Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
How would you describe Jack's and Ennis' sexuality?
Front-Ranger:
i'm here to tell you that gay people have sex with both women and men...most of them, anyway. In fact, the most torrid affair I ever had was with a gay man.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on March 15, 2007, 09:43:42 pm ---
--- Quote ---Quote from: latjoreme on Today at 12:39:33 PM
Does that mean Ennis couldn't possibly have one iota of attraction to women? That he's completely at one end of the Kinsey scale? Not necessarily.
--- End quote ---
Sure enough! I've lost track of how many gay men I've known over the past two decades who at one time were married to women and fathered biological children. It's absolutely possible.
--- End quote ---
Wait a second. I don't get what you're saying here. Of course it's possible for gay men to marry women and have children. I've known a few myself. That's not my point. My point was that Annie Proulx might not have meant that he was "totally" gay -- perhaps when she said that she was only clarifying that he's not a straight man who falls in love with a man. Maybe she just didn't get into the shades of gray. (Or is that what you were saying? I just didn't follow.)
--- Quote ---But speaking generally, it still seems to me that to say that an artistic creation is not what its creator says it is, is not only presumptuous but even kind of disrespectful personally of the artist--like saying that he or she doesn't know what he or she is talking about when it comes to his or her own artistic creation.
Saying that an artist has convincingly created what he or she claims to have created is another matter. I think it's possible to discuss that in a way that doesn't disrespect the artist.
--- End quote ---
I agree with the last two sentences. As a book critic, I do it all the time. And I also agree what we're doing here is a different phenomenon. But I just don't think you need to use an author's interview as the Cliff Notes for a work of literature that was deliberately left enigmatic. Most good art is ambiguous on purpose; it demands the viewer's involvement and often can be interpreted more than one way.
I'm not saying this necessarily applies to Ennis' gay/bi/straight issue, more that it's a general principle. Still, if she'd wanted to spell it out and have it unequivocally clear she could certainly have done so in the story. (Though I would argue that she did! ;D)
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on March 15, 2007, 11:38:40 pm ---Wait a second. I don't get what you're saying here. Of course it's possible for gay men to marry women and have children. I've known a few myself. That's not my point. My point was that Annie Proulx might not have meant that he was "totally" gay -- perhaps when she said that she was only clarifying that he's not a straight man who falls in love with a man. Maybe she just didn't get into the shades of gray. (Or is that what you were saying? I just didn't follow.)
--- End quote ---
I thought you were saying it was possible for Ennis to be gay and yet still feel attraction to women. I was agreeing with that, and offering as evidence the fact that I have known many gay men who, I'm presuming, at one time or another at least felt or thought they were attracted enough to a woman to marry her and father children by her.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on March 16, 2007, 09:00:08 am ---I thought you were saying it was possible for Ennis to be gay and yet still feel attraction to women. I was agreeing with that, and offering as evidence the fact that I have known many gay men who, I'm presuming, at one time or another at least felt or thought they were attracted enough to a woman to marry her and father children by her.
--- End quote ---
Oh, OK, you're agreeing with me? Well then, I agree with you, too! You are absolutely right! ;D
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on March 16, 2007, 09:33:44 am ---Oh, OK, you're agreeing with me? Well then, I agree with you, too! You are absolutely right! ;D
--- End quote ---
Of course, with most--if not all--of the guys I know, the marriage and children happened before they understood that they were gay.
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