Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
"Jack, I swear..." What do you think Ennis meant by that?
Brown Eyes:
My guess is that Jack really was mad about the punch at the time... I think it confused him. The punch combined with the callous "I guess I'll see you around, hunh?" line, were probably enough to make even easy-going Jack a little mad. He was probably getting serious vibes that Ennis wanted desperately to detach and to try to force his way back into conventional expectations. I'm sure Jack was a bit afraid of being too pushy during the black-truck conversation. But, you're right, if he'd tried he might have been able to get Ennis's mood to shift. I think Ennis may have pushed Jack a little too far at this point. Jack seems sad and expectant during the conversation but, once he's in his truck he seems angry (maybe just slightly angry). He drives away really fast... especially as he's pulling out of the parking space and around Ennis initially. I'm sure Ennis sensed Jack's hurt feelings here and worried about the situation for the next 4 years.
By the way, I love how this conversation against Jack's black truck mirrors the argument scene at the end at the lake while they're next to Jack's brown and white truck. Sad! It's even more interesting that in this early scene it's Jack that gets in a truck and drives away whereas in the late argument scene by the lake, it's Ennis that we see drive away in a truck.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on June 05, 2006, 06:36:48 pm --- He was probably getting serious vibes that Ennis wanted desperately to detach and to try to force his way back into conventional expectations.
--- End quote ---
You know, those aren't the vibes I get. I have always felt that Ennis doesn't want to go, but he doesn't know how not to. He wishes he could say something more meaningful, but he doesn't know how to do that, either, and his guilt over the punch makes it all the harder. That's why he kind of lingers there. I sense he's hoping Jack will say something, but Jack is wary of the situation, too. So in the end all that's left is, "See you around, hunh?" "Right." They both know that's a terrible way to leave things, but they feel helpless.
I also love the mirroring of the two scenes, though! And that they both end with Ennis collapsing. Really underscoring the story's line that, over 20 years, nothing has changed. :'(
nakymaton:
I don't think the movie characters could have touched one another at that good-bye scene. They were like a powder keg, and the slightest touch would have been like a match... though whether the passion would have turned into sex or violence, I don't know. So I don't think the hug and the punching on the shoulders would have been at all believable in the movie.
The way the two scenes are mirrored... it really is a mirror, you know? The conversations beside the truck match each other, and Ennis's collapse mirrors the punch. (Ennis even tries to hit Jack, but he doesn't... either because Ennis isn't fighting himself as hard as he used to, or because Ennis has gotten worn down from too many years of fighting himself, or because Jack knows how Ennis might react and just doesn't let it happen.)
Brown Eyes:
Yup, this scene is really complicated. This is a great discussion.
For a moment, though, I'd like to turn back to the "I swear" topic. It occurs to me that there's another "swear" moment in the movie. It probably has absolutely nothing to do with Ennis's super serious "I swear" at the end. But, I thought I'd bring it up to see what people can make of it. In the motel, Jack says "Swear to god, I didn't know we were going to get into this again." So, I guess on some level Jack is a swearing kind.
::) ;D
nakymaton:
Sheeeeeeit. ;) ;)
Actually, I don't think that AP's description of Jack as "not the swearing kind" fits the Jack of the movie at all. I think movie-Jack was quite ready to swear whatever oaths it would take to settle down with Ennis. I'm not as certain of the story-Jack, though. Movie-Jack seems driven to other men by all the long times away from Ennis, but I read story-Jack as actually less faithful. (It's interesting, because I've heard people on other message boards argue that story-Jack never cheated on Ennis with other guys, and that the movie people made Jack look really bad by making the Mexico metaphor real, and creating the Jimbo and Randall characters. We read the story very, very differently from one another!)
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