Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Jack and Alma
Jane:
(And, yes, it would be fun to go to that breakfast. For that matter, if Ang had followed them around with a camera and filmed every minute they spent together over the entire 20 years (plus the two months on Brokeback), I would buy the 100-disk DVD set in a heartbeat.) end of quote.
Here here me too. I loved all those moments getting to know each other, and just generally horsing around, so yeah, 100 disc dvd would be great. Dont we wish. :P
Brown Eyes:
Heya Jane and opinionista,
Thanks for reviving this thread! :D Awww, it was one of the very first threads that I started once I had registered.
--- Quote ---And, yes, it would be fun to go to that breakfast. For that matter, if Ang had followed them around with a camera and filmed every minute they spent together over the entire 20 years (plus the two months on Brokeback), I would buy the 100-disk DVD set in a heartbeat.) end of quote.
--- End quote ---
I know, it really would be nice to see more of the happy moments. Lee is very cruel to us in this regard. I'd buy that DVD set too. Maybe Focus Features will here about this request some day and do something about it.
;) :-\
Anyway, back on topic. I haven't re-read all of this tonight either... so I don't quite remember. But have we resolved the issue as to why Alma is so anxious for Jack to come in and have coffee after the motel scene? Seriously, what kind of small talk is she hoping to make? I can't even imagine how awkward such a breakfast would be. Poor Alma. Poor Jack. Poor Ennis.
:(
The cut from the sweetness of the motel cuddling to Alma at her lonely breakfast table is just so hard to take. Actually, the mood of the motel really shifts once Jack asks "what are we going to do now?" I think some of the saddest lines of the movie are Ennis's reply to this. "I doubt there's nothing we can do. So I'm stuck with what I've got here." What a sad and awful way to think about your life and it's amazing that he really can't envision options that would make living with Jack work. I think these two sentences, though, are the ones that keep Jack hoping that Ennis might come around and find the courage to move-in with him. These lines let Jack know exactly how much Ennis dislikes his life away from Jack. It's like Ennis's statement after the Earl-flashback discussion where he tells Jack he wants to be with him for "as long as we can ride it". He's essentially telling Jack he wants their relationship to last forever (or as long as humanly possible). So, I've always argued that this softens the blow of his rejection of the cow and calf operation idea. But, I do think more and more that Ennis's motel statement about feeling "stuck" with his life in Riverton gave Jack the courage to propose the cow and calf operation to begin with.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on June 01, 2006, 09:20:07 pm --- Actually, the mood of the motel really shifts once Jack asks "what are we going to do now?" I think some of the saddest lines of the movie are Ennis's reply to this. "I doubt there's nothing we can do. So I'm stuck with what I've got here." What a sad and awful way to think about your life and it's amazing that he really can't envision options that would make living with Jack work. I think these two sentences, though, are the ones that keep Jack hoping that Ennis might come around and find the courage to move-in with him. These lines let Jack know exactly how much Ennis dislikes his life away from Jack.
--- End quote ---
I agree, and in view of this I've always thought it a bit unfair that, later, Ennis snaps at Jack when he says "You and Alma, that's a life?" I mean, it's nice that Ennis still cares enough about Alma to defend her, and it's true that it ain't her fault. And Jack's question wasn't the most tactfully worded. But Jack's long resentful/disappointed look in response to that seems somewhat justified, too.
On another topic, I know we've discussed this, possibly even on this thread, but whenever I watch now I am even more amazed by Jack's reaction to the first mention of Alma's name. Ennis says he's hoping to buy a ranch because "Me and Alma, we'll be getting married when I come down off the mountain." And Jack doesn't say one thing about it. No congratulations, or oh that's nice, or really how did ya meet. Just back to complaining about Aguirre's rules.
Brown Eyes:
So, I'm reviving this thread again because I think I noticed another cool Jack/Alma detail tonight. I'm back to clothing color here... In the reunion scene Jack is wearing a deep red shirt with a tan vest (and that pesky tan hat that always confuses me...) and Alma is wearing a reddish dress with a light tan cardigan sweater. Jack's colors are far more saturated while Alma's colors are more diluted or receding. This seems very significant for their one and only meeting.
:D
Bucky:
I too think there was a bit of a rivalry between Jack and Alma. It was Jack's rivalry to begin with I think and Ennis kept telling Jack that he was going to marry Alma after he came down from the mountain. During the reunion scene Ennis more than reassured Jack that he loved him with a very passionate kiss. Unfortunately the kisses went on too long and Alma saw what was happening and from then on in her mind Jack went from being Ennis' friend to Alma's rival and a threat to her marriage.
Also I think Jack thought that as long as Ennis and Alma were married that they could never be together and so he showed up at Ennis' house after he got the card saying that the divorce had come through. I think he thought that this was Ennis' way of telling him that was how it was going to be. Poor Jack when he found out the real truth. The problem was with Ennis and his fears about being outed as a gay man. From Ennis' childhood experiences his paranoia was controlling his whole life. That is why he could never be with Jack. In that case despite the fact that Ennis loved Jack more than Alma it was Alma who had the advantage because she was not a man and hence Ennis was not afraid to live with her.
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