Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
What happened to Jack's eagle feather?
Brown Eyes:
Lately, I'm growing increasingly curious about the differences between certain details in the story and in the film.
One quick question I've had lately is, why did the detail of the eagle feather in Jack's hat get omitted from the film? Proulx makes a pretty clear point of establishing the feather as an important attribute for Jack. When Ennis and Jack first meet she says "He had shot an eagle [his first summer alone on Brokeback], he said, turned his head to show the tail feather in his hat band...." Then in their last meeting in 1983, Proulx says "... Jack, the same eagle feather in his old hat, lifting his head in the heated noon..."
The feather seems to fit nicely with the idea of Jack being associated with air and the wind. Any thoughts on why this (or other details from the story) would have been changed?
8)
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: atz75 on April 10, 2006, 09:44:27 pm ---Lately, I'm growing increasingly curious about the differences between certain details in the story and in the film.
One quick question I've had lately is, why did the detail of the eagle feather in Jack's hat get omitted from the film? Proulx makes a pretty clear point of establishing the feather as an important attribute for Jack. When Ennis and Jack first meet she says "He had shot an eagle [his first summer alone on Brokeback], he said, turned his head to show the tail feather in his hat band...." Then in their last meeting in 1983, Proulx says "... Jack, the same eagle feather in his old hat, lifting his head in the heated noon..."
The feather seems to fit nicely with the idea of Jack being associated with air and the wind. Any thoughts on why this (or other details from the story) would have been changed?
8)
--- End quote ---
Maybe because it's illegal to shoot eagles now, even if it wasn't in 1962, when Jack would have shot it? Or maybe, since it wasn't going to be made a plot point, it was thought that if the feather was big enought to be seen, it might be a distraction?
I really have no clue, just throwing out thoughts. Just one of those things that seem to have been changed for no really good reason that I can see, like changing the name of Ennis's youngest from Francine to Jenny.
Lynne:
It just occurs to me that the movie portrays Jack as being a poor shot...missing the shot at the coyote and Ennis being 'tired of [Jack's] missing' when Ennis shoots the elk. Perhaps having Jack shooting an eagle the first summer seemed inconsistent with this characterization?
Although up to now, I admit that I thought it was omitted for animal conservation issues - along the same lines as changing 'miss you so much I could whup babies' to 'miss you so much I can hardly stand it.' Whipping babies won't get much empathy with today's audience.
-Lynne
Front-Ranger:
Lynne I think u are exactly right.
serious crayons:
Yup, Lynne makes good points. A dead eagle would raise conservation and legal questions. And Ennis' superior cowboy skills, including marksmanship, are implicitly among the attributes that Jack finds attractive. :o Mentioning an earlier successful shot by Jack would confuse the issue.
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