REPOST
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Ennis and his horses
by - jshane2002 5 days ago (Thu Mar 23 2006 12:19:55 ) UPDATED Thu Mar 23 2006 17:38:09
Just saw BBM for the ninth time. You notice things every time. I sit up close to the screen because you pick up the details that say so much. One thing that you notice a lot sitting close up is the amount of eye contact between Jack and Ennis. When Jack is trying to steady the mare Ennis is watching Jack intensely, especially when Jack has the mare under control and turns the horse perpendicular to Ennis who get this long shot of Jack's profile in his tight jeans sitting on horseback. You realize just how much Ennis is into Jack and how Jack fulfills his cowboy fantasy for him ( and how well Jack fills his jeans! ). Ennis takes one long hard appraising look at Jack as he rides away. You don't notice Ennis' eyes that much if you're sitting far away from the screen but close up you can see his eyeballs bug out under his cowboy hat.
Anyway, people have written about Ennis' poverty and whether he could even afford the horses he has but you start to understand what a thing Ennis has for cowboys and horses and why he keeps them. Also you see some of this at the end of the movie when Ennis is in Jack's room which has a lot of cowboy motifs. Jack's mom has kept Jack's room the way it was when Jack was a boy. Jack's mom accepts Ennis like a son, he sits in Jack's room, revisiting both of their boyhoods. When Ennis really was a nine year old boy he witnessed a mutilated body that destroyed Ennis' self image at a critical age in his life. Somehow, by life's strange turn of events he is revisiting this as an adult. Ennis is allowed to re-examine his own childhood but with the difference of having a mother's accepting love. The cowboy toys represent everything that is so important to a boy in his formative years.
"You're staying on your feet cowboy!" ---- Cassie ( to Ennis )
"You're sleeping standing up, just like a horse." --- Ennis ( to Jack )
Isn't it expensive to keep a pair of horses?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/board/thread/37182333
Re: Ennis and his horses
by - afhickman 5 days ago (Thu Mar 23 2006 12:34:58 ) jshane2002: A beautiful, insightful post. In both men's homes, after they've gotten married, if you look you'll find pictures on the walls of mountains and horses, both reminders of Brokeback and their magical time there. In some ways the pair get stuck in time--perpetually 19 years old--as in Jack's memory of Ennis' hug in the flashback scene.
"The Mountain Has Wings"
Re: Ennis and his horses
by - momoro 5 days ago (Thu Mar 23 2006 12:49:57 ) The moment where Jack tries to steady the mare, with Ennis watching intently, strikes me as indicative of Ennis's concern (possibly sublimated at this point) for Jack. You notice this as well when Ennis is washing out the pot in the stream, and looks up at Jack riding off to the sheep in the distance.
One senses a protective, maybe even brotherly affection that Ennis gradually adopts in relation to Jack. Other examples include Ennis asking for soup instead of beans, even though Ennis is subtly shown to be quite fond of beans himself, and makes the request for Jack's benefit, as well as Ennis shooting the elk to accommodate Jack's desire for a more varied diet. I really get the sense at this moment of Ennis being like a big brother to Jack, poking gentle fun at him while clearly regarding him with real warmth and concern.
This same protective, brotherly quality plays into the tragedy of Jack's death, in that I suspect that part of what will haunt Ennis for the remainder of his life is the feeling that he could not be there for Jack in his last moments, that he will never be able to help and shelter Jack in his time of need and pain. In the story, we read of Ennis fuming at the idea of Jack lying by the side of the road, drowning in his own blood, with no one there to turn him over and save him.
As for the scene in Jack's old room, I definitely think this opens the story's themes to include the lost childhoods of these two men. The little cowboy figure represents the dream of being a successful cowboy that Jack harbored his whole life. Notice also the bronze cast of the shoes that Jack must have worn as a little boy, along with the desk he used as a young scholar. Ennis is glimpsing his lover's world as it was in childhood and adolescence, expanding his vision of Jack's life and humanity. It is natural to be curious about every detail of the life of a person with whom one is in love, and Ennis is slowly realizing the extent and importance of his feelings for Jack, and vice versa--only, sadly, Jack is no longer there to share this with him.
