Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
getting hit hard by offhand revelations (story discussion)
Lynne:
--- Quote from: seriouscrayons on November 07, 2006, 02:03:37 am ---While Ennis is busy worrying about the bad times to come, Jack is enjoying the present -- a sky so "boneless blue" that he "might drown looking up." Which later, of course, he does. :'(
--- End quote ---
I really 'heard' this for the first time, yesterday. :'( :'(
What a masterpiece.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: Lynne on October 12, 2008, 06:57:16 pm ---I am now trying to reconcile or resolve Ennis running 'full throttle...money spending' and the story being at least in part about poverty. I guess I am not seeing a lot of evidence that Ennis (story or movie) is a big spender. Story!Jack, on the other hand, gradually enjoys a higher standard of living, especially after LD dies, and he gets his vague managerial . And we see Movie!Jack having nicer trucks and camping gear as time progresses.
--- End quote ---
I think this is a fine place for your offhand revelation, Lynne! Story Ennis could be impulsive and spend money when he wanted something, and story Ennis could loll naked on a bed at the Siesta Motel talking to his lover for over an hour, not like movie Ennis. For the movie, I think Heath, Ang, and the scriptwriters emphasized the differences in the two men because, well, opposites attract and it works well with the yin/yang theme. But Annie Proulx's depiction of the men is more subtle. She portrayed them more as two kindred spirits against the world whereas in the movie they are more like two different people who fall in love despite their differences.
Lynne:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on October 12, 2008, 07:09:56 pm ---I think this is a fine place for your offhand revelation, Lynne! Story Ennis could be impulsive and spend money when he wanted something, and story Ennis could loll naked on a bed at the Siesta Motel talking to his lover for over an hour, not like movie Ennis. For the movie, I think Heath, Ang, and the scriptwriters emphasized the differences in the two men because, well, opposites attract and it works well with the yin/yang theme. But Annie Proulx's depiction of the men is more subtle. She portrayed them more as two kindred spirits against the world whereas in the movie they are more like two different people who fall in love despite their differences.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, FriendLee. I guess I am still seeing inconsistencies in StoryEnnis' money spending. They did splurge on the hotel Siesta, and he did quit his jobs in the old days to be with Jack. But the postcard at the end was only 30 cents and one was enough and he didn't need more than he had when Alma, Jr. visited. Maybe the impulsive spending was tempered with age, as evidenced by him stressing his child support payments and being unable to just quit the jobs, like in the old days. I see very few examples, tho, of early Ennis spending money. After all, he worked weekends at a ranch when he was on the road crew to be able to keep his horses. I guess the horses could be considered a luxury. I just don't see that he had much.
Front-Ranger:
You bet, those horses were a luxury Lynne! I was just visiting Offline Chuck's neighbors in the Medicine Bow area of Wyoming, and they got rid of their horses because each one ate a $8 bale of hay every day. Plus horses are always injuring themselves and needing vet treatments. The neighbor also mentioned that there was nothing you could do with an older horse but keep feeding it until it died. No more glue factories, he said. I'm sure Jess could elaborate on this.
Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: Lynne on October 12, 2008, 07:17:19 pm ---Thanks, FriendLee. I guess I am still seeing inconsistencies in StoryEnnis' money spending. They did splurge on the hotel Siesta, and he did quit his jobs in the old days to be with Jack. But the postcard at the end was only 30 cents and one was enough and he didn't need more than he had when Alma, Jr. visited. Maybe the impulsive spending was tempered with age, as evidenced by him stressing his child support payments and being unable to just quit the jobs, like in the old days. I see very few examples, tho, of early Ennis spending money. After all, he worked weekends at a ranch when he was on the road crew to be able to keep his horses. I guess the horses could be considered a luxury. I just don't see that he had much.
--- End quote ---
In the red part, you're mixing movie stuff into your interpretation of Story!Ennis. Alma Jr. didn't come to visit in the story.
But still I agree with you. The full-throttle... money part of the short story somehow seems to contradict Proulx's words at the beginning: "...highschool dropouts with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, ... inured to the stoic life."
BTW, the sentence by Ennis in the movie "You don't got nothin', you don't need nothin'." is (IMO) another good example for the POML synergy. I think this sentence is Lee's (Ossana's/McMurtry's) interpretation of Proulx's inured to the stoic life.
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