Yin and Yang: Ennis and Jack

[opinionista]

Hi guys

I'm not sure if this has already been discussed. But I've seen some of you have used the yin and yang philosophy to explain the nature of Ennis and Jack's relationship and personalities. Well, I don't know much about it, just that it represents the interaction of two energies. And that the yin do not exist without the yang, and viceversa.

Well, I was watching BBM today for the first time on DVD (I live in Spain and it wasn't released until this week), and something grabbed my attention. The color of their hats. At the first and last scenes, when they first meet and fall in love in Brokeback, and when they argue and part ways, Ennis wears a white hat, and Jack a black one. Do you think this was on purpose?

According to wikipedia, "yin" is black and represent a passive, dark, femenine dowright seeking personality. The "yang" (white), is active, light, masculine, upward-seeking and corresponds to the day. Yin is often symbolized by water, while yang is symbolized by fire. So I guess, Jack, who wears the black hat is yin, and Ennis is yang. However, Jack isn't exactly passive in the relationship, but quite the contrary. He isn't downright either but quite upright; always dreaming; Ennis is the exact opposite.

I don't know. Perhaps I'm over analyzing the meaning of the movie, but what do you think?

[Brown Eyes]

Great thread and clearly intersects with other threads here like the black and white hat thread.

Yes, absolutely, I'm sure it's deliberate.  I think the design of the poster for the movie suggests this too. And, I think that the reason that Jack is passive and active and likewise Ennis is passive and active at different moments is because (as far as I understand) the idea of "opposites" in yin and yang is a little more complex.  They're opposites that contain a little bit of the other as part of their essence.  So, this is why in the symbol for yin and yang you see a circle with one black half and one white half- but the black half has a dot of white in it and the white half has a dot of black.  They're opposite but not only dependent on each other but they contain a little bit of the other.  I worry a little bit about the traditional connotations assigned to the idea of feminine and masculine (I fear there's a bit of old-fashioned misogyny in the associations given to the feminine.  And I guess, it might also be slightly unsettling to always see the masculine as aggessive, etc.).  But, the metapor of dependent opposites is quite nice I think because it implies equality on a certain level. 

My question has always been - why does Jack's hat color change on occasion?  Ennis's hat is always light.  But, it's clear we're meant to think of Jack as the black hatted cowboy... and Ennis seems to keep this mental image of him too.

[Aussie Chris]

According to wikipedia, "yin" is black and represent a passive, dark, femenine dowright seeking personality. The "yang" (white), is active, light, masculine, upward-seeking and corresponds to the day. Yin is often symbolized by water, while yang is symbolized by fire. So I reckon, Jack, who wears the black hat is yin and Ennis is yang. However, Jack isn't exactly passive in the relationship, but quite the contrary.He isn't downright either but quite upright; always dreaming; Ennis is the exact opposite.

Yeah what Amanda (atz75) said.  Yin & Yang is actually quite a complex notion that westerners (like me) mistake for weak/strong when they apply it to female/male or passive/agressive.  This is not quite accurate, particularly with regard to passive/agressive, instead it would be more acurate to say Jack is receptive (Yin) while Ennis is giving (Yang) - and I mean this in an emotional sense not sexual.  There really isn't anything "passive" about Yin, at least not in a wussy sense.

[YaadPyar]

Yin & Yang is actually quite a complex notion that westerners (like me) mistake for weak/strong when they apply it to female/male or passive/agressive.  This is not quite accurate, particularly with regard to passive/agressive, instead it would be more acurate to say Jack is receptive (Yin) while Ennis is giving (Yang) - and I mean this in an emotional sense not sexual.  There really isn't anything "passive" about Yin, at least not in a wussy sense.

Chris - this is such a thoughtful approach to the subject.  The words we have to wrap around yin and yang lack the subtlety of their meaning.  Even to talk about receptive energy is to talk about the incredible power of attraction, and how forceful attraction can actually be even while remaining receptive.  So the nuances of these terms is profound. 

The dance between Jack and Ennis is full also of nuanced emotion and shades of what is expressed and repressed by both.  Jack and Ennis are not complete opposites - they are more alike in many ways than they are different. 

I've no answers, but find that I like the questions about Jack and Ennis to remain open.  This isn't an easy story with easy answers, and that's part of what I love about it.  And why it feels so true, because real people and real life is as full of ambiguity and unexpected outcomes as anyone could ever imagine.  And while the symbolism of the hats is important, I also like the hats just for what they are, and not only as symbols.

I like Jack and Ennis for who/what they are, and not just symbols of a larger picture too.  I think that's part of the genius of this move...that one can ascribe meaning to every aspect of the movie, dicing it into every smaller bits of symbolic meaning, but even without any of that, the story stands completely on its own as a brilliant film.

[pinku]

It could be since Ang Lee is Chinese or Taiwanese! Not that there is any difference, many from the mainland fled to Taiwan after the Nationalists lost the Civil war! Eastern notions/beliefs have strong demarcations between masculine and feminine lines, though I don't know much about Yin/Yang.

[Brown Eyes]

Oh, oh, more on whether or not the yin and yang idea was deliberate!  I made myself re-watch all the bonus features on the DVD last night (which I hadn't done for a long, long time) and discovered that in one of the on camera interviews Jake actually refers to the tension between Jack and Ennis as yin and yang.  So, I would guess that there were at least discussions about this metaphor on the set. 

I like to think of yin and yang in more abstract terms... without loading a lot of gender baggage onto it.  Although, I guess the gendered connotations become really complex when talking about two men.

[Meryl]

I like to think that the yin/yang philosophy did play a part in the film, especially since Ang Lee was raised in the Asian culture.  When this was being discussed at IMDb, on Casey's pentacles thread, I noticed something that made me wonder if Ang Lee had put a literal yin/yang symbol right into the film.

Look at the scene where Ennis is in Jack's room at the Twist ranch.  Directly across from the window is a barn with the door open.  The barn door is light grey, and the interior of the barn is black, creating a rectangle that is half light, half dark.  A white piece of machinery is inside the dark half, much like there is a white dot in the black half of the yin/yang symbol.  No black dot adorns the light half of the rectangle (maybe because Jack is no longer alive?).

Ennis props open the window and sits down.  As he lowers himself to sit, the camera follows him downward, bringing the yin/yang rectangle into position exactly between two horizontal bars of the window.  For a brief moment we see it framed there.   Just an accident?  It seems like that shot would have had to be carefully planned.

[Mikaela]

**Rushes to watch the scene at once**


I've now and then thought it would have been really neat if someone with skills in animation made an icon or the like with the two naturalistic cowboy hats ( for instance as they appear in the dozy embrace scene) slowly moving and merging into a stylizied yin/yang symbol. I'd have loved that!!

[Penthesilea]

Hi Meryl,

do you mean this?





On stripedwall.com it can be seen bigger and in better quality. But somehow I can't insert the pic from stripedwall and I can't link it. It's always 404ing 

[Meryl]

Yep, that's it!  Cool, isn't it?