin or restart the journey of finding his own soul... and in the process, along the way... finding the love and resources necessary for himself... ~and~ a channel for the considerable resources that he has as an individual - commitment, loyalty, strength and power - to pour forth.
If people want to remain in the bittersweet... then well and fine... but experience seems to teach... that bitter always overwhelms the sweet... and that an unwholesome attachment to bittersweet always leads to galling disappointment, disillusionment and despair...
--- End quote ---
Your whole post would take several response posts to address, and I'm just replying to this part of it at present --
You're correct that Ennis' experience with Jack is not enough to overcome the psychic abuse inflicted by him on his father, and reinforced by society's tacit approval. And after the loss, Ennis spending a certain length of time in the wilderness coming to terms with that is necessary which is why, IMO, his living alone in a spasely-furnished trailer is not necessarily a negative thing unless he never gets any further than that. Many people in RL do not, and the result is certainly, as you say, the bitter overwhelming the sweet.
If that's the result in RL, staying in the wilderness and in grief only, it might at least partially explain some of the hostility to stories like LS. In other words, Ennis spending the next decade, or two, three, four decades, in a blighted life might be seen as a validation: "see, this iconic character can't move beyond loss, despair and psychic imprisonment; I can't either." And this is very understandable, but something being understandable doesn't automatically give it any positive power. And in the case of Ennis as a character, his father triumphing over Jack certainly does not honor the relationship. "Ennis and Jack forever" is certainly valid as far as the love enduring is concerned; "Ennis and Jack forever with Ennis remaining alone and in despair" does not.
One of the most essential ingredients for Ennis to overcome the father's evil legacy is to have not only a new love but to be in a supportive environment, something to counteract both the homophobia of the outer world and his inner fears. In LS, that translates to not only Ellery but to Wes, Edna, etc. and even to the two daughters, as exasperating as they can be in some chapters. :)
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