The female characters of the movie Brokeback Mountain are very well formed, even though the story characters were mere mentions in many places. We can attribute the character development to Larry McMurtry who, even as his cowriter Diana Ossana has said, has fleshed out the women admirably. This is no surprise, since he created memorable women characters for "Last Picture Show", "Lonesome Dove", and, most notably "Terms of Endearment".
So, what was in the back of Larry's mind when he wrote dialogue like this between Lureen, Jack's wife, and LaShawn, a recent acquaintance of hers?
LaShawn : And then I pledged Tri Delt at SMU. And I sure never thought I'd end up in a poky little place like Childress. Then I met old Randall here at an Aggie game and he was an animal husbandry major. So we've been here for a month and he got the foreman job over at Roy Taylor's ranch. Like it or not, here I am!
Lureen : Was you Tri Delt? I was Kappa Phi myself.
LaShawn : Well, even though we ain't quite sorority sisters we just may have to dance with ourselves, Lureen. Our husbands ain't the least bit interested in dancin'. They ain't got a smidgen of rhythm between them.
I have two ideas: Hera, and Echo
