Author Topic: Is Ennis in the shrt story more tender/loving than in the film?  (Read 7167 times)

Offline Monika

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Re: Is Ennis in the shrt story more tender/loving than in the film?
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2009, 03:39:07 pm »
I listened to it just now and I hear "darling" but it´s hard to tell


btw for some reason I can´t even imagine movieEnnis calling Jack "little Darling".

Offline LauraGigs

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Re: Is Ennis in the shrt story more tender/loving than in the film?
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2009, 03:53:15 pm »
He does say "darlin" and at the end of the day when he drops her off, he says "bye sweetheart".


Anyway, I think that there was an overall effort to make Jack + Ennis complement and contrast each other more for the film.  Heath's hair was lightened and Jake's was darkened, the contrasting hat colors and wardrobe, etc.

^ That's the superficial visual level of course, but it was done on the character level too... Hence Ennis's greater introversion in the film.  I agree that in the book, E + J are much closer together in their level of expressiveness.  But Brokeback Mountain is all about hesitation and missed opportunity, and Ang Lee is all about restraint — so one character must be 'tamped down'.  Ennis is the natural choice for this, as his Earl experience serves as the pivotal trauma which would logically shut down anyone's spirit.

karen1129

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Re: Is Ennis in the shrt story more tender/loving than in the film?
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2009, 04:39:29 pm »
Ennis in the SS was definitely more vocal about his feelings for jack.
Even the sex part.


Offline optom3

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Re: Is Ennis in the shrt story more tender/loving than in the film?
« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2009, 02:24:10 pm »
I find myself being drawn to both movie and s.s Ennis in different ways. When I first readthe s.s, which I did before seeing the film, I just sobbed. The sentence right at the very end of the s.s. where it says, "he would awake sometimes in grief, sometimes with the old sense of joy and release, the pillow sometimes wet, sometimes the sheets.

That sentence has me in pieces, it is so unbearably sad. Also the sentence "the huge sadness of the northern planes rolled down on him"  In each case so few words, so much pathos.

It makes me cry all over again. Ennis is completely thrown by the postcard he receives with deceased stamped on it, he tries to convince himself it is a mistake, he will ring Jack and he will answer the phone and everything will be fine. Only it isn't.

Yet again I find Ennis of the story  more tender. It is not that movie Ennis is not tender, he is,but in different ways. I am drawn into the film pretty early on, by the shuffling Ennis outside Aguirre's office. I am completely bowled over by him in TS2. So maybe I have just argued myself full circle !!!

The movie Ennis is more one of gestures and little subtelties. The s.s Ennis is more verbal. When I think about it sensible, those differences are largely due to the different media.

Certainly both have the same effect on me. A sobbing, emotional wreck. I feel as if I have been put through a mangle several times over.

Offline loneleeb3

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Re: Is Ennis in the shrt story more tender/loving than in the film?
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2009, 04:50:10 pm »
I find myself being drawn to both movie and s.s Ennis in different ways. When I first readthe s.s, which I did before seeing the film, I just sobbed. The sentence right at the very end of the s.s. where it says, "he would awake sometimes in grief, sometimes with the old sense of joy and release, the pillow sometimes wet, sometimes the sheets.

That sentence has me in pieces, it is so unbearably sad. Also the sentence "the huge sadness of the northern planes rolled down on him"  In each case so few words, so much pathos.

It makes me cry all over again. Ennis is completely thrown by the postcard he receives with deceased stamped on it, he tries to convince himself it is a mistake, he will ring Jack and he will answer the phone and everything will be fine. Only it isn't.

Yet again I find Ennis of the story  more tender. It is not that movie Ennis is not tender, he is,but in different ways. I am drawn into the film pretty early on, by the shuffling Ennis outside Aguirre's office. I am completely bowled over by him in TS2. So maybe I have just argued myself full circle !!!

The movie Ennis is more one of gestures and little subtelties. The s.s Ennis is more verbal. When I think about it sensible, those differences are largely due to the different media.

Certainly both have the same effect on me. A sobbing, emotional wreck. I feel as if I have been put through a mangle several times over.

Im the same way Fiona!
They both have an effect on me.
However, I am glad I saw the movie first. I could more easily identify with the onscreen Ennis and that is why it hiit me as hard as it did.
I don't know, maybe the SS would have. We'll never know because I read that after seeing the movie.
Anyhow, the movie is how me got here........
Thank you Ennis...
"The biggest obstacle to most of us achieving our dreams isn't reality, it's our own fear"

"Saint Paul had his Epiphany on the road to Damascus, Mine was on Brokeback Mountain"

Offline optom3

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Re: Is Ennis in the shrt story more tender/loving than in the film?
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2009, 05:35:15 pm »
Im the same way Fiona!
They both have an effect on me.
However, I am glad I saw the movie first. I could more easily identify with the onscreen Ennis and that is why it hiit me as hard as it did.
I don't know, maybe the SS would have. We'll never know because I read that after seeing the movie.
Anyhow, the movie is how me got here........
Thank you Ennis...

It is odd, but the movie delivered an enormous  kick, even though I knew what was coming. I had my own pictures of Jack and Ennis and Heath and Jake were so unlike the ss description and my pictures, I was able to see the movie almost as if I had not read the book. I can remember after reading the story, lying on my bed sobbing.
It was the same with the movie, The ending just pole axed me.For some reason the scene with Ennis in his trailer with shirts and postcard, did not get to me as badly in the ss as it did in the movie. I think that is because it is not the final thing in the story.There is the waking in grief bit.

One thing for sure, I have never been so affected by either a story or film in nearly 50 years and I suspect I never will be again.  It is also the movie that got me here, after months of lurking on IMDB and Ennis Jack. Right now I just wish we could turn back time.

Offline optom3

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Re: Is Ennis in the shrt story more tender/loving than in the film?
« Reply #16 on: March 19, 2009, 08:39:04 pm »
It struck me a while ago, then I promptly forgot until last night, that S.S Ennis is more honest about his feelings than movie Ennis. He openly admits in the motel scene, that he was sick after they came down and finally figured out that it was because he should never have let Jack go.He continues that it was too late by the time he realised.

The fact he says it took him about a year to figure out, implies he had also spent some time thinking about it.Surely the fact he admits to being sick is as near an admission to love as one can get. He literally was love sick.
 He also, almost pleadingly asks if Jack has done it with other men.Here again we have what amounts to almost a need for reassurance from Jack. Not the words of a man who is not open to his feelings.
 S.S Ennis seems far more in touch with what he is feeling and the whole situation, the problem being that those feelings "scare the piss out a me" A phrase that is missing from the movie.The fact that he is so scared of the consequences is what immobilises and restrains him, not necessarily the idea that he can't accept the feelings.

I love both film and story and actually love the fact that different facets are explored in the two. It seems the one complements and expands the other.The movie fleshing out and making more tangible the bittersweet tragedy. If asked, I would be unable to say which I love most.

I still,( my long term moan, )would have loved to hear Ennis mumble almost incoherently, little darlin to Jack at the reunion kiss. My heart would have melted even more. Just like the whispered, reassurances in TS2.

I surrender, when will this BBM effect ever subside. I suspect, never is the answer to that one.

He even admits in the story that he hates it that Jack is going to drive away in the morning.