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

getting hit hard by offhand revelations (story discussion)

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nakymaton:

--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on September 24, 2006, 12:57:33 am ---That is one really big difference between the movie and the story. Movie Ennis seems to be much more repressed and different than Jack. The movie is a compare-and-contrast between Jack and Ennis, much more of a romantic he-said-she-said type of story. The story is more subtle and more of a meeting-of-the-minds between Ennis and Jack. The couple, in the story are against a harsh and disapproving world; in the movie, they are often against each other.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, and Katherine has said something similar, a lot of times. I see differences in the characters in the story, but boy, are they really emphasized in the movie. And not just from the ways the characters are portrayed, either -- there's the whole visual element, too. That opening sequences where Ennis and Jack exchange glances -- they're already being set up as opposites that attract one another, from the casting choices (Heath's fair hair vs Jake's dark hair) to the hat and clothing colors.

Jessi:

--- Quote ---Ennis seemed to run full throttle in the first sex scene.  In the movie i feel it was a complete surprise.  I didn't see any kind of attraction dance between them.
--- End quote ---

Well, I think it's there, but it's subtle and easy to disagree about. But I was talking about within the sex scene itself -- how there's this long moment (well, longer if you watch the scene in slow motion ;D ) after Ennis and Jack jump up, and before they start having sex. They stare at each other, Jack reaches for Ennis's face, Jack weaves back and forth while taking off his jacket -- that's the part I was describing as a "dance." It's not that long, and really doesn't seem very long the first time you watch the movie, but somehow, after repeated watchings, it seems to take a lot longer. (Or maybe that's just the effect of using slow motion on the the DVD. ;) )

Front-Ranger:
Another way Ennis runs "full throttle" is when he jumps in to be the herder when Jack seems in danger of slacking at it. In fact, in the story, he went off the first night carrying breakfast and coffee in a jar to save a trip back in the morning, something that must have been a disappointment to Jack.  :)

serious crayons:

--- Quote from: goadra on September 29, 2006, 12:10:41 am ---Another line that strikes me as odd: “He had no serious hard feelings, just a vague sense of getting shortchanged, and showed it was all right by taking Thanksgiving dinner with Alma and her grocer and the kids...”

Ennis felt shortchanged?

--- End quote ---

And by his divorce??  ???

moremojo:

--- Quote from: latjoreme on September 29, 2006, 01:54:41 am ---And by his divorce??  ???

--- End quote ---
"...just a vague sense of getting shortchanged,..." (emphasis added); sure, I can see Ennis feeling this way, quite possibly by the divorce alone. It's less certain in the story, but in the film I have no doubt that Ennis does love Alma--he's just not in love with her. We see him letting a tear fall during the divorce scene; one imagines he's feeling disappointment, and possibly shame for not having lived up to his, and to his society's, expectations of him as a man.

Front-Ranger:
I had a different read on that line, somehow. I thought he felt shortchanged because of his beloved children being taken away from him, pure and simple. I got the feeling that he was always clueless to Alma's feelings and Alma's needs. Sure I agree he loved Alma but more as a boy loves his mother, more looking to her to support him etc. Part of the reason I interpret it this way is because the word shortchanged is so close to the reference to his daughters. He thought of them in the same way he thought of his horses, as we all know.

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