A Ninth Viewing Observation

[serious crayons]

I actually am in the camp that thinks Lureen loved Jack. ...  But the fact that she suggests that he go to Lightning Flat is *huge*, especially considering that in the short story we learn that Jack never once took her up there to meet them.  The unselfishness of that gesture is astonishing, and to me it has to be borne from love.

Hey Barb, we definitely agree on this! 

I’ve read on other boards that Jack’s was an unrequited love; I respectfully disagree.

Wow. I find that idea -- that Jack's love was unrequired -- so ridiculous that I would have trouble being respectful of it! Whoops, I guess I just wasn't. Sorry if anyone actually believes this absurdity. Whoops again. 

Kidding, and I truly am sorry if there's anyone out there I offended.    There is room for all opinions here, and as moderator I must set a better example of acceptance. But really, to me the plot doesn't make sense on those terms.

I'm willing to debate the notion that Ennis doesn't know he loves Jack, or doesn't think of his feelings as love (I happen to disagree with these views, too, but I can understand someone having them). But to say that Ennis flat out doesn't love Jack at all? That's hard to picture. As you point out, Barbara, why would Ennis bother with the relationship at all, then?

[Front-Ranger]

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say it was unrequited. And I think Jack learned to "read" Ennis over the years and knew that Ennis loved him. But Ennis didn't give him what he needed, I hope you will agree with me on that. Jack had to go to Mexico, felt he was being kept on a short leash, and said he couldn't get by on a coupla high-altitude f/y. In addition to that, Ennis only responded in the way Jack yearned for once after they left Brokeback Mountain. And that was after a four-year absence.

I'm not saying Jack was not a likeable guy. In fact, he was an eminently loveable guy...and the only way of explaining (not excusing) the hostile response he got from so many was the prevalence of homophobia...people fearing what they perceived as a difference in him. 

[silkncense]

Anne Hathaway has all but said this.  She didn't know until the phone call that Ennis was the love of his life, but she knew there were others and that they weren't women.  But the fact that she suggests that he go to Lightning Flat is *huge*, especially considering that in the short story we learn that Jack never once took her up there to meet them.  The unselfishness of that gesture is astonishing, and to me it has to be borne from love.

I agree completely, esp about encouraging Ennis to go to Lightning Flat being HUGE.  Lureen wanted her husbands 'last wish' to be realized.  And the catch in her throat & mistly eyes was now knowing why Brokeback was the place he wanted his ashes.

Also, I read somewhere that Ang Lee specifically chose Anne Hathaway based on her reading of the telephone call scene & that his personal belief was that Jack was murdered.

[Front-Ranger]

And one more thing...Jack had to be satisfied with Ennis embracing him from the back because he was too homophobic to hug him face-to-face!! Not what Jack deserved.

Yes I am well aware that our responses say more about ourselves and our relationships than the movie. In my case, as you might guess, I am always trying to do more difficult, more complicated, and just more things than I really can do. And I think I do a good job, but there are always those who think I didn't do as well as I should have or as well as they might have. But at least I have tackled some pretty big challenges, and I'm still here to tell about it! Pretty handy with a can opener too.

[serious crayons]

But Ennis didn't give him what he needed, I hope you will agree with me on that. Jack had to go to Mexico, felt he was being kept on a short leash, and said he couldn't get by on a coupla high-altitude f/y

Lee, I do agree with you on that. But not on this:

In addition to that, Ennis only responded in the way Jack yearned for once after they left Brokeback Mountain. And that was after a four-year absence.

IMO, the reunion affection was just the only time we saw in which Ennis responded that way. I think that's representative of a lot of other times that Ang Lee just didn't happen to capture on film. Ennis did not give Jack what he wanted as far as living togehter. But I think Jack's main problem with Ennis was "never enough time" -- not never enough affection or love during what little time they did have.

And one more thing...Jack had to be satisfied with Ennis embracing him from the back because he was too homophobic to hug him face-to-face!! Not what Jack deserved.

I'm afraid I also don't agree with that, though I realize it's debatable. It does not fit my image of Movie Ennis at all, and for that matter barely makes sense when applied to Story Ennis. Judging from the reunion, neither Movie nor Story Ennis actually does have a problem embracing Jack from the front. I don't even read the movie version of the dozy embrace that way. At best, I see it as a part of the story but not part of the movie.

[David]

The first year he was probably arriving from Lightning Flat.  The second year he was probably driving up from Texas.   

[ednbarby]

How about this?  He's coming from the bar he and Ennis drank in before going up the mountain.  He needed a couple of beers to calm his nerves about asking Aguirre for a job/looking for Ennis again.

[Mikaela]

In that connection, I've another thing I've been wondering about. In that 1964 scene at Aguirre's – Jack approaches Aguirre himself directly about a job. But the previous year it seems Jack and Ennis had already been hired when they showed up at Aguirre’s (apparently by someone else – probably Farm and Ranch Employment, like in the short story?) They’d been told when to be there. They already knew therwas a job waiting. Wouldn’t the same hiring system be expected to apply the following year, for whoever was to go up on Brokeback then?

Jack's main (perhaps only) aim in -64 is to learn whether Ennis has been hired or has applied for a job. So Jack'd want to talk directly to Aguirre, of course. But would  Aguirre react to Jack appearing to seek employment directly from him, consider it out of turn and unusual? Is that in fact what is happening – is Aguirre aware from the moment Jack utters his first sentence that if he was just looking for employment he wouldn’t go about it this way – ergo he’s looking for Ennis even before Ennis is mentioned, - ergo Aguirre feels all the more “justified” in responding with *his* first line with that condescending cant to it….?

[ednbarby]

I've always thought so, Mikaela - that that's where Aguirre's immediately shitty attitude comes from - knowing exactly why Jack is there.

[Brown Eyes]

Where is Jack coming from when he arrives at Aguirre’s in 1964, the year after Brokeback?

Ennis arrives at Aguirre’s at the beginning of the movie: Facing the trailer, Ennis walks in from screen left on that long road.

Jack arrives at Aguirre’s: Looking outward from the trailer, he drives in from screen right--from the same direction as Ennis. (He makes a left turn onto a side street, then a right turn onto the gravel.)

Aguirre arrives: He pulls in from the opposite direction. Looking outward from the trailer, he drives in from screen left, making a right turn onto the gravel.

Jack drives away after Brokeback: He makes a right turn onto the main road, driving off toward the direction from which he arrived. When he looks in his rearview mirror, you can see the end of the road behind Ennis.

When Jack arrives at Aguirre’s the following summer, he pulls in from the same direction as Aguirre: Facing the trailer, he drives up from screen right. (He makes a right turn from a side street onto the main road, then a right turn onto the gravel.) You can see the end of the road at the right of the screen.

So...where is Jack coming from?

Wow!  Amazing attention to detail... I'd never thought of that problem before.  In practical terms I'd guess he's coming from Texas like other people have suggested.  On a more metaphoric level this reminds me of all the situations where we notice trucks/ motion reverses direction.  Clearly, the best example is the opening shot of the film when we see Ennis in that semi truck riding against the dark landscape from right to left and then at the end when we see him driving in in own truck against the dark landscape he's driving from left to right.  I'd guess in Jack's case here... the vastly different results of his arrival at Aguirre's trailer in '63 vs. '64 might be hinted at by the direction of his truck.  These changes of direction seem to indicate really large shifts in fortune, circumstance, luck, etc. in the film.

It's been suggested that BBM is structured like an "ink-blot" with lots of symmetrical things that happen at different points in the film to mirror one another or to create contrast.  This might be one of those details.  Good catch!