Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Smokes and Fire
nakymaton:
What do you make of the scene when they've come down from the mountain and Aguirre is chewing them out? Ennis silently holds out his cigarette to Jack, and Jack turns his hand to show Ennis that Jack already has a cigarette of his own.
Almost seems to contradict the dynamic of the goodbye scene, where Jack seems to hope that the relationship can continue the next summer, and Ennis talks about getting married.
Front-Ranger:
The goodbye scene is one of crossed signals anyway, and the smoke signals are crossed as well as the others!
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Rutella on October 15, 2006, 08:44:42 am ---And as someone (sorry forget who) pointed out, Ennis is smoking outside Aguirre's trailer earlier so his asking for Jack's lighter at the bar is unnecessary and is his first kinda flirty thing.
--- End quote ---
Ooooo, good one! I'd never stopped to consider this bit of evidence before... Ennis was able to light that very first cigarette while he was waiting, so he must have had a lighter or matches of his own. I guess one could say that he's still being frugal here... he may be trying to save his own matches or lighter as much as possible... but still, this really does make his decision to ask for a light from Jack seem more flirty. Even if it's sort of sub-consciously flirty for Ennis at this point.
8)
--- Quote from: Rutella on October 14, 2006, 04:12:15 pm ---And thinking of cigarettes, one part of the story which I wish was shown in the film is from the motel scene:
"Ennis pulled Jack's hand to his mouth, took a hit from the cigarette, exhaled. 'Sure as hell seem in one piece to me[....]'" There is something about the sharing of a cigarette in that way that gets me good. The next line also makes me feel a bit wibbly inside, though I can see why they might not have wanted Movie Ennis to say it.
--- End quote ---
I've always thought it was a shame they omitted the shared cigarette in the motel scene in the movie too. It would have been a nice, subtle (not too explicit) erotic detail to leave in and would have helped establish the general idea of intimacy being a big part of the relationship as much as the sex and everything else. I'm curious though, why do you say you can see why the filmmakers didn't want Ennis to say that line? I know that Proulx seems to have fought long and hard to have more of the motel scene included in the film... it really is the heart of the story in many ways (it includes so much of the important background info and plot exposition in the story that it takes on a crucial importance in the text). I think the details you point out would have been great for the filmmakers to include... and honestly, I don't understand why the cut so much of it out... especially since there's so little intimacy filmmed in the later camping trips.
:-\ :-*
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on October 15, 2006, 11:06:27 am ---What do you make of the scene when they've come down from the mountain and Aguirre is chewing them out? Ennis silently holds out his cigarette to Jack, and Jack turns his hand to show Ennis that Jack already has a cigarette of his own.
Almost seems to contradict the dynamic of the goodbye scene, where Jack seems to hope that the relationship can continue the next summer, and Ennis talks about getting married.
--- End quote ---
That's a really interesting little moment... and if flies by so that some of the subtlties are easy to miss. The facial expressions are so stoic that it's also sort of hard to understand what the states of emotion are in this little exchange. For the longest time I didn't even notice Ennis's hand gesture as being one of offering the cigarette to Jack. I just thought we were supposed to be watching them leaning there smoking. It took me a long time to see that the gestures/ arm movements could mean something more. If Ennis truly is offering Jack his cigarette here... wow, that really would be flirty and surprisingly open for Ennis. It seems sort of out of character that Jack would reject a relatively open act of friendship/ affection. So, maybe we're supposed to think he's still really mad here. I wonder if this is a little "bookend" to the early bar scene with the shared lighter.
Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: Rutella on October 15, 2006, 08:44:42 am ---And as someone (sorry forget who) pointed out, Ennis is smoking outside Aguirre's trailer earlier so his asking for Jack's lighter at the bar is unnecessary and is his first kinda flirty thing.
--- End quote ---
Not necessarily. I'm a smoker. Lighters are just more convenient than matches. If I had matches and any other person a lighter, I'd ask for the lighter, too. Or if I had my matches (or lighter) somerwhere in my pockets, but the other one has it handy or on the table or is toying with it, I'd take the other person's instead of pulling mine out from the pocket. Lighters and matches are always in the last pocket you look. I wonder how many hours of his life a smoker spends with looking for lighter/matches ;D.
So Ennis asking Jack for the lighter is maybe unnecessary, but is sure a complete ordinary occurrence. That doesn't exclude the possibility it is indeed a flirty thing. But it could just as likely be not a flirty thing.
On a sidenote and off-topic on this thread:
What I find far more remarkably at the bar scene is that Ennis tells Jack the story that and how his parents died without being directly asked.
Do we ever actually see Alma smoking? I think not.
After J's&E's night at the Siesta, it would have been logical to see a full ashtray in front of Alma at the kitchen table, presuming she sat there half the night (or longer).
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