Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
"...Tresspassers...Will Be Shot, Survivors..." signs - how old?
Penthesilea:
The first time I saw the movie, I noticed the sign and found it freakin' hilarious. But I was the only person in the theatre who laughed, because it was not translated/read out loud to the audience. Got me some strange looks ::)
--- Quote ---From Katherine:
While also describing more or less what happens to Jack and Ennis, who "trepass" against society's rules.
--- End quote ---
This occurred to me the first time I saw the movie in English. Not at the beginning, when the sign is to be seen at Aguirre's trailer, but at the end of their summer. When Ennis crouches in the alley and one split-second before the scene cuts to his and Alma's wedding, the minister is already heard "And forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".
When I heard the word "trespasses" I thought immediately of the sign at the trailer. And suddenly it wasn't too funny anymore.
The fact that the love between Ennis and Jack, and living that love, was regarded as trespassing rules is sad, not funny.
Jack's the trespasser who is shot, Ennis is the survivor who is shot again:
* receiving the postcard stamped deceased (the first shot)
* then at the Twist farm, when OMT talks about "one other fella" (look at him in this very moment: heart-shot is the fitting descrption)
* the denial of Jack's ashes
* then when he finds the shirts (although finding the shirts is both: heartbreaking, but a blessing nonetheless)
* and finally in the end, when he is all alone in his trailer, swearing to empty, old shirts - and they are all which he has left.
So the sign sums it up, it's like a warning, a foreshadowing
This list reminds me of my very first impression of BBM. After seeing it, my friend and me could not talk about it. The only thing which was said was: this movie is completely different from any other movie I've ever seen (then we talked about Linda Cardellinni and ER).
When I came home, I said very few to my husband. But what I said was, that it is the saddest movie I've ever seen, because the pain finds no end. It goes on and on: after Jack's death, Ennis is as devasteted as one can be, he is simply finished. But the torture is not over yet. There comes another punch, and another, and another. This is so painful to watch.
I feel the same as Mel and Katherine: Jack is the one who ends up dead, but it's Ennis my heart aches for to no end :'(
.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on September 25, 2006, 09:16:25 am ---I feel the same as Mel and Katherine: Jack is the one who ends up dead, but it's Ennis my heart aches for to no end :'(
--- End quote ---
I know this sounds stupid, but when I first got to imdb and saw all those posts from people who felt particularly sorry for Jack, I was surprised and confused. Sorry for Jack? Why?
And then I thought -- duh! -- oh yeah, he died. After spending at least half his life frustrated and lonely. I had been so focused on my sadness for Ennis, I'd hardly even thought about Jack's sad fate.
Full disclosure: This may have been slightly connected to my similar surprise at finding out how many people seemed to consider Jack the more attractive of the two. ::) But not entirely! Given that there's a nine-page thread on this forum considering whether Ennis would commit suicide, it seems reasonable to think of Ennis' fate as almost as bad as Jack's.
Brown Eyes:
Penthesilea, that was one excellent post. I love the parallel between the trespassing sign and the lines we hear the minister saying over the image of Ennis crying in the alley. It adds tremendous weight to that sign, which does seem like something funny in the beginning. It's one of those props/ elements in the film that gain meaning in hindsight. It's the kind of detail and nuance that would be hard to understand fully with only one viewing.
Katherine, I understand what you mean about feeling more sorry for Ennis in some ways. Living with the tremendous pain and extreme loneliness are obviously huge burdens. So, if he's the one who gets "shot again" according to the sign... what is the second shot? He survives and "will be shot again." Do we see the second shot in the film? Or is that left outside the narrative of the fim?
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on October 02, 2006, 11:53:28 pm --- So, if he's the one who gets "shot again" according to the sign... what is the second shot? He survives and "will be shot again." Do we see the second shot in the film? Or is that left outside the narrative of the fim?
--- End quote ---
I interpret the second shot in a kind of vague, generalized way, as encompassing Ennis' whole experience of Jack's death: the shock of the postcard, OMT's revelation, the ashes, the shirts, the huge sadness of the northern plains, the endless grief and loneliness and regret. It's funny, even the sign leaves his fate kind of open-ended. In warning that "survivors will be shot again," it suggests they'll meet a fate almost as bad as the non-survivors -- a blast of pain and injury -- but it might not necessarily involve death.
dly64:
For all the times I have watched BBM, I have never noticed the darn sign! I think I focus so intently on Jack and Ennis that I tend not to look at the things around them (when they meet for the first time and are in Aguirre's trailer). I know I have missed other things as well. Someone said (was it Mel??) they saw sheepskins in Aguirre's trailer? I haven't found them. I don't know if I am looking in the right place. If anyone knows, give me a clue. Has anyone seen something else that has not been that obvious?
--- Quote from: David925 on September 24, 2006, 01:26:11 am ---.... I have seen these same signs here in Indiana for years... ever since I was a child. Indiana can have a real "red neck" mentality sometimes. Yes, I have seen those very same signs posted all across my state for as long as I can remember.
--- End quote ---
David - you are cracking me up! You really think there is a redneck mentality in some areas of good ol' Indiana?? Hmmmmm ..... Being a Hoosier myself I can definitely answer ... YES!!!!! ;D
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version