"I was supposed to control the weather"... Jack and the Wind

[starboardlight]

Heya,
Back to the wind topic and Jack's symbols more generally...  I just posted this over in the "I love everything Brokeback" thread last night.  And it occurs to me that it would be worthwhile to post it here too.

A discussion came up about the two notes that seem to echo each other at the very beginning of the BBM score as the movie starts.  So, this was my reply:

I always hear those two notes as echos... meant to foreshadow the Jack/ Ennis relationship.  It's interesting that Ennis enters the picture in a literal way (we see him coming) but Jack enters the situation symbolically before we see him.  The echo in ths score, the wind that's really prominent before he arrives, and the little symbol of the rodeo cowboy on the semi-truck's license plate all seem to be clues that Jack is arriving too.  I love that license plate by the way.  It's how he leaves the film too... he dies but his symbols persist for several important scenes after he's no longer around as a person.

So, here's what I find really interesting about this.  It seems to me that Jack is not only a real person/character but, in the form of the symbols that surround him, Jack is the abstract idea of Ennis's sexuality or desire.  So before he even meets Jack all of these emotions and ideas and desires are swirling around in Ennis's head but he doesn't quite know what they mean.  The wind at the beginning hasn't yet taken on it's full significance, but it does represent something that's already inside Ennis. Symbols like the wind are still abstract and unfocused at this point.  Once Jack appears on the scene all of these things inside Ennis that add up to his "awakening" sexuality start to focus on Jack.  So that by the time the movie is over and Jack is gone, all of the symbols, like the wind, etc. have taken on huge amounts of meaning and are completely linked to Jack.

i love that thought, and so beautifully articulated. don't think I can add much to that, but just take pleasure in reading it again. 

[Brown Eyes]

Thanks starlightboard!

I don't know why I keep obsessing about topics like this one.  I guess I like to think about these details because they make almost every little aspect of the movie come alive.

cheers!

[belbbmfan]

I don't know why I keep obsessing about topics like this one.  I guess I like to think about these details I guess because they make almost every little aspect of the movie come alive.

Please, let's never stop obsessing! The symbol of the wind is so powerfull. While I was reading some of these posts, I thought of a song by Lucinda Williams 'I envy the wind'

I envy the wind
That whispers in your ear
That howls through the winter
That freezes your fingers
That moves through your hair
And cracks your lips
And chills you to the bone
I envy the wind

I envy the rain
That falls on your face
That wets your eyelashes
And dampens your skin
And touches your tongue
And soaks through your shirt
And drips down your back
I envy the rain

I envy the sun
That brightens your summer
That warms your body
And holds you in her heat
And makes your days longer
And makes you hot
And makes you sweat
I envy the sun
I envy the wind, I envy the rain, I envy the sun, I envy the wind

[bbm_stitchbuffyfan]

Please, let's never stop obsessing!

Seriously! All this brilliant, beautiful symbolism makes me love the movie even more. And it's astonishing how many layers and nuances there are in this film.

[nakymaton]

It's interesting that Ennis enters the picture in a literal way (we see him coming) but Jack enters the situation symbolically before we see him.  The echo in ths score, the wind that's really prominent before he arrives, and the little symbol of the rodeo cowboy on the semi-truck's license plate all seem to be clues that Jack is arriving too.  I love that license plate by the way.

Oh, wow, it had never occurred to me that the cowboy on the Wyoming license plate could be symbolically linked to Jack. (That cowboy has been on Wyoming license plates forever -- it's one of the few license plate symbols that stayed constant when the trend toward multi-colored plates started in... the late 80's? the 90's?)

I love the idea that the guitar in the score symbolizes Ennis, and the other instrument symbolizes Jack. (What's the other instrument? It sounds like a dobro or something, but I think I'm wrong about that.) Someday I'm going to be able to distance myself enough from the characters to really listen to the score (and watch the cinematography). I keep meaning to really listen, or really look at little details, and then I get drawn into the characters and I forget what I meant to be listening for.

Poor Ennis. He'll keep seeing that cowboy on license plates until he dies.  I mean, I guess it's great that Jack is everywhere still, but it's sad at the same time, if that makes sense.

[tiawahcowboy]

It's interesting that Ennis enters the picture in a literal way (we see him coming) but Jack enters the situation symbolically before we see him.  The echo in ths score, the wind that's really prominent before he arrives, and the little symbol of the rodeo cowboy on the semi-truck's license plate all seem to be clues that Jack is arriving too.  I love that license plate by the way.

Oh, wow, it had never occurred to me that the cowboy on the Wyoming license plate could be symbolically linked to Jack. (That cowboy has been on Wyoming license plates forever -- it's one of the few license plate symbols that stayed constant when the trend toward multi-colored plates started in... the late 80's? the 90's?)

