Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

The lack of endearments

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serious crayons:
Scott and Victoria, you both note situations in which this male taciturnity goes hand-in-hand with emotional distance from loved ones. But Ennis is always warm to his daughters, and also with Jack, for that matter, despite the lack of verbal endearments. Ennis shares some traits with the classic strong-but-silent type, but he also transcends the stereotype in many ways.

Back to your question, Scott, I think in addition to the other reasons people mentioned, homophobia is what keeps Ennis from putting his feelings into words. And maybe Jack is afraid to do so for fear of freaking Ennis out. But at the end, the word "love" has clearly been going through Ennis' thoughts, which is why it comes up so quickly with Jr. He must be realizing that was the best way to describe what he had with Jack, and probably regrets not having told him.

Then there's the dramatic reason: though I wish they would have said more of that stuff myself, withholding it is just one more way this movie subjects filmgoers to exquisite torture.

Jeff Wrangler:
I agree with you here, Katherine.

The Ennis of the film is very different from the Ennis of the Annie Proulx original, who calls Jack "little darlin'" after the reunion kiss, though I presume even "Story Ennis" didn't really make a habit of saying that to Jack.

bbm_stitchbuffyfan:
*bump* I had noticed this before and always wondered about it...

Annie Proulx and Ang Lee are both very respectable for, amongst other reasons, staying true to the tone of the time period and setting. Hats off to them both, and the lack of endearments does make the film feel beautifully understated and even sadder.

TJ:
According to Annie Proulx, Ennis Del Mar had one term of endearment for his horses, his daughters and Jack Twist which was "little darlin."

I have known many guys, some of them openly gay, who could not tell a male friend that they loved them. But, they could tell a member of the opposite sex, "I love you."

I have had friends who could not say "I love you," or I love you, too," when I said to them, "I love you." But, they would say, "Me, too" in response.

I used to say "Ed, I love you" on the phone when he was at work when he was alive and we lived in N. Hollywood. He was a security guard and if someone else was in the guard shack, he might respond with "You know I do." But, he did tell me to my face that he loved me.

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