Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Jack Circles the Earth
Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: buffymon on January 11, 2009, 08:22:54 am ---what change did you see happen here?
--- End quote ---
About the maybe Texas scene:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on February 19, 2008, 12:43:21 pm ---Actually, I agree very much with what you are saying. To me, Ennis clearly has an intention in this conversation. He wants to talk about them/their relationship/his fears. He asks three times. First he asks whether everything between Jack and Lureen is normal. Not: if everything is all right, going well, they're happy together or whatever. No, he asks whether it's normal. Why should it not be normal? Because Jack is gay.
After Jack reacts only casually (and lying, I agree with this opinion, and I also agree he lies with good intentions, to not upset Ennis), Ennis asks a second time, he digs deeper "She never suspects?" Again: what could she suspect? Well, the same thing Alma found out.
Again, Jack just shrugs it off. Ennis then really lets his hair down in his third attempt, the question about people on the pavement knowing .
I think this scene was a rare moment of truthfulness and openness for Ennis, he's practically saying they're gay. I think the "not queer" denial is past him at this point. He has figured it out. He turns to the only human being in the world he can approach with his thoughts and fears. He's looking for reassurance and guidance from Jack - but Jack has his own (understandable) agenda and fails to react appropriately. Missed chance, again.
--- End quote ---
Compare Ennis in the the maybe Texas scene to Ennis in the I ain't queer scene.
More on the maybe Texas scene here: http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,17481.0.html
Monika:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on January 11, 2009, 08:59:08 am ---About the maybe Texas scene:
Compare Ennis in the the maybe Texas scene to Ennis in the I ain't queer scene.
More on the maybe Texas scene here: http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,17481.0.html
--- End quote ---
that´s interesting, thanks Chrissie.
personally I´m not sure though, that Ennis thinks about what he and Jack do, as "gay" or "queer". He simply thinks that it´s wrong and he knows that other people think so too, but that have already been established earlier on. I think however that it´s probably vey rare that he even addresses their sexual relationship, so that could hint to a change.
LauraGigs:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on January 11, 2009, 06:41:21 am ---In the greater scheme of things the earth is not unmovable. It moves around itself - a very small circle, so to speak, just around the coffeepot, like Ennis.
--- End quote ---
This sparks a thought: Ennis and Jack are in their element camping together, where everything centers around the circular fire area (sun).
Jack is boldest and puts all his big moves on Ennis — propositioning him, proposing the cow+calf operation — on the full moon.
;) (Incidentally in American slang, "mooning" means showing someone your bare ass!)
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: LauraGigs on January 11, 2009, 04:34:31 am ---Well, Ennis is Gallic(?) for Island, and an island can't move. And earth, as a metaphorical symbol, is thought of as immovable. Jack's life definitely revolved around Ennis. Even when they first encounter each other, Jack moves; Ennis doesn't.
Interestingly though, the single most joyful scene for Ennis seems to be the tussle scene, where he takes Jack's shirt and runs, teasing and frolicking. Where Jack's biggest joy is the perfect stillness of the dozy embrace. A yin and yang thing for sure — where each craves an element of the other to be complete.
--- End quote ---
Heya Laura!
This is a fantastic post! Thanks so much!
I love the observation about Ennis showing joy while in motion during the happy tussle and Jack's greatest happiness in the moment of stillness in the flashback.
Really wonderful.
I do think each man really desired elements in the other's personality. I think Jack wanted to be liberated from having to be in constant motion and Ennis really desired to be liberated from his rut and the sense of being stuck (in many different ways). Jack and Ennis really are great examples of opposites attracting and completing one another.
And Chrissi, I like you observation that the Earth is in motion in it's own way. Rotating around itself. And the wind is bound to the Earth in an interesting way. And, the idea that the wind is a force that can mold and reshape the Earth is also really interesting. All of these metaphors really do seem very profound when you think about these two characters.
But, back to the more pragmatic issue of Jack traveling so much... The fact that he circled the Earth's circumference about two times throughout the years in his desperation to be with Ennis seems very extreme to me. By the end, the fight by the lake, was Jack beginning to feel like this enormous effort was really was futile? I wonder if Ennis's comment about not traveling (any more than around a coffeepot) was more hurtful than it might seem on the surface.
serious crayons:
Interesting post, Bud! Actually, I never realized that circling the globe was so feasible. For instance, it's the equivalent of only 31 round trips between Minneapolis and Chicago.
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