BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum
Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond => Brokeback Mountain Open Forum => Topic started by: Brokebacklove4ever on June 30, 2011, 12:55:27 am
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Hello Everyone,
As I am having a cocktail, a tug of tobacco from my pipe, and enjoying the wilderness with our beloved Ennis and Jack, I cant help but think of scenes that seem to be metaphors concerning the boys lives, their state of mind at that time,etc. One that comes to mind is Ennis and the paperbag. When we first meet Ennis, he exits a big rig, carrying a paperbag with what I assume is all of his worldy belongings. Why is it when Ennis finally has the courage to go to Jack's parents home, he leaves AGAIN with a paperboy, this time with a symbol of his endearing love for Jack, and Jack for him. Why the paprerbags? Paperbags are easily disposable, and maybe this is how this man felt his life was before he met jack, a life with no real value. But why the paperboy with the iconic twoshirts? Does anyone have any suggestions, I do, but lets see what y'all think
Be good to yourselves ;)
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Hi Brokebacklove4ever, that 's a good question! I'm checking to see if the paper bag appears in the story too... No, it's not in the intro or in the ending either. That means the paper bags were Ang Lee's idea, a very Eastern idea, too, because any kind of container can be thought of as symbolic of the soul in Taoist religions. In fact, during the hippie era, one's passions were referred to as their "bag" as in, "That's just not my bag". It seems very awkward today in the era of the elevator speech!
There are many containers depicted in the movie, but the paper bag is one of the most poignant. It is humble and self-effacing as in the idea of the "bag lady" or "putting a bag over your head". Then, too, there's the connotation of the plain paper bag that disguises all manner of personal items. I've heard that sex toys are delivered in a "plain paper bag" although today I'm sure they're delivered in a FedEx box. Especially at the end, Ennis received the comforting anonymity of the shirts lovingly wrapped in a plain paper bag by Mrs. Twist, who understood. There's the aspect of humility and poverty. Jesus was born in a manger, and Ennis appears as a hitchhiker with all his belongings in a plain paper bag.
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Hi,
I love discussing the symbolism in Brokeback Mountain, and there's such a rich amount of it.
I wonder if that plain brown paper bag symbollizes a secret that Ennis has, in homophobic times, as in letting "something out of the bag". He seems to hold onto it so tightly in the beginning, and then again when Jack's mother puts the shirts in a brown paper bag, and "keeps" his secret for him, when she gives them to him with the knowing look. Such a poignant scene. Of course, it could just be a symbol of simplicity and poverty, where Ennis and Jack bring their lunch/belongings with them to the job site.
M
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I found what I think may be symbolism. In the scene when Ennis is getting out of the truck and starting to walk. There are 2 but I dont think 3 telephone polls that look like the crucifix. I don't want to use the word crucifixtion, but it might represent the suffering of Earl & Jack. Then towards the end of movie at Jack's homestead there is another crucifix on the wall in the all white room..sorta like Easter Sunday, the resurection.
Then again I may be just too Catholic.
Steve
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I have thought of the two paper bags....the metaphor I see is....the first paper bag in the beginning represented his scant worldly possessions.....the second paper bag with the shirts represented his whole world....
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I think the bags are bookends. Ennis starts the tale with nothing more than what fits into a paper bag. He goes through the journey and gains so much more. By the end he has lost everything, and is left with nothing more than what fits into a paper bag.
I think the bags underscore Ennis' folly, and the idea that--after all is said and done--he ends up with little more than what he started with makes the story all the more tragic for me.
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I´ve always also interpreted the bags as Ennis, in the end, having no more than he started out with. A bag with shirts in it. The difference is that in the first bag, there are only his own shirts, but in the bag at the end, are both his and Jack´s shirts. But still just shirts.