Least Favorite Character in BBM

[serious crayons]

Cassie is probably my fifth favorite character. Maybe even fourth (shocking, I know -- who does this exclude?).

Ennis' dad is the most evil. John Twist is a jerk, all right. But it sounds like he would have tolerated, however reluctantly, Jack setting up ranching with a man. Ennis' dad would have tortured one or both of them to death. Can't get much worse than that.

[TJ]

Jesus said, "Do not fear those who can kill the body but not the soul; but, fear the person who can destroy one's body and soul in hell." "Hell" here is not an actual place but a spiritual condition. The Greek word for "soul" in that saying is "psyche."

One time my Pentecostal mother and I were discussing what Jesus said and she brought into the discussion the subject of child abuse that did not exactly have to be physical but spiritual abuse, too.

Ennis's internalized homophobia came from the psychologial abuse that he received from his father when the boys' dad took them to see the mutilated, beaten with a tire iron, body of Earl in the irrigation ditch. Mr. Del Mar, a Methodist according to the movie, might have been following what he believed to be Biblically correct from the Old Testament in the execution of guys who committed the abomination of "men lying with a male as one lies with a woman."

Children of "Christian" parents have been punished by what seems to be literally written in the Old Testament. Corporal punishment for discipline purposed is approved of in the OT books (the "spare the rod, spoil the child" thing and "beating a rebellious child won't kill him" thing). Even an adult son who refused to obey his parents could be stoned to death if the parents took the matter before the town council and they believed the parents. The son was not allowed to present his own defense; it was the parent's word over the son's.

But, the Greek word for "discipline" in the New Testament is literally the "education of boys." Believing fathers are warned in one of the Epistles to be careful in how they correct their children, and, in words to this effect, don't make them turn against what the father believed spiritually.

[Lumière]

Ennis' dad is the most evil. John Twist is a jerk, all right. But it sounds like he would have tolerated, however reluctantly, Jack setting up ranching with a man. Ennis' dad would have tortured one or both of them to death. Can't get much worse than that.

Agreed! 
Pa del Mar takes the cake for being the meanest dad of them all!
I think the main issue is that Ennis believed that his dad was capable of killing Earl himself, infact he believes that his father did!
Not only did he take the boys over to see Earl's mutilated body, but might have committed the act himself!
Imagine how that thought alone might have freaked the living daylights out of the boys...
By the time Ennis grew up to be a man, he had put his defenses up so high that he himself could not fathom
what he was feeling sometimes, he was so repressed.  That is major psychological/emotional damage right there - not to mention their day to day lives with such a father. 

[moremojo]

I have met a few Methodist mothers who were very spiritual and loving of their own children, too. I have been shown great hospitality by Methodists and I have a memory of good time in Methodist family's home the first Sunday I was living in the small town where I first taught school. I did not go there regularly though, I felt more at home in the American Baptist Church.

My great-grandfather (my maternal grandmother's father) was a Methodist minister, and his wife, my great-grandmother, was a gentle soul who was much loved and respected by the family and the larger community. My mother remembers her being an ideal minister's wife. I was but five when she died, but I have a memory of being walked up to her by my mother, while she was seated in her rocking chair, and of her taking my hand and kissing it.

Her daughter, my maternal grandmother, inherited her graciousness and good will, and has remained a devout Methodist throughout her life. My sister, just some years ago, was formally received into a Methodist congregation, and even though I myself am not a Christian, I have a warm regard for the denomination based on my family's long-standing ties to it.

Cheers,
Scott

[Front-Ranger]

my vote goes to John Twist, hands-down. Anybody who would pee on their child is not fit to be a parent, much less a human being. And he seemed bent on destroying anyone who came within his sight, including his wife and his son's best friend too. The way McRobbie plays that role is so vile, he really deserved an award, as well as Roberta Maxwell. He was so bad, he was good!!

[TJ]

my vote goes to Jack Twist, hands-down. Anybody who would pee on their child is not fit to be a parent, much less a human being. And he seemed bent on destroying anyone who came within his sight, including his wife and his son's best friend too. The way McRobbie plays that role is so vile, he really deserved an award, as well as Roberta Maxwell. He was so bad, he was good!!

Don't you mean Mr. John C. Twist, Sr., Jack's father?

He was definitely self-centered when he said, "I can't get no help out here. Jack used a say, 'Ennis del Mar,' he used a say, 'I'm goin a bring him up here one a these days and we'll lick this damn ranch into shape.' He had some half-baked idea the two a you was goin a move up here, build a log cabin and help me run this ranch and bring it up. . . " Emphasis mine.

Was he indirectly asking Ennis to work for him when Ennis finally showed up? The way that Annie Proulx presented the character when Ennis met him and the way that Peter McRobbie played him in the movie was just great.

I got the impression that the movie Ol' Man Twist was starting to become senile because he had to be around 60 years old or even older. He must have spent too much time out in the sun without a hat.

[DecaturTxCowboy]

The sheep herding dogs...didn't see them pull their weight.

[TJ]

The sheep herding dogs...didn't see them pull their weight.

But, Aguirre said them thar dogs babysat the sheep while the boys stemmed the rose!

But, the movie did not show us that! It only showed the dogs at work when Jack and Ennis were working with the sheep.

[Lumière]

The sheep herding dogs...didn't see them pull their weight.

LOL.
I think they did pull their weight ...afterall, someone had to have been looking after them sheep while Jack & Ennis *ahem* 'stemmed the rose'  . 
My guess - without the sheep dogs, there might've been some very overfed coyotes up on Brokeback! 

[Sheriff Roland]

oops this is about who we dislike - sorry...
GRRR old man Del Mar - rest in pieces by the highway.

To rephrase Toast,

May he rest in peace under the busiest highway!