Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
The Laundry Room
Brown Eyes:
I have very little to add here at the moment... but I thought I'd pop in and say this is a lovely thread Lee! I love the idea that we're seeing Ennis doing "laundry" (of a sort) at the very end when he folds Alma Jr's sweater and buttons Jack's shirt.
:'(
Well, this may seem obvious and it also may have been mentioned here and there before... but I think it's a sign of "partnership". Yes, doing laundry is certainly an intimate act (I think it's no accident that we see Jack washing Ennis's shirt... naked... after TS1... they're about as intimate as possible at this point) and it's the kind of thing you'd only likely to do for your partner or family. I think this is meant to demonstrate that Jack was already very comfortably (and naturally) in the role of Ennis's partner up on Brokeback before Ennis settled down with Alma. It seems important for the story/ film that Jack was Ennis's first love/ domestic partner despite the fact that he was technically engaged to Alma already. I think this is why we hear the "opportunity" conversation... to be sure the audience knows that Jack is Ennis's first. It makes Jack's "claim" on Ennis for the rest of the film seem appropriate... and unfortunately and unbeknownst to Alma it makes her seem like the usurper. And this role of "partner" or the place where they could be "partners" is the place where they can never really return... But, they both know that they were both happiest when they were living together as partners (Ennis admits he realizes this during the argument about him moving to Texas... when he says in a flippant way..."we could just live together herding sheep... and whiskey would flow in the stream..." he's showing that he does recognize this as an ideal... so much so that it's now a fantasy).
jpwagoneer1964:
--- Quote from: atz75 on July 05, 2006, 09:39:17 pm ---I have very little to add here at the moment... but I thought I'd pop in and say this is a lovely thread Lee! I love the idea that we're seeing Ennis doing "laundry" (of a sort) at the very end when he folds Alma Jr's sweater and buttons Jack's shirt.
:'(
Well, this may seem obvious and it also may have been mentioned here and there before... but I think it's a sign of "partnership". Yes, doing laundry is certainly an intimate act (I think it's no accident that we see Jack washing Ennis's shirt... naked... after TS1... they're about as intimate as possible at this point) and it's the kind of thing you'd only likely to do for your partner or family. I think this is meant to demonstrate that Jack was already very comfortably (and naturally) in the role of Ennis's partner up on Brokeback before Ennis settled down with Alma. It seems important for the story/ film that Jack was Ennis's first love/ domestic partner despite the fact that he was technically engaged to Alma already. I think this is why we hear the "opportunity" conversation... to be sure the audience knows that Jack is Ennis's first. It makes Jack's "claim" on Ennis for the rest of the film seem appropriate... and unfortunately and unbeknownst to Alma it makes her seem like the usurper. And this role of "partner" or the place where they could be "partners" is the place where they can never really return... But, they both know that they were both happiest when they were living together as partners (Ennis admits he realizes this during the argument about him moving to Texas... when he says in a flippant way..."we could just live together herding sheep... and whiskey would flow in the stream..." he's showing that he does recognize this as an ideal... so much so that it's now a fantasy).
--- End quote ---
While I agree with you that laundry is an intimate act, I do think that it was Jack job as camp tender at that time to do laundry for the both of them just as it would have been Ennis's when he was tender. there just wouldn'y have been time for the herder to do it. The we a partnership at some level from the very begining.
moremojo:
--- Quote from: stevenedel on July 01, 2006, 11:44:10 am ---Thanks, Front-Ranger, for a very perceptive and thought-provoking post!
--- End quote ---
I second that thought, stevenedel, and I also want to commend you on your avatar. That's Uhr-Ennis there, the living prototype for the tragic and beautiful cowboy we have come to know and love on the big screen. I feel you honor and immortalize that real human being by projecting his image here--thank you for that.
Regards,
Scott
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: jpwagoneer1964 on July 05, 2006, 10:01:01 pm ---While I adree with you that laundry is an intimate act, I do think that it was Jack job as camp tender at that time to do laundry for the both of them just as it would have been Ennis's when he was tender. there just wouldn'y have been time for the herder to do it. The we a partnership at some level from the very begining.
--- End quote ---
Yes, I'm sure that Ennis would have done Jack's laundry too and that it was part of the "job" description... but I don't think that either of them thought about it as if it were a job... know what I mean?
;)
Or, maybe it started out feeling like a job, but as time went by they began to feel like it was a little thrilling to have such 'intimate' access to each other's clothes... it especially would have seemed like much more than a job once they'd become lovers. By the way... I love how Jack pounds away at Ennis's shirt (the shirt, by the way) in the stream as if he's letting all his frustration and anxiety loose on it.
Front-Ranger:
Yes, I agree it's very satisfying the way he pounds on the shirt, Amanda!
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