Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

Why is the "dozy embrace" in the film?

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JT:
I think that "dozy embrace" was important and even necessary in the movie.  For one thing, it added to the sadness of that scene, a contrast between then and now.  I think very often when we tried to quit someone or set them free, we often think back to our happiest moment together.  I think that was what Jack was doing.  He was thinking back to his happiest moment with Ennis and even that simple embrace can satisfy Jack.  It was a true time that they both can be themselves and not have to worry about anyone or anything.  It was also a rare occation that Ennis actually expresses his love for Jack, and Jack felt it.  Not very often that we see Ennis holding Jack so closely, rocking him and humming softly to him, and Jack was savoring every minute of it.  It became something that was deeper and more meaningful than just having sex, which they've done more often.  And IMO that was why that dozy embrace became so important because it told us that their relationship is about true love, not those old fishing trips or tent moments.

ekeby:

--- Quote from: JT on July 25, 2006, 01:53:40 pm ---that was why that dozy embrace became so important because it told us that their relationship is about true love, not those old fishing trips or tent moments.

--- End quote ---

Agree completely. It was about true romantic love, and being completely in sync with each other. A subtext might be a paternalistic, caretaking love, something that (in my experience) seems go with romantic love in same sex male relationships . . .

serious crayons:
The dozy embrace is the point at which I am most likely to burst into tears. That's because it so sharply emphasizes and deepens the tragedy of the scenes surrounding it. Bookending the argument and Jack's grim expression around that naive hopeful wondrous beauty of the dozy embrace (and contrasting the happy embrace with the anguished one we see just before it, in the argument) makes them especially heartbreaking.

That and, as Front-Ranger said, the details. The gently smoldering fire. The bucket and coffee pot, dozily embracing on the grill. The bittersweet music. The beautiful young contented faces. The rare nurturing moment for Ennis. The pure affection. Jack's loving expression as Ennis rides away.

Yet even that beautiful happy moment is laced with subtle foreshadowing of tragedy.

Ennis' confident "see you in the morning" suggests that, at some level, he feels as if there will always be a next morning. Of course, he doesn't REALLY believe that -- if he stops to think about it he knows their idyll can't last. But he's not allowing himself to think about that. Which is why he's so devastated when he comes back to find Jack breaking camp. Ruthlessly theorized that this scene occurs, chronologically, on the night before the Ennis wakes up to snow. I see no evidence of that, but I believe it anyway, because it makes such structural sense. Jack watches Ennis ride off on his horse, and then their relationship ends, this time temporarily. In the parallel later scene, Jack watches Ennis drives off in his truck, and then their relationship ends, this time permanently. Jack's "gonna snow tonight, for sure," underscores that parallel. It didn't actually snow, but it snows metaphorically. (It's cold, in any case. Why couldn't they go someplace warm? Then they'd never have to part).

The line is even more poignant if you think of "see you in the morning" as suggesting something more abstract or metaphysical, like "see you in the afterlife" or "see you in a better world where there's no homophobia."

I can't imagine why anyone would think the scene is unnecessary or expendable, but I am one of those who considers it flawed in the story -- and, I guess, the screenplay -- because of that "Ennis does not embrace him face to face because he does not want to see or feel that it is Jack he holds" line.

Certainly, IMO, it makes no sense in the movie. Movie Ennis shows no reluctance to embrace a man from the front (just the opposite, if anything, judging from his scenes with Alma). In fact, this scene shows the one time in Ennis' life when he COULD embrace a man, and show his affection and love, without hesitation. The other part of the equation -- the shared and sexless hunger -- seems very well conveyed without that unpleasant qualification.

The same applies to the story. At other points in the story, Ennis has no problem embracing Jack from the front. It actually seems even more out of character for Story Ennis to worry about that -- he's less homophobic than Movie Ennis. Somebody argued that perhaps Ennis has progressed by the time of the reunion, but if we're supposed to draw that kind of conclusion I think it requires a bit of explanation.