I love the idea that the guitar in the score symbolizes Ennis, and the other instrument symbolizes Jack. (What's the other instrument? It sounds like a dobro or something, but I think I'm wrong about that.) Someday I'm going to be able to distance myself enough from the characters to really listen to the score (and watch the cinematography). I keep meaning to really listen, or really look at little details, and then I get drawn into the characters and I forget what I meant to be listening for.

Poor Ennis. He'll keep seeing that cowboy on license plates until he dies.  I mean, I guess it's great that Jack is everywhere still, but it's sad at the same time, if that makes sense.

It was Larry McMurtry and possibly Diana Ossana who decided that Ennis would hitch a ride with a semi truckdriver to Signal, Wyoming. The Story Ennis arrives at the parking lot of Aguirre's trailer office in his own truck. Story Ennis might have been broke; but, he never hitched ride in the original story.

On a number of non-USA websites where there are screen caps and possibily publicity stills, while leaning against a GMC pickup truck, Jack and Ennis are wearing the very same shirts that they wore up on Brokeback Mountain and the very "same" ones which got the blood on them their last day on the mountain.

The truck is the very same one which Ennis was driving when he brought his horses home and Alma was using a washboard to do their laundry. It is also the same one which he drove in Riverton, too.

Did Ang Lee originally want to make the movie jibe more with Annie Proulx's original story line and have Ennis drive his own truck in 1963?

[Mikaela]

Mulling over the discussion so far in this thread...... I love the insights here!

It struck me that there might be some sort of "air and wind" connection and difference inherent in the Jack/Lureen relationship. Jack is connected with wind, and Lureen...... well, the very first time we meet her, as she's being introduced in the barrel racing competition, the speaker says: Look at her fly! He could logically have continued: "...... like the wind!" and it would have made perfect sense. That's certainly what he's implying.

The reason for Lureen's developing hairstyles has been discussed a lot, I know. Maybe this is *way* too far-fetched, even symbolically, but nevertheless: As her hair gets more elaborate and "starched" in every scene it looks more and more like a strictly indoor "do" - something that requires her to keep herself away from wind and open air and the elements in order to preserve the facade. It's as if she's communicating a hurt "right back at ya" that way: "If the wind doesn't want anything to do with me, well - I don't need or want the wind in any case! So there!"

[ednbarby]

Mulling over the discussion so far in this thread...... I love the insights here!

It struck me that there might be some sort of "air and wind" connection and difference inherent in the Jack/Lureen relationship. Jack is connected with wind, and Lureen...... well, the very first time we meet her, as she's being introduced in the barrel racing competition, the speaker says: Look at her fly! He could logically have continued: "...... like the wind!" and it would have made perfect sense. That's certainly what he's implying.

The reason for Lureen's developing hairstyles has been discussed a lot, I know. Maybe this is *way* too far-fetched, even symbolically, but nevertheless: As her hair gets more elaborate and "starched" in every scene it looks more and more like a strictly indoor "do" - something that requires her to keep herself away from wind and open air and the elements in order to preserve the facade. It's as if she's communicating a hurt "right back at ya" that way: "If the wind doesn't want anything to do with me, well - I don't need or want the wind in any case! So there!"

Wow.  Another excellent observation. 

You know it strikes me - I wonder what Diana/Larry/Ang/Annie would think of all these discussions if they knew about them.  Somehow I believe that few, if any, of these observations would draw a "I never thought of that" response out of any of them.  (I do think they might be a bit concerned at how obsessed/obsessive we all are, though.  )

[serious crayons]

You know it strikes me - I wonder what Diana/Larry/Ang/Annie would think of all these discussions if they knew about them.  Somehow I believe that few, if any, of these observations would draw a "I never thought of that" response out of any of them.  (I do think they might be a bit concerned at how obsessed/obsessive we all are, though.  )

I've wondered about that, too. I think the vast majority of our observations they would recognize because they were intentional. In some cases, they would be amazed that anyone even noticed (the yin/yang cherry cake? the opaque/transparent bread bag?). I suppose inevitably they'd think a few are off the mark (clarifying: not necessarily the cake or the bread bag!).

And there might even be a few to which they might say, "You know, I didn't plan it that way, but now that they say it, it makes perfect sense!"

Sometimes I wonder if they actually have been here. I know they're busy, but if it were me I'd have a hard time resisting a peek or two.

[Front-Ranger]

I am reading the 2003 screenplay and several concepts are introduced there that are either developed more fully in the final or dropped completely, and these tend to confirm that many of the allusions we've seen are true.