Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Why do you think it's called "The Wings?"
bbm_stitchbuffyfan:
Surely all of us have heard the beautiful, beautiful score that has helped move us to tears time and time again. Now did anyone ever wonder why it is named "The Wings?"
I myself don't know and am interested in seeing what others think. I think it's a profoundly touching title, actually, because I interpret the song as not the film's theme, but Jack's and Ennis' love theme. I guess they are each other's wings.
Front-Ranger:
Brokeback Mountain is all about dualities, starting with Jack and Ennis, and the soundtrack goes along with this theme beautifully. The Wings is a lyrical representation with parallel and answering themes. Many of the songs on the soundtrack feature the acoustic guitar, which I associate with Ennis, and the pedal steel guitar, whose more fluid tones I associate with Jack. Their duet echoes the sweet and sad story of Jack and Ennis very movingly. I also see in my mind's eye the angelic wings of their love unfurling towards heaven when I hear the music. That's my take on why the theme is about wings.
moremojo:
Gustavo surely had his reasons for naming his piece as he did. I think, as you intimate, the title should be approached poetically rather than literally. Wings are a bird's instrument of flight, and this evokes associations of freedom, exhilaration, and possibility. Birds are creatures of the air, and are borne up by the wind--the very element which is most closely associated with Jack. I think 'The Wings' is tied in with Ennis's feelings about Jack, and everything positive that Jack represents for him. I see it more as Ennis's theme than the theme of both men together, though it is Ennis's theme specifically in regard to how Jack has touched his life.
Finally, one might see 'The Wings' as intimating the flight that Ennis, and we all eventually, will take in pursuit of him (and those others) who are a little ways ahead of us in the journey of Eternity. Notice we hear the strains of this haunting tune in accompaniment to the film's closing shot. Death, redemption, and...love.
(BTW, I know you had a birthday anniversary recently, bbm_stitchbuffyfan. Happy birthday anniversary, belated though my greetings are!) :)
saucycobblers:
I always associate the title with this passage from the book:
There were only the two of them on the mountain flying in the euphoric, bitter air, looking down on the hawk's back and the crawling lights of vehicles on the plain below, suspended above ordinary affairs and distant from tame ranch dogs barking in the dark hours.
I wonder if he took inspiration from the book?
moremojo:
--- Quote from: saucycobblers on September 08, 2006, 07:51:02 pm ---I wonder if he took inspiration from the book?
--- End quote ---
It is my understanding that he started composing the music after having read the story, before he had even been engaged to contribute to the movie (someone correct me if I'm mistaken). So I think the story may have had everything to do with his choice of title. That's a great passage, by the way, and let's also remember the eagle feather that Jack sports in his hat when Ennis first meets him...another subtle reference to that cowboy's wild and free ways.
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