Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Hand in glove
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 19, 2008, 11:54:26 am ---In this scene, Jack has one gloved hand and one bare hand. The two are about to go off in two directions for four long years.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for reviving this cool topic Friend! 8)
I think Jack's positioning and framing here are very interesting (in addition to the particularly interesting/unusual glove situation)... He looks like he's pinned in place or like he's at the center of some kind of target based on the way the boards on the garage door behind him are all converging behind his head.
The glove/not-glove situation throughout the film reminds me of the perhaps-related concept of the layering of clothing. The idea that when they're feeling close to one another or connected they wear less or liighter-weight clothing. And, when they're feeling defensive or argumentative with one another they wear more. I think this idea holds true much of the time (but not always). There's also an idea that wearing less clothing indicates a state of "being ahead" of the other character in some regard or another. For example (maybe the most blatant example), Jack is already shirtless in TS2 while Ennis still wears a thin shirt (i.e. Jack is one step ahead of Ennis in terms of accepting his sexuality or wanting to move forward with his sexuality).
Front-Ranger:
Interesting concepts, atz! Here's another pivotal scene where Ennis is not wearing gloves but they are in view: killing the elk.
Front-Ranger:
To mark the ninth anniversary of the movie release, I am summarizing some of the older threads that reveal the genius of this movie. Here is a summary of the glove motif which I discuss in Chapter 7, Costumes, of the book I am working on.
"In the scene of the last day on the mountain, as Ennis rides into camp, Jack is bent over dismantling the tent and his gloves are prominently seen in his back pocket. But Ennis, as we can easily see when he gets up and walks away, tucking in his shirt, has no gloves. In this scene, Jack seems to have the "upper hand" so to speak, physically striking the camp and even lassoing Ennis by the feet. But then Ennis lashes back at Jack, feeling out of control, and when they are next seen in different shirts, Ennis has the gloves, not Jack. At the bottom of the mountain, Jack says he will go to Lightning Flat to give his daddy "a hand through the winter." Ennis's gloves in his back pocket are visible as he starts the engine on Jack's truck.
Later, the character of Cassie manages to snare Ennis by literally grabbing his hand as he raises it to point at the restroom where he intends to go. She then drags Ennis to the dance floor by the hand. The song playing on the jukebox is Steve Earle’s “Devil’s Right Hand”. When she asks for a footrub, Cassie literally has Ennis hand and foot.
It was also interesting in the confrontation at the lake scene to see that, while Ennis has his gloves in his pocket again, Jack is holding his gloves in his right hand throughout the scene, even when he has his hand cradling Ennis's head at the end."
Front-Ranger:
Our friend John Trudell has been posting some photos of Heath Ledger as Ennis, with hand-written notes around the margins about his costume. Here's one that mentions "gloves in right pocket". Forwarding our theories!!
I wonder who made the notes. . .the costumer?
CellarDweller:
I want a pair of Brokeback boots!!!
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