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

symbols that are different in the story vs the movie

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serious crayons:

--- Quote from: nakymaton on September 24, 2006, 11:34:30 am ---But it's... it's a difficult emotional commitment, for me at least. I think I read the story maybe once during the six months after I watched the movie, and it felt so harsh, like it was under a light that was just too bright or something.
--- End quote ---

Well put. There's something soothing and comfortable about the movie -- even the sad parts, in a way. But the story isn't soothing or comfortable even in the happy parts.

I finally did read the story but have been procrastinating posting my findings here because I would like to say something profound and insightful and brilliant about what I learned. And ... well ... I'm still waiting for inspiration to strike.

I did notice some little things, interesting uses of symbols and foreshadowing. Like how the cold coffee, in the italicized intro part, is like Ennis' memories of their "old, cold time on the mountain": stale but rewarmed, poured into a stained cup so it might stoke the day. (And when he first sees Jack at the reunion, "a hot jolt scalded" him.) Or how, on their last trip, pessimistic Ennis keeps waiting for clouds to appear, which they finally do, but not until the third day (when it portentiously snows). It's as if he can't make the most of the good times because he's so busy expecting bad, while optimistic Jack notices the boneless blue so deep "that he might drown looking up," which of course he later does.

And the bear they spot on that final trip that runs away "with a lumpish gait that made it seem it was falling apart." I guess that makes me think of Ennis, falling apart from the stress of living his double life. Inspired by an excellent post about Jungian archetypes on imdb by Malina (who is at BetterMost, also), I dug up my own Jung book and found that a dream about encountering a dangerous animal supposedly indicates that the dreamer is confronting some alienated part of his real identity that has split off and needs to be reintegrated. That perfectly fits the bear scene in the movie and maybe sort of in the story.

Anyway, those are all kind of micro things, and I'd like to find something more macro. Maybe my mind just works better at the micro level.

Front-Ranger:
Katherine, we're still waaaaaiiiiiitttting.....

Ellemeno:
I seem to go through waves of having insight, and then having none, but I like the direction you're headed here, with each post I go, "Oh yeah, good observation."  And I love the community of each person adding a piece.  I love this kind of thread.

serious crayons:
Here's a post I accidentally put in the screenplay-comparison thread, but it really belongs here.

Story Ennis is not only less homophobic than Movie Ennis, he's also more chatty. Movie Ennis is downright shy and taciturn, whereas Story Ennis talks about the same amount as Jack (another reason the story characters seem less distinguishable).

I always figure Movie Ennis is quiet not only because that's his inherent nature, but because of his childhood experiences. The Earl episode was just the tip of the iceberg. If Ennis could even consider the possibility that his dad, someone he seems to have respected, tortured someone to death for being gay, we can assume that his entire childhood was pretty terrifying and confusing and shame-filled and awful. And we can figure that the fear of revealing that one big part of his nature scared him into keeping ALL of himself hidden.

Judging by personality, talkative Story Ennis would appear not to have had that same kind of a repressed childhood. And that matches what seems to be the main reason for Story Ennis to reject Jack's offer: because of Earl, he knows that living with another man would be dangerous. It's more a pragmatic decision based on an isolated trauma, than the result of inner conflict built over years of fear. The larger implications of how the Earl incident might have affected his youth, though still there if you think about it, are not reflected in Ennis' personality.

BTW, I keep wanting to start a whole thread about Ennis and the Earl incident. So often I see people say Ennis behaved the way he did as if it's the result of that one horrifying experience. Whereas in fact that's just a story that lends itself to telling, both by Ennis and the film/story, but suggests much more than that. "For all I know, he done the job" is, for me, the key line.

Front-Ranger:
Whenever I get too freaked out thinking about poor Rich and Earl, I remember what I saw when driving down south to Albuquerque this summer, where I met Impish. There was a diner by the side of a highway near Tucumcari, with a big sign that said "Steve and Earl's Diner." Next time I go that way I'm going to stop in and see if I can meet Steve and/or Earl. I'll bet they've had a sweet life, at least a sweet time making cinnamon rolls and such.

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