Bliss, you bring up a good question! Do you suppose that sadness is the other side of the blade of happiness?? I do not know how to phrase it otherwise... right now!
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At the beginning of the movie, which one is more sad? Ennis or Jack?
At the beginning of the movie, which one is more happy? Ennis or Jack?
Is that hard to say?
At least, it is fun to see Jack cruising... right away Ennis?
And is Ennis having fun being cruised?
I guess sadness is the other side of the blade of happiness. They do say that without the bad times we wouldn't appreciate the good. I guess that's true for all of us. Some of us though tend to find that we get more than our fair share of sadness - that was certainly the case for Ennis and Jack. There's a kind of bitter-sweet feeling to their romance though. They were apart so much of the time over the years, yet the times they had were all the more precious because of it. At the end, Ennis is left with great sadness, but also lots of memories of the good times and the special bond they shared - again, a double-edged sword.
Hmmm...the beginning of the movie. Neither of them strike me as particularly happy or sad. Annie says, "...both high school dropout country boys with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, both rough-mannered, rough-spoken, inured to the stoic life." I guess if anything there was a slight sense of sadness about them both, but neither I think had any expections. They were both looking for work and just happened to come together at Aguirre's. Ennis was expecting to marry Alma - I guess it was the expected thing for him to do. It's difficult to guess at what his feelings for Alma were, because at that stage in both the SS and the film we're given no clues. His brother and sister though had both married, and I guess that's what he was expected to do. In that society, early in the '60's, that would be what was expected of him.
Jack's a different matter though, and I think clearly right from the start he's looking for something. He comes from the desolation of Lightning Flat, and I think he's desperate to escape from that life. When they were in the bar in the afternoon after they met at Aguirre's office, Annie says, "he was crazy to be somewhere, anywhere else than Lightning Flat." I think that comes across clearly right from the start, and he's clearly attracted to Ennis.
That first exchange of glances though when they're outside waiting for Aguirre to show up though is fun, Jack's subtle glances. I'm not sure whether Ennis has picked up on it at that stage though. I don't think he has.
