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eye contact
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on May 04, 2006, 03:55:33 pm ---(I don't understand where low self-esteem comes from, though, so I hesistate to speculate about the reasons for it.)
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You're right. I'm sure it's complex. Genetics probably plays a role. But Ennis DID have an unusually horrifying childhood, which I bet is a risk factor.
--- Quote ---And associated with low self-esteem -- it struck me, during the last scene with Cassie, that Ennis either doesn't understand how people can love him, or doesn't realize that they do, or doesn't think that they should. When he says "I probably wasn't much fun anyways," that seems like the subtext. (Not, unfortunately, "You're better off without me because I'm in love with a man." Instead, it seems like he's saying "You're better off without me because other men are more fun/more loveable/more worthy of love than I am."
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I alwys interpreted that line as, "I probably wasn't much fun anyways because I was in love with someone else." Maybe because I read this whole scene as Ennis sitting there alone and feeling really depressed about Jack.
--- Quote ---There's been really interesting discussion on one of the other threads about whether Ennis knew he was in love with Jack. But I wonder, did Ennis understand that Jack was in love with him?
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I vote yes. Though not as much as he understands by the end.
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on May 04, 2006, 03:55:33 pm ---There's been really interesting discussion on one of the other threads about whether Ennis knew he was in love with Jack. But I wonder, did Ennis understand that Jack was in
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Ooo, Ooo, good question! Good thread in general. I think we all dwell a lot on the problem of Ennis having never said "I love you" (largely due to interpretations re: "I swear..."), but we rarely worry about the fact that Jack never said it either. To me Jack just wears his heart on his sleeve. His expressions of emotion seem to be the opposite (the ying and yang here) to Ennis's reserve. I think due to the fact that Jack made the initial first move and due to his cow and calf operation proposal, Ennis probably would have litte doubt about Jack's love. He knows that Jack is ready to divorce Lureen and leave Texas at a moment's notice. It only took one postcard for Jack to drive all that way in the post-divorce scene. I think that if Ennis had asked Jack to stay with him right then, there's no question that Jack would have. But, I do think it's the shirts that make Ennis "aware too late of how greatly he was loved, of the extent of his loss" (as that beautiful Mendelsohn review says).
On the eye contact question... It's a good point that Ennis does make eye contact directly a lot more often than one might expect when you think about it. My favorite moment is the "I haven't yet had the opportunity" eye contact combined with the little up tick of music. Ennis's little signal here seems pretty clear, if slightly awkward. I think Ennis needs to warm up to the idea of eye contact during this first summer though. We talk a lot about Jack "teaching" Ennis things about intimacy (like the gesture of caressing the face, etc.) and maybe the eye contact issue is another example. In the first few minutes of the movie, clearly Ennis has no interest in eye contact while Jack does. This may have lots to do with the "politics" of checking each other out undetected though. Ennis doesn't even really want to look at Jack when they shake hands the first time and introduce themselves outside of Aguirre's trailer. The big eye contact "breakthrough" moment seems to be the "friend, those are the most words you spoke in the past two weeks" conversation. Ennis notices Jack gazing at him and resists the urge to look away. Ennis's little "what?" is a response not to anything verbal from Jack, but is a reply to his eye contact. I love that in the 2nd tent scene Ennis can't stop himself from looking in Jack's eyes... he keeps trying to look away, but Jack's like a magnet. Oh, man. I could go on and on with this topic.
::) :D
On the low self esteem issue... I agree with latjoreme (no surprise) that all the "hard" circumstances of his background and his fear of society probably do add up to something like what we'd consider low self esteem (whether we're using this term in the most clinically accurate way or not). I've always wondered whether, on some deep level, Ennis's question "what are you doing?" in the first tent scene has something to do with Ennis not being able to believe that this is happening to him. In other words, perhaps some level of "low self esteem" makes it hard for him to grasp that someone could find him so attractive, lovable.
bbm_stitchbuffyfan:
--- Quote ---I think Jack's friendly attention boosted his self-confidence.
Jack, on the other hand, looks away with an impassive face when he's making an important declaration and is nervous about how Ennis is going to react. It's like he's holding his breath.
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I love both of these points, especially the first one.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on May 04, 2006, 10:01:12 pm ---We talk a lot about Jack "teaching" Ennis things about intimacy (like the gesture of caressing the face, etc.) and maybe the eye contact issue is another example. In the first few minutes of the movie, clearly Ennis has no interest in eye contact while Jack does. This may have lots to do with the "politics" of checking each other out undetected though. Ennis doesn't even really want to look at Jack when they shake hands the first time and introduce themselves outside of Aguirre's trailer. The big eye contact "breakthrough" moment seems to be the "friend, those are the most words you spoke in the past two weeks" conversation. Ennis notices Jack gazing at him and resists the urge to look away. Ennis's little "what?" is a response not to anything verbal from Jack, but is a reply to his eye contact. I love that in the 2nd tent scene Ennis can't stop himself from looking in Jack's eyes... he keeps trying to look away, but Jack's like a magnat. Oh, man. I could go on and on with this topic.
::) :D
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Please do! These are all good points. The contrast between the Ennis outside Aguirre's trailer and in the bar, and the Ennis of a month or so later is SO vivid. Good observation that the "what" scene is a turning point. You're right, the very fact that he DOESN'T look away, just holds Jack's gaze for those long moments, is one thing that makes that scene so mesmerizing. And like someone said earlier -- maybe you, Amanda? -- when I listed that one among Ennis' smiles, it's not quite a smile, he's still practicing. So talking, semi-smiling and making eye contact -- all in the space of two weeks! Shows how big a difference Jack's friendship makes.
--- Quote --- In other words, perhaps some level of "low self esteem" makes it hard for him to grasp that someone could find him so attractive, lovable.
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If only he could just get on the internet! A visit to BetterMost would boost that self-esteem in a hurry.
Meryl:
Very good discussion about eye contact. It's interesting, too, not just from the characters' viewpoints but because of what it says about the actors' and director's choices.
One thing that strikes me is that in the scenes where Ennis and Jack are actually discussing their relationship rather than just acting on their affection for one another, there is always an eye contact issue. In the "one shot thing" conversation, Ang shoots Heath over his shoulder so that only the right side of his face is seen as he talks to Jack. When they say goodbye in Signal, Ennis shoots glances at Jack as he squints into the light, but he never really sustains the eye contact. In the motel, Ang chooses to position them so that they never have eye contact. In the camping scene after the reunion, too, Ennis rarely looks at Jack as he explains why they can't live together. After the divorce, though Ennis does look at Jack piercingly at times, he often looks down or away. In the scene at the lake, Ennis avoids eye contact pretty much until he decides to confront Jack about Mexico. After that, the eye contact is finally full on for both of them until Ennis turns away to cry. As for Jack, in all of the aforementioned scenes, he is usually seen looking directly at Ennis for the most part. Even though there are a few times Jack looks away as he speaks to Ennis, in general he is the more direct of the two, always seeking to make contact, or at least to gauge Ennis's feeling.
This may be a topic for another thread, but for the most part Ennis owns screen left and Jack owns screen right when they are shot together. Exceptions are the handshake outside the trailer, the campfire scenes before Ennis switches jobs with Jack, the second tent scene, the introduction of Jack to Alma, and the beginning of the lake scene. Even in their individual scenes with other characters, Ennis is often on the left and Jack on the right. Could Ang have had a reason for this? Left and right can symbolize passive/active, malign/benign, emotional/practical, hidden/open. Perhaps something like that was at work here.
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