Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

A Ninth Viewing Observation

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BBM_victim:
Hey, serious crayons!
Thank you very much for posting your thoughts in response - it really means a great deal to me!

You are right, that there was also the way out for Jack in quitting Ennis the way you describe it. At least theoretically, because i think everyone of us will have then his / her personal preference on what is "logical" (logic is highly subjective IMO) or true to Jack's character. And you are right in saying quitting Ennis for Randall would take out a great deal of tragedy of the story.

I also agree with you that Jack died from an accident and not from tire iron (IMO). On the one hand, - and this is totally my own naive thinking - i just cannot believe this kind of horrible thing could have happened, although i know it did happen to Matthew Shepard. I guess i want to believe in the good in people. On the other hand, - thinking quite rationally - in terms of the story and drama i think the ambiguity of Jack's death adds on weight to Ennis' fate, which is to be tortured by the "space between what he knew and what he tried to believe" for the rest of his life. Were it certain that Jack died of tire iron, it would be less painful for Ennis, or maybe at least a different kind of pain. The sheer uncertainty of how the love of his life died just because he refused to be close to Jack must feel like hell. Jack was his, but Ennis had (and knew) so little of him - by choice!...

Thinking of this the scene with Alma Jr comes to mind, when Ennis realizes he does not know much about his daughter's life either. I think the dialogue they have about Troy is there exactly for this reason, to give Ennis a chance to make it right this time.


--- Quote from: serious crayons on May 11, 2017, 10:53:48 am ---Which makes it so ironic, because had Ennis been able to overcome his fear and live the sweet life -- well, Jack could still die changing a tire, but at least they would have had some happiness until then.
--- End quote ---
Exactly. And i would add that it actually doesn't matter how Jack could have died (either accident or tire iron or else), STILL "they would have had some happiness until then" and Ennis would at least know every detail of Jack's death.



Another observation, back to Lureen's phone call... Eh, but i will start my argument by going to Ennis' visit to Twist ranch first. When Jack's mom asks Ennis her "Want a cup of coffee, don't you? Piece a cherry cake?" and Ennis answers with a "I'll have a cup of coffee, but I can't eat no cake just now" - notice how Jack's mom smiles in response. I don't know whether this was stated before (probably it was..). Right at my first viewing of the movie i had the feeling that they were talking in code, especially Jack's mom. Like she was testing Ennis whether he was THE ONE. Since Ennis shows her that he is truly grieving about Jack she is reassured about Ennis' feelings towards Jack and "takes him in". Maybe she was also wondering why the hell "Ennis Del Mar" had never made her Jack happy, so she was not sure whether Ennis ever loved Jack back. But after that short coded exchange she had her proof and she was happy to know that her worries were unfounded, hence the smile. I think this was also the moment when she realized that Ennis probably never came to Lightning Flat because he was protective of Jack or maybe a more responsible one.

So, NOW back to Lureen's phone call - because i think here the same thing happens. I gradually came to think that Lureen is testing Ennis, too. I assume she knew Jack's heart was with somebody else than her and she probably suspected there was THE ONE for Jack and the only hint to that person was Jack's wish for his ashes to be scattered on Brokeback Mountain. After Jack died all those friends start to call which she mentions whose names and address she never knew. Her repetitive description of Jack's death might be due to all those calls. Since she does not know where Brokeback Mountain is she mentions it to each of those friends, but they all don't know it either. So, gradually she starts giving up and thinking "it might be some pretend place". But then comes Ennis - very late, as always! After all those friends. And finally she hears that HE knows Brokeback Mountain and he even says "we was herdin' sheep on Brokeback one summer. Back in '63...". I don't know if it's only me, but she looks really shocked to me. She did not see it coming at all! Maybe not from a guy (maybe this is also a surprise), not this late after she had given up already, and especially not the fact that the bond Jack and Ennis had had been lasting for so long! I mean, '63 is even before she met Jack. So, she totally tears up realizing Jack had never loved her from the start. Poor Lureen...

Well, that's just one thought, one interpretation. While my impression of Ennis' and Jack's mom conversation was right from the start the Lureen one came yesterday, so i needed to write it down quickly. ;D

In light of above i do feel Lureen really cared about Jack a lot. I don't know whether she loved him, but she did CARE. Even after that shocking discovery of Ennis being the One she braces herself and tells Ennis to go get Jack's ashes. Although it's only half of them  :-\. Question is why would she keep the other half? Maybe she did care about Jack a lot and wanted to keep something from him - even if it might be argued that that was selfish?

BBM_victim:

--- Quote from: BBM_victim on May 11, 2017, 11:54:16 pm ---
--- Quote from: serious crayons on May 11, 2017, 10:53:48 am ---Which makes it so ironic, because had Ennis been able to overcome his fear and live the sweet life -- well, Jack could still die changing a tire, but at least they would have had some happiness until then.
--- End quote ---
Exactly. And i would add that it actually doesn't matter how Jack could have died (either accident or tire iron or else), STILL "they would have had some happiness until then" and Ennis would at least know every detail of Jack's death.

--- End quote ---

Notice how we are smart-assing around here after all that insight we have for the story! Could we ever condemn Ennis for not following our "advice" which we get in retrospect anyway??

serious crayons:
Well, apart from what it would have meant for Jack and Ennis as "real people," or whether people can be that cruel (they can), I think the idea that Jack died from an accident makes more sense from a dramatic fictional perspective. After all, we already know that cases like Matthew Shepard's happen.

What most people -- straight people, anyway -- probably think about less is how internalized homophobia and fear can ruin lives, too, even in the absence of actual violence. Ennis grew up in a terrifyingly homophobic culture (the Rich and Earl story is the one example of unequivocal violence). Jack being murdered would simply be one more example of that. But Ennis believing that Jack had been murdered -- even if he wasn't! -- and having had to spend decades afraid of living "the sweet life" because of that instilled fear is a chilling insight into the harm that culture can perpetrate.

That theme pops up throughout the movie in smaller ways. Aguirre, the rodeo clown, Alma, even Mr. Twist -- they all say things that sound somewhat homophobic, but aren't really overtly threatening or even outright insulting. Yet! The characters have to take the remarks that way because they know that's the culture they live in, and they're all too aware of those attitudes themselves. Aguirre obviously disapproves of stemming the rose, Alma of her husband's fake fishing trips, etc., but their main concerns are less about their guys' sexual orientation than other things -- Aguirre thinks they sloughed off, Alma knows Ennis was unfaithful. Even Mr. Twist doesn't seem as pissed off about Jack's gayness as he does about Jack never having kept his promise to help out on the ranch, even if it meant living with another guy (who would, presumably, also have helped out). Yet even when overt homophobia is not present, the characters are always hyperaware of it as a subtext.

Jeff Wrangler:
Very well put, Katherine.

And Alma had economic considerations, too: Ennis was a poor provider.

It's possible her economic concerns come across more clearly in the story than in the film, but in the film we do see Ennis rejecting her idea that he apply for a job at the power company, which apparently would have paid better than whatever it was he was earning at that time. She's also concerned about being behind in paying their bills.

serious crayons:
Thank you, and good point, Jeff. About Alma, I mean.

It's kind of astonishing to think that Brokeback Mountain is a film (more so than the story, I think) about homophobia in which the most unquestionably homophobic character in it, setting aside flashback Mr. del Mar and his unseen thugs, is a gay man and the movie's hero.


*Jack is also its hero, of course. But I would argue that Ennis slightly edges Jack out because we see more events through Ennis' eyes than Jack's.

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