Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Comparison between '03 to '05 screenplay: would we still be discussing this film
serious crayons:
OK, here's a story/movie comparison that I just thought of. You know how we're always observing that Ennis is less homophobic in the story? Well, that's not the only difference; he's also much more chatty. In the movie, he's downright taciturn ("that's the most I've spoke in a year"). Whereas in the story, he talks more or less the same amount as Jack, as far as I can tell. That's another reason the characters seem less distinguishable in the story.
But also, it suggests something to me about the two Ennis' childhoods. I always figure Movie Ennis is quiet not only because that's his inherent nature (although, as a big believer in genetic influence, I would probably argue for that in RL). I think it's because he's extremely inhibited, and for a good reason. For Movie Ennis, the Earl experience 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 -- from the time he noticed he was attracted to men, presumably at an early age, until his dad died, and of course beyond. The fear of revealing that one big part of his nature scared him into keeping ALL of himself hidden.
Talkative Story Ennis, on the other hand, doesn't hesitate to tell Jack about wringing it out and realizing he shouldn't have let him out of his sights and Jesus H, sex with women ain't nothin like this. Granted, he's talking to someone he trusts, but so is the far more inhibited Movie Ennis, and yet he's all "Me? Uhhhh .... I dunno."
And that goes along with what always seemed to be the big reason for Story Ennis to reject Jack's offer: he saw a man who'd been killed for living with another man, so he knows it's dangerous. From that perspective, his response to Jack's offer seems a pragmatic, even reasonable, decision rather than the result of inner conflict. The larger implications of how the Earl incident might have affected his whole youth are still there if you think about it -- and I'm guessing that wily Annie Proulx probably means for us to do just that. But they're not so vividly played out in Ennis' personality.
Sorry if everybody else is rolling their eyes and thinking, "Well, duh!" Though I had thought of all the parts of this before, I'd never put them together quite that way.
BTW, I have come very close to starting a whole thread about Ennis and the Earl incident. So often I see people say Ennis behaved the way he did because "he was forced to view the body of a man who'd been killed for being gay" or something like that -- that is, explaining his behavior in terms of one isolated horrifying incident. Whereas in fact that's just an incident that lends itself to telling, both by Ennis and the film/story, but really suggests so much more than that. "For all I know, he done the job" is really a key line.
Front-Ranger:
Yes, and you have to also remember the older brother who teased, beat, and harassed him (in the story) and the fact that Ennis had to go live with him after his ma and sister abandoned him, and then even his older brother kicked him out. In that light, his reticence and self-repression is very believable.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on September 29, 2006, 02:11:32 pm ---Yes, and you have to also remember the older brother who teased, beat, and harassed him (in the story).
--- End quote ---
OT for the screenplay discussion, I guess, but reading this (thanks, Lee!), it just finally clicked: this is where Ennis learned to solve problems with violence. His brother kept picking on him and his father told him the way to get it to stop was to "ambush" his brother and beat on him, which he did, and after he did it a couple of times, his brother left him alone. :-\
jpwagoneer1964:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on September 29, 2006, 02:34:35 pm ---OT for the screenplay discussion, I guess, but reading this (thanks, Lee!), it just finally clicked: this is where Ennis learned to solve problems with violence. His brother kept picking on him and his father told him the way to get it to stop was to "ambush" his brother and beat on him, which he did, and after he did it a couple of times, his brother left him alone. :-\
--- End quote ---
In the book it explaines Ennis's reason for the punch, a reflex brought on by his roughousing with K.E.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on September 29, 2006, 02:11:32 pm ---Yes, and you have to also remember the older brother who teased, beat, and harassed him (in the story) and the fact that Ennis had to go live with him after his ma and sister abandoned him, and then even his older brother kicked him out. In that light, his reticence and self-repression is very believable.
--- End quote ---
True, although in RL -- or even in other stories -- having to stand up to his brother and fend for himself might make him more outgoing. Like, say, Huck Finn who stood up to his abusive father and all of society and had to fend for himself and yet wasn't shy. But I do find Ennis' reticence and repression believable. Maybe that's why I'm such a believer in genetic influence -- your environment definitely influences you, but what it influences you to do or be depends a lot on what you were in the first place.
Uh-oh, here's a confession: Just this moment, reading back on previous posts, I realize I meant to put my last post that on a different thread -- the story vs. screenplay thread, not the 03 screenplay vs. 05 screenplay thread. Oops. :laugh: Well, since it's mostly the same people talking on both, I hope you all don't mind?
Or maybe I'll repost it there. Hopefully in a shorter form.
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