Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
A Ninth Viewing Observation
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: BBM_victim on January 11, 2018, 10:30:07 pm ---Thanks for joining in :) and thanks for your story, too :).
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I love the direction this thread is going (fast or slow :laugh:).
--- Quote ---Well, but apart from the fact that his son was killed and he possibly felt guilty for it (which is horrible enough, of course) what do we know about his living arrangements? Maybe he was about to move or just moved in? And was his apartment consisting of only one room? Have you seen the others if there were more?
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This happened long before BBM came out, let alone MbtS, so I didn't make the direct connection between having no furniture and having grief and pain and regrets. Still, the fact that he had no furniture seemed important enough that I mentioned it in the story I wrote based on the interview.
I don't know how long he'd been in the apartment. Our conversation focused primarily on his son and their relationship. But it sounded like he'd been out of prison for a while (he may have told me, but I can't remember -- probably some years) and so probably had lived there, if not since then, at least for a while. If he were about to move out or had just moved in and that's why he had no furniture, I think he would have mentioned it, because that's just what you would do, right? If you normally had a fully furnished living room you wouldn't lead a stranger, a newspaper reporter, into a room with two lawn chairs without saying, "Sorry about the lack of furniture -- I'm moving to a different place" or whatever.
I also don't know about the other rooms, but I would be pretty surprised if the living room were that sparse but then the other rooms were lavishly furnished.
I don't know if he felt guilty so much as frustrated and in pain because he really had tried hard to turn the boy around. But I'm sure the fact that he had a prison record of his own probably made him feel somewhat more guilt than otherwise.
Maybe the furniture and the son had nothing to do with each other, for all I know. I just think it's interesting to recall this guy in the context of what you said about BBM and MbtS.
BBM_victim:
--- Quote from: Corax on January 12, 2018, 02:22:41 am ---When I had finished university, I moved into a small flat in the center of the city. Since I didn't have much money at first, I didn't buy much furniture. I had a bed, a weird closet ( the one some people use in the attic as a second closet) and some cushions that I used as sofas. My parents were always bugging me to buy representable funiture. Me and my friends liked it that way though. It was okay.
Some years ago, friends of mine moved to the U.S. for 2 years. They brought almost all their furniture to Boston. It was a very big shipping container that was full to capacity. Like BBM victim I asked them why they didn't intend to buy things there. They told me that they wanted to be surrounded by THEIR furniture. I really didn't get it, especially since they didn't sell their house and came back twice a year for holiday.
When they moved back to Germany, they had two shipping containers, a big/ normal one and a small one. The small one included a car, a motorbike and three bikes. Funny
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Hey, Corax :)
I think we're definitely on the same Wellenlaenge ;) 'cause i'm German, too.
Is our lack of understanding this furniture issue a German thing while making a point out of it an American one? Were your friends German? Really, my personal impression of my colleague is that it's kind of a status issue - "i'm moving internationally, i need a container for my stuff" ::) I personally feel more free when i have little stuff around me. It has also all sorts of advantages, too - you don't spend much money, you don't spend much time on tidying it up, you have more room in your apartment / house... i just have more room to breathe when my place is not crammed with stuff.
morrobay:
--- Quote from: Corax on January 12, 2018, 02:22:41 am ---When I had finished university, I moved into a small flat in the center of the city. Since I didn't have much money at first, I didn't buy much furniture. I had a bed, a weird closet ( the one some people use in the attic as a second closet) and some cushions that I used as sofas. My parents were always bugging me to buy representable funiture. Me and my friends liked it that way though. It was okay.
Some years ago, friends of mine moved to the U.S. for 2 years. They brought almost all their furniture to Boston. It was a very big shipping container that was full to capacity. Like BBM victim I asked them why they didn't intend to buy things there. They told me that they wanted to be surrounded by THEIR furniture. I really didn't get it, especially since they didn't sell their house and came back twice a year for holiday.
When they moved back to Germany, they had two shipping containers, a big/ normal one and a small one. The small one included a car, a motorbike and three bikes. Funny
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Just jumping in here...If I were to move overseas for two years, I doubt I would ship my furniture, only to ship it back to the US. I think I could survive for a time without my stuff. ;)
I don't know how old you are, or how long out of university...do you still have same setup? I was perfectly happy having only bedroom furniture throughout my 20s and early 30s, as I was usually sharing an apartment in an expensive state, California.
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on January 10, 2018, 07:43:43 pm ---
The other thing is what Ennis says next. He says, "When you don't got nothing, you don't need nothing." Which means, exactly, that when you lose the wish to win other's approval with your material trappings, then all of the other materialist cravings fall away. Ennis had truly learned the meaning of life, which is to love and be loved. And, that's it. :'( :-*
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This.
Corax:
--- Quote from: morrobay on January 13, 2018, 12:57:14 pm ---Just jumping in here...If I were to move overseas for two years, I doubt I would ship my furniture, only to ship it back to the US. I think I could survive for a time without my stuff. ;)
I don't know how old you are, or how long out of university...do you still have same setup? I was perfectly happy having only bedroom furniture throughout my 20s and early 30s, as I was usually sharing an apartment in an expensive state, California.
This.
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Another reason why I was a bit stunned was that they would have had the opportunity to rent a nice house complete with furniture there ;D .
I'm in my early 40s and of course I live in a house with a lot of furniture now
. With having children we bought more and more things over the years.
However I guess I'd rather leave some stuff behind than shipping it around the world and back.
And I'm still not the type to care about curtains, cushions, rugs, decorations and such. My daughter and my son have to do that :laugh:
Corax:
--- Quote from: BBM_victim on January 13, 2018, 08:43:19 am ---Hey, Corax :)
I think we're definitely on the same Wellenlaenge ;) 'cause i'm German, too.
Is our lack of understanding this furniture issue a German thing while making a point out of it an American one? Were your friends German? Really, my personal impression of my colleague is that it's kind of a status issue - "i'm moving internationally, i need a container for my stuff" ::) I personally feel more free when i have little stuff around me. It has also all sorts of advantages, too - you don't spend much money, you don't spend much time on tidying it up, you have more room in your apartment / house... i just have more room to breathe when my place is not crammed with stuff.
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Hi BBMVictim,
Nice to meet another German member ;D
Yes my friends are German. Since he works in an international company, they are going to move to Asia next year....
Some of my colleagues and friends seem to care a lot about how their house is furnished and decorated. Sometimes I think they only get it decorated for their visitors.
So I don't know if it is a typical German thing not to care so much about it.
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