Heya,
While watching BBM on Friday I became inspired to try to start a new discussion on the general topic of foreshadowing in the film (I don't know how well this topic will work for the story since the story is structured so differently from the film). Forgive me if this topic repeats subjects that have come up here and there in the past... in thinking about this I'm drawing on a lot of ideas that have circulated around Open Forum for a long time.
I think foreshadowing happens with regard to lots of different topics within BBM. But, to me one of the most striking examples to start with is the subject of Jack's death.
In thinking about Jack's death... we don't know exactly how it came about, but we do know that in either scenario (accident or murder) it involved his truck and devices associated with trucks.
It just really strikes me at the moment, more than it has in the past, how much Jack's entry into the film may foreshadow his fate. I mean, one of the very first things we see him do is get out of his difficult old truck and kick the the rear of the truck after we witness the malfunctioning tire. I've always seen that tire at the very beginning as sort of cute... like the truck has a high-spirited personality that mimicks Jack's own personality. But, it strikes me at the moment as possible that it serves as some kind of warning about his death. A double-edged thing. And, then later at the end of the '63 summer after Jack and Ennis have come down from the mountain, we see again that Jack is having trouble with his truck and Ennis needs to help him. The other, much later, major moment of foreshadowing concerning the sad subject of Jack's death seems to be the dance he has with LaShawn... and particularly what she's talking to him about as she rambles on and on. I'm sure there may be other instances of foreshadowing on this topic that I've missed here.
And, I have one other point to suggest about Jack's entry into the film (which I know has been discussed before). This has to do the way the close up shot of his face (right after he gets out of his truck, tries to approach Ennis and then turns his face in profile) is juxtapoed with a "square" of waving green grass seen in the background to the side of the frame. This so clearly reminds me of the "square" of grass we see outside of Ennis's trailer window in the very final shot of the film... I think it's truly gorgeous and poignant. I guess that grass could be considered a kind of bookend image too. At the beginning when everything was still possible, optimistic and the romance was at it's very beginning budding stage and then the somber ending.
I think maybe this question of foreshadowing is possibly a nuance on the concept of the "bookend", but I don't know that the two things are always the same.
The topic of foreshadowing could be very big and general, and doesn't necessarily have to center around the topic of Jack.
Hope you're all doing well Friends.