Your mention of the comforting presence of Jack's mother at this juncture of the story might further suggest how Ennis and Jack have become brothers in spirit. Bereft of love for so much of his life, Ennis found a rare gift in the person of Jack, and it is perhaps ultimately from Jack's mother that Jack himself owed his tender, nurturing heart. In journeying to Lightning Flat and gazing into the eyes of his lover's mother, Ennis has, in a way, come home.
Nothing compares, I think, when thinking right, to a good friend.
Re: Ennis and his horses
by - jshane2002 5 days ago (Thu Mar 23 2006 13:20:00 ) UPDATED Thu Mar 23 2006 17:34:35
momoro : "Nothing compares, I think, when thinking right, to a good friend."
"Friend that's the most words you said in 2 weeks." --- Jack
"Hell, that's the most words I said in a year!" ------ Ennis
OT: My signature is from Horace
by - momoro 5 days ago (Thu Mar 23 2006 15:35:52 ) Hi, jshane2002, I just wanted to say that my signature is a translation of a line from one of the Satires of the great Roman poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), who lived from 65 BC to 8 BC. The original Latin reads: Nil ego contulerim iucundo sanus amico.
I've had this signature for some time, but it acquired a whole new emotional dimension in the wake of my Brokeback experience.
Nothing compares, I think, when thinking right, to a good friend.
Re: OT: My signature is from Horace
by - latjoremekeed 5 days ago (Thu Mar 23 2006 16:41:42 ) Nice post, jshane. If I'm thinking of the same scene, where Ennis watches Jack ride off, what I also loved about it is that about one second after he leans out to admire Jack he catches himself doing it and turns away. Then he kind of looks around, as if trying to get his mind back on business. Repression has obviously become a reflexive habit, but occasionally his real feelings slip through.
Re: Ennis and his horses
by - norwegianwood_4000 5 days ago (Thu Mar 23 2006 17:28:36 ) "Just saw BBM for the ninth time."
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5 for me. When i pick up the DVD on April 4 i'll be seeing it more. I wonder how many more times i will see this before i get sick of it?
Re: Ennis and his horses
by - amandazehnder 2 days ago (Sun Mar 26 2006 21:12:44 ) I think Ennis is certainly very protective of Jack. He takes on that role really quickly. In the scene when he's putting up the tent and is worrying because it "doesn't look right", he's really doing this for Jack. At this stage in the story he's still sleeping out with the sheep.
There's an awesome thread out there somewhere about the nuances of Jack trying to show off for Ennis in that scene when he's trying to get control of the horse he's riding.
I love the idea of Ennis being fascinated by cowboys in general. He clearly embodies the image of an ideal cowboy in many ways and his stoic, rather macho (as in the fireworks scene) public persona is part of that. It's amazing to realize the contradiction though, that the stoicism and quiet tough-guy image is also the physical manifestation of his repression and fear. His demeanor so different when he lets down his guard around Jack and when he's in his element on the mountain (as opposed to most of his daily life when he's trying uncomfortably to fit in with society in town, etc.).
Re: Ennis and his horses (REPOST)
by JockoWilson (Thu Mar 1 2007 20:16:57 ) I love your dedication to this gorgeous movie! ;-)
Do NOT look at my profile!!
Re: Ennis and his horses (REPOST)
by True_Oracle_of_Phoenix (Fri Mar 2 2007 04:55:27 ) Saw it in the theatre December 2005. Didn't know the story, had no real expectations. Heard the buzz building about how great it was... Also heard the jokes.
Saw it... utterly blown to dust. Did something I have never done with any other film in my life...saw it again the next day...had to...too much to take in...brain on overload. No film before ever affected me as deeply.
In January 2006, I found this forum. So many people... so many amazing insights!
Threads have come and gone. Reposted my favorites to express my gratitude and appreciation to the best and brightest who have come to share.
This is a fan-base I am very proud to be a part of!
TOoP
Re: Ennis and his horses (REPOST)
by Shasta254 (Fri Mar 2 2007 05:08:24 ) This is a fan-base I am very proud to be a part of!
Me too!! And TOoP--it wouldn't be the same without you--literally!! You have reposted so many great threads that I (and many others) would have missed completely if you hadn't. You are truly a newbie's best friend and an all-out, no reins BROKIE!!
Brokie love to ya!
"Gettin' tired of your dumbass missin'!"
