Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
A different viewpoint
Penthesilea:
Hi marl42, welcome to BetterMost!
I agree with you that Ennis fear of getting abandoned and rejected is a major driving force for him. And I also think that it's sometimes overlooked or at least too less noticed.
He was abandoned by his parents, then his sister, his brother and finally Alma abandoned him too. Add the loss of his childhood innocence (if he ever was allowed to have something like that, thinking of his father) at age nine and what you see is a life fill of loss from an early age on.
And on top of all that, he lost Jack in the end :'(.
I also agree that withdrawing himself is a safety mechanism and that it would have been hard for Ennis to open up fully to Jack and to commit himself to their relationship fully, even without his internal homophobia.
What I don't agree with, is that said things would have been impossible for him in any case, even without homophobia. Hard, yes, but he had the potential to overcome it. He trusted Jack immensly. Just the simple fact that he did fall in love with Jack at all, that he did what he believed to be wrong with Jack on Brokeback and his easiness around Jack (happy tussle) is evidence of how much he was willing and able to give himself to Jack.
Both, his internal, and the external homophobia of their society was what made ranching up for them impossible. That's what the movie is about.
--- Quote ---I don't agree with so many of you that the whole tragedy was Ennis's fault
--- End quote ---
You're preaching to the choir here... I'm so with you on that :).
--- Quote from: marlb42 on January 14, 2007, 08:58:12 am ---Hi all of you, I decided to come out of lurkdom to respond, again I do thank latjoreme for posting my thoughts.
Anyway I am fully aware that Jack asked 'are you coming back next summer" and then Ennis said he's getting married in November and then see you around. What I specifically originally meant and I see now wasn't clear was that after Ennis said see you a round, he still stood near the truck for a while as if he was still waiting for Jack to say something more so that they should stay together now and not separate.
On the mountain Ennis waited for Jack to take the lead, Jack was always riding ahead of Ennis and when the sheep were mixed up Ennis asked Jack 'what do we do now?', I think that Ennis knew that the sheep had to separated, I think that meant that the relationship was up to Jack at that point.
I think that because of Jack's coldness about leaving the mountain, and the fight, and Jack's spiting in front of Ennis path on the way down, and Jacks rejection of the cig, I think Ennis took all those things to mean it was over for Jack.
At the truck, because Ennis was feeling so rejected, he did not take the 'are you coming back next year' as "I love you and I don't want to lose your" which he wanted to hear, I think he took it also as a rejection and that the whole thing did not mean that much to Jack at that point.
So when I wrote that Ennis waited, I meant that after that Ennis still waited, he did not leave after he said 'see you around' he still stood at the truck at that point in hope that Jack would say something more.
--- End quote ---
Agreed. I also think Jack was far too chipper on that day and Ennis draw the conclusion that for Jack it's not such a big deal to come down the mountain a month early.
The scene at Jack's truck: From my very first viewing on, I was waiting for Jack to say something more. I want to scream at him in this very moment every time I see it. Ennis was waiting. He was lingering because he didn't want to go. Just yesterday, I asked why Jack didn't say anything to stop Ennis on another thread. I know he's hurt and sour from that punch, then Ennis says no to his proposal regarding next summer, Ennis talks of marrying Alma again - all founded reasons, but still...*sigh* :(
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: marlb42 on January 14, 2007, 08:58:12 am ---Hi all of you, I decided to come out of lurkdom to respond, again I do thank latjoreme for posting my thoughts.
--- End quote ---
Welcome to Bettermost, marlb42! Pull up a chair, have a cuppa coffee, a piece a cherry cake! :D
(And thanks for the elaboration on your thoughts!)
Jeff
Ellemeno:
Hi marlb42, I'm glad you're here. I look forward to seeing your future posts. Clarissa
squashcourt:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on January 13, 2007, 08:30:17 pm ---Here is a recent post from imdb by marlb42. It's an interesting and different view of the movie, so I'm posting it (with marlb42's permission) for anyone who would like to read and/or discuss it here.
A totally different viewpoint.........
by marlb42 1 day ago (Fri Jan 12 2007 14:50:55 )
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UPDATED Fri Jan 12 2007 15:51:39
A a newbie (but I have already watched BBM at least 20 times) I have been reading a lot of these threads and also threads on the other boards and I have not seen my current interpretation anywhere,
I will admit that even though I am a female in my 40's I relate more to Ennis then any other character ever, especially in terms of the of the withdrawing from people and well the loneliness, and although I never had a Jack or Alma (people who cared that much about me) I do always make excuses to pull away or not even try to form relationships. Upon seeing BBM and getting obsessed over it I have vowed to change although I find it really hard to even meet people now.
Anyway I do take Ennis's point of view but, I now have some different theories then most I have read.
I think that the driving forces for the relationship was Ennis' fear of being abandoned by Jack, not just his homophobia (which exists), or not being able to admit to his love.
On BBM after TS 2 I think Ennis saw themselve as a team. It was Ennis who said "What if we need to work for Aguire again, did you think of that Jack". I think that despite Alma (who he never talked about on the mountain after the first day or so}, he was so in love with Jack and he thought they would be a pair. In fact I started to think the 'one-shot thing, I ain't queer' means that there couldn't be any other man ever for him except for Jack. And it was Ennis who started the dozy embrace.
Then Ennis was devastated to come off the mountain, Jack wasn't and Ennis was devastated by that. In fact when they rode down the mountain, Jack spit in Ennis's path, which I think Ennis took to mean its over.
Ennis was waiting for Jack to say something at the truck, he never did. Ennis broke down after that because he thought that Jack was abandoning him like his parents(yes, in his mind) and his brother and sister did before.
At the motel Ennis said, "I thought that I would never see you again", meaning he believed during those four years Jack left him forever and did abandon him too. I believe that Ennis was never able to forget that Jack had once left him over all the remaining years. I think that that despite all the other reasons, Ennis was always afraid that it would happen again and that is what held him back.
By the time of the lake Ennis was even more sure that he would lose Jack, and that was the real reason why it was getting harder and harder to meet him, not just financial. After all, Jack had a much better life and Ennis's was a total mess, so began to deliberately avoid him so he would't have to face it.
"I did once" and "I wish I could quit you" was the culmination of all Ennis's fears, and that was what set him towards his anger and his last terrible breakdown, he saw that he did lose Jack. After that he was a totally broken man (the bus stop)
I think that when he found the shirts, the revelation was that for the first time Ennis realized not just that he loved Jack or that Jack loved him, but that Jack did love him truly after that summer, and that he really didn't ever mean to abandon him at all like everyone else had done. It was Ennis's growing fear of abandonment that led to everything going bad. I truly believe that throughout the whole relationships Ennis was always trying to show Jack the truth (the Kiss, sending a prayer of thanks etc.) but Jack never realized the true intensity of Ennis's feelings.
When Ennis asked Junior if Kurt loves her and then he looks out the window for a long time it was because he finally knew after all those years, because of the shirts, that Jack really did love him at 19, and never really meant to abandom him.
I don't agree with so many of you that the whole tragedy was Ennis's fault
I don't know, its all just my opinion, and I had to get it out. Why, I don't know....
--- End quote ---
Wowwwww !!!!
So well described and I can't agree more . . . sure is how I generally feel.
Try not to be sad, though ---
Warmest affection,
Pierre - ;)
jpwagoneer1964:
Good view point. I don;t think Jack's spitting had any significance.
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