Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
The Infamous Electric Carving Knife - A Moment of Levity
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Marge_Innavera on March 03, 2008, 11:27:49 am ---So Ang Lee had a double standard about destructive male stereotypes -- verboten for characters he wanted us to like but okay when...... what? The guy isn't good looking enough? Somehow, I doubt that. It's more likely that the character pushes some unacknowledged-conflicts buttons in viewers.
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This is interesting Marge, could you explain a little bit more about what you think the "unacknowledged conflict buttons" might be?
I'm sure at some level this has a lot to do with stereotypes... and I do think Ang Lee may have been deliberately playing with audiences and their possible ingrained stereotypes (throughout the film and with various characters).
In terms of Ennis and Monroe, I think this might be a case of Ang Lee simply trying to flip stereotypes around. Meaning... that sometimes the most "macho"/ "tough guy" in town is a closeted gay man... and sometimes a less-than-macho/soft-spoken guy who likes to watch figure skating is a married straight man with a child on the way.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: ineedcrayons on January 10, 2007, 10:26:29 pm ---That, plus an electric knife is the domesticated, indoor, society way to cut up meat -- as opposed to cutting up a whole elk at the campsite.
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I have a book that Pete Tannen gave me about elk that has a photo series on cutting up an elk in the field. The hunter is in full camoflage paint. Pretty scary stuff!!
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: atz75 on March 03, 2008, 11:54:02 am ---This is interesting Marge, could you explain a little bit more about what you think the "unacknowledged conflict buttons" might be?
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Well, very few of us are as free of stereotypes and prejudices as we like to think we are. And while Ennis and Jack may challenge masculine stereotypes in terms of sexuality, someone like Monroe doesn't fit the stereotypes much better. The actor has an unfortunate arrangement of features, described variously as bland and baby-faced, that would lead people to make negative assumptions about him. In a traditional Western movie, Monroe would have been the Western town's general storekeeper; here, he's translated into the Riverton grocer who wears an apron and knows what "condiments" are. IMO, this character gives viewers who might feel some uneasiness about the implied challenges to American/Western/masculine stereotypes a kind of safety valve: now, here's a character that one can safely consider a "sissy" -- he even uses an electric knife. That isn't a comment about BBM fans generally and certainly not about anyone on this thread, but Monroe, in addition to being a necessary plot device, does serve the classic dramatic function of a "foil." And I guess it's possible that Ang Lee did intend that, come to think of it.
Of course, this character isn't much developed in the movie and even less in the ss, but I'd really question as to whether he can be considered "less of a man" than some of the other characters, especially Lureen's father. The "stud duck" displayes his perceived masculinity by dissing his son-in-law and insisting on carving poultry; Monroe is willing to have his stepdaughters' father at Thanksgiving dinner. And for that matter, he was willing to hang in there and wait for the woman he loved.
Well, I guess we've meandered pretty far from slicing up that turkey..... ;)
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Marge_Innavera on March 01, 2008, 11:12:43 am ---I did too. Had no idea there was so much macho-snobbery connected with an unremarkable kitchen appliance.
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"Me neither."
Brown Eyes:
I think the idea that Monroe serves as a foil is very good.
He's a classic nice guy it seems to me. I think his image as less-than-macho or perhaps even a "sissy" is everything to do with the underlying stereotypes that have to do with sexuality (maybe more so... or linked with stereotypes about masculinity). In this case, the reliable straight husband is the "sissy" and the gay man is the macho, tough guy. Making the contrast between Ennis and Monroe marked and very obvious I think was certainly intentional in this regard.
And, I don't think we're too far off topic. The electric knife is also all about stereotypes and even sexual stereotypes (metaphorically speaking).
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