I think the reason for the line is suggested in the quote of Annie's that Diane posted: "I was trying to write the inchoate feelings of Jack and Ennis, the sad impossibility of their liaison …." I think Annie decided that reluctant embracing was a succinct and concrete way to illustrate those inchoate feelings, with the bonus of undercutting the sentimentality in an otherwise sweet scene. But IMO it doesn't really work. It's distracting and confusing and out of character, it contradicts other parts of the story. It is TOO unsentimental (I once described Annie as zealously unsentimental, a quality that makes some of her other stories hard to read). It mars an otherwise beautiful scene. Sometimes even wonderful writers make less than perfect choices, and I just think this was one of those times.

Could it have some larger symbolic meaning (about homophobia, romantic frustration, etc.), as others have suggested? Sure. But I think an effective metaphor also has to fit neatly into the text of the story. If it doesn't, it's flawed.

By the way, Diane, I love this:


--- Quote ---The sheep symbolize the crowd …. Ennis is one who follows societal norms and expectations.

--- End quote ---

Of all the symbolic meanings of the sheep, for some reason I never thought of that one before. Duh! Sheep often represent a conformist, herdlike mentality even in "real life." And that interpretation adds another dimension to "we're supposed to guard the sheep, not eat em" -- so in addition to "we're supposed to follow the rules, not break them" and "we're supposed to protect our charges, not endanger them" there's also "we're supposed to follow the crowd, not stray from it." And sure enough, look what happened to the one that strayed.

jpwagoneer1964:
 
 

 
[/quote]Ennis doessa "yup' as he leaves Jack the following morning. Exactly as he did when he left for the sheep his first night with the sheep after Jack said "You wont get much sleep up there, tell you that." Of course it dismissive and he is facing away.

nakymaton:
Can I just give a standing ovation to Diane for mentioning the other possible symbolism of sheep? ;D When I hear "sheep," I think "conformity" rather than "innocent sacrifice." But I guess they can be both, in some kind of complicated way?

I agree with what everyone else has said about the importance of the dozy embrace at that point in the movie. (I don't know if Jack managed to quit Ennis or not; I'll just stay out of that debate.) I guess I would add that I think it's very important that it seems beautiful and uncomplicated, because the relationship has been so tense and painful since the divorce scene. The physical affection during the "sometimes I miss you so much I can't stand it" is in the story but not in the movie; the movie gives us the memory instead. The contrast is achingly powerful, to me.


--- Quote from: latjoreme on July 25, 2006, 03:52:38 pm ---I think the reason for the line is suggested in the quote of Annie's that Diane posted: "I was trying to write the inchoate feelings of Jack and Ennis, the sad impossibility of their liaison …." I think Annie chose that phrase because it's a succinct and concrete illustration of those inchoate feelings, with the bonus of undercutting the sentimentality in an otherwise sweet scene. But IMO it doesn't really work. It's distracting and confusing and out of character, it contradicts other parts of the story. It is TOO unsentimental (I once described Annie as zealously unsentimental, a quality that makes some of her other stories hard to read). It mars an otherwise beautiful scene. Sometimes even wonderful writers make less than perfect choices, and I just think this was one of those times.

--- End quote ---

Hmmm. I think that the line in the story is important because we don't see Ennis's internalized homophobia as clearly in the story... we don't see that deeply into Ennis's feelings in the story as we do in Heath's face in the movie. (*Pauses briefly to contemplate Heath's face.* ;D ) I didn't feel like the line was out of context in the story; I felt like it was a knife to the gut. (As for why I like being knifed in the gut... well, that's what I'm trying to figure out on this board here.) And I think that it's one of the most important lines in the story, because it sums up the essential tragedy.

(I agree that Annie Proulx is zealously unsentimental, and I think that BBM is my favorite of any of her stories that I've read because she unintentionally let herself fall in love with the characters. Not too much; not enough so that most people would notice. But enough so that the story had enough heart for Ang Lee's gentle touch to breath life into it. Ummm, sorry for the crappy mixed metaphor, but maybe you get the picture anyway.)

I think the line was kept in the screenplay for the same reason that so many of Annie's exact words were kept in the stage directions. I think the screenwriters were hesitant to cut them out, and liked the sound of the words. Some of the stage directions were turned almost exactly into silent scenes in the movie (my favorite one is Jack seeing Ennis as a night fire), but others, I think, were abandoned when they didn't fit the way Ang or the actors saw the characters and the story. And that's fine; the end result is really a wonderful work of art. *gushes some more incoherently*

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