Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
The mettle of a man
Lynne:
--- Quote from: 2robots4u on February 08, 2007, 09:53:50 pm ---Lynne...I'm not a fisherman (did , though, when I was 8-10 yrs old), but I think those rods with the eyelets for the line are fly fishing rods. Someone with more knowledge please respond....Doug
--- End quote ---
Hey Doug - good to see you back! I also hope you're recovering well!
I visited Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishing_rod
"A 'fishing pole' is a simple pole or stick for suspending a line (normally fastened to the tip), with a hooked lure or bait. In contrast, 'fishing rod' refers to a more sophisticated casting tool fitted with line guides and a reel for line stowage."
I think the 'line guides' are the metal eyelets I was thinking of - Do we know if J & E had poles or rods? ???
Do we know if they were 'fly' fishing? ???
"Fly rods tend to have a single, large-diameter line guide (called a stripping guide), with a number of smaller looped guides (aka snake guides) spaced along the rod to help control the movement of the relatively thick fly line."
I haven't find out yet what the stripping guide/looped guide material is. The article does say that the fly rods were traditionally made of bamboo, so I doubt they started out with mettle. ;)
Front-Ranger:
I don't think they were fly fishing. That's regarded as "sissy" in Wyoming, I think. Y'all are invited to rush in and correct me if I'm wrong!! I think they were using live bait, which would just "fly" off the hooks if they were fly fishing. Plus, they were probly fishing in streams where the line doesn't have to go a great distance. Streams and beaver ponds, I would think.
Looking at some of the pics from the movie this morning, I notice how often there's something metal lying on the ground, either the shotgun, ax, or saw. I wonder whether these items are different for a purpose in the various scenes. Like in the "I ain't queer" scene, the gun is lying on the ground, pointing toward the mountains. We know that the gun is a powerful symbol in this movie. But what about the ax and saw? I recall that in one camp-building scene, Jack is using an ax, while Ennis is using the saw. Do they just represent elements of their personalities??
Lynne:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 10, 2007, 11:00:06 am ---But what about the ax and saw? I recall that in one camp-building scene, Jack is using an ax, while Ennis is using the saw. Do they just represent elements of their personalities??
--- End quote ---
Yes, IMO, they were regular fishing rods with the metal line guides.
I always interpreted the ax and saw symbols (and I'm sure this isn't original, but I have no idea where it was first discussed) as being indicative of their respective movie personalities'approaches'. Ennis is using the saw - slow and steady progress; Jack is swinging the ax - a more direct, less delicate way of getting the same job done, similar to how he keeps at Ennis until he gets him to open up.
It may be inconsistent for story Ennis who 'ran full throttle on all roads'.
Front-Ranger:
Yes, story Ennis is definitely different than movie Ennis.
I would like to quote from the prologue of the story, which alerts us right away that metal will be very important in this story:
Ennis del Mar wakes before five, wind rocking the trailer, hissing in around the aluminum door and window frames. The shirts hanging on a nail shudder slightly in the draft.
How many metallic things do you count in those two short sentences? I count five, the trailer, the door, the window frames, the nail, and the hands on the clock that point to five!
Front-Ranger:
Listening to RodneyFL reading Brokeback Mountain, the phrase "rusty but still useable" lept out at me. Metal appears in the dozy embrace scene, as it should. The rusty phrase is "Time to hit the hay" from Ennis's childhood, said by his mother.
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