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The Brokeback Mountain Phrasebook: A

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Front-Ranger:
Bucket -- noun. Ennis encountered a bucket throughout the movie. While setting up camp, Jack brought water in canvas buckets. Ennis kicked a bucket at least twice, first when he was heading into the tent when he stayed in camp to sleep off the whiskey that he and Jack drank, and later in frustration, he kicked a bucket full of ashes, when his wife disobeyed him and scurried off to work at the grocery. Later, Ennis's bucket started to float away as he was arguing with Jack (see below). He also chided some bikers at the Independence Day fireworks and kicked them in their "slopbucket" mouths.



We all know that a bucket stands for a life; it is a vessel that is filled or emptied by life experiences. In this movie, it also stands for potential and opportunities taken or lost. The bucket also stands for Jack since he is a person who accepts all of Ennis's failings. The bucket finds its metaphorical corrollary in the coffeepot, which stands for Ennis, who spent all of his life "travelling around the coffeepot, looking for the handle." The bucket and coffeepot appear in the story too, most notably when Linda Higgins, proprietor of the gift shop where Ennis buys a postcard of Brokeback Mountain, throws a slopping wet used coffee filter in the trash can, a mundane act that is as filled with meaning as the slop of the water buckets on the mountain.

Front-Ranger:
Beans -- noun. Ennis liked BetterMost beans, while Jack preferred elk. Ironically, Jack wasn't very good at shooting elk, but boasted of being "good with a can opener." Neither man knew himself very well it seems. Beans are an old Asian symbol of virility. The bean may also have a similar significance in Western culture as illustrated by the fable "Jack in the Beanstalk" where a young man brought uncontrollable growth and ultimate destruction to himself by planting a few magic beans.



Here is a discussion of the symbology of "Jack and the Beanstalk", an English fairy tale. I don't really agree with some of it, for instance, I think the beanstalk is not a symbol of Jack's social climbing but rather of his ambition, his adolescent sexual desires kicking in, or just any situation that gets out of control. But there's one part that seems very Brokeish to me:


--- Quote ---The name Jack is commonly used in fairy tales as a symbol for a clever but unreliable character who starts off poor and stupid with an unpromising future, but ends up rich and respected by using his wits
--- End quote ---

 :P ;)

Now, go to The Straight Dope for a hilarious discussion on Melville's quoting of the "Pythagorian Maxim" against eating beans. Maybe I should also post about this in "Jack and the Wind"!

beans, coffee -- noun. A subset of beans, coffee played a role in both the story and the subsequent movie. The site dreamforth suggests that drinking coffee indicates the need for thought or taking a more realistic look at a situation (aka "wake up and smell the coffee"). A coffeepot indicates romantic interest. Note the placement of the coffeepot over Ennis' torso as he sleeps on the ground just before Jack calls him to come into the tent. Coffee is bitter, and Alma sat in between a coffee cup and a sugar holder, unable to choose between the bitter and the sweet, as she cried while Ennis went off to be with Jack in the mountains.

Sason:
^^^^^^^^

Boot in fire-------Ouch!!

Front-Ranger:

--- Quote from: Sason on November 21, 2012, 07:19:29 pm ---^^^^^^^^

Boot in fire-------Ouch!!

--- End quote ---

hehe, yes, Jack definitely had the willingness to step in "where angels fear to tread" and who knows? He just may have been able to work miracles and walk on water fire, as Aguirre thought him able to do!

Sason:
Aguirre thought Jack able to walk on fire?

How you figure that?

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