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Color coordination

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Front-Ranger:
This movie went to pretty long lengths to coordinate the colors of its leading characters. We know Jack is blue and Ennis is brown. Even the Focus Features logo that appears at the beginning has interlocking blue and brown circles! (Well the circles are orangeish-brown; I don't know what to call the color) Then during a segue in the movie, the camera cuts to a sky scene and there again, the clouds on one side are blue-black, and on the other side are tinged by the setting sun into an orange-brown color.

I just noticed one more instance of color coordination: The BetterMost bean cans, that you see in the upper right corner there, feature brown baked beans on a blue background! Now I know what to call that orange-brown color: baked beans!

silkncense:
Was it here or somewhere else that I read this -

Jacks mother is wearing a dress.  Over the dress is a plaid-type buttonup shirt.  Over the shirt is a dark blue button sweater.   Love that. 

Sashca1007:
So glad you mentioned Mrs. Twist's clothing, this has always been one of my favorite details.  I love the fact that she is wearing the 'two shirts' (actually a shirt and a sweater) over her dress.  Generally speaking, I think most women would not wear a plaid shirt on top of a floral print dress--  we would more likely just add the sweater if we were cold.  Setting aside all ideas of whether Mrs. Twist was a little chilly in her home and/or how important it was for her to present herself to MR. (F-ing) Twist in a coordinated, fashionable way (right!)......   I definitely see her 'blue over plaid' as a deliberate mirror of the two shirts in Jack's closet.  Whether it was deliberate on the part of Jack's Mom (via Ang Lee) or just deliberate on the part of Mr. Lee, I can't be sure.  Mrs. Twist is wearing her 'Jack blue' over her 'Ennis plaid' and it makes me love her even more. I always wondered if anyone else shared my feelings about Mom Twist's garment choices!

Color coordination is such a quietly dynamic element of this film--  all the (windy) shades of Jack blue and the (earthy) shades of Ennis brown, or tan...mirrored over and over in their surroundings and their clothing.  Amidst all of the brown-tones (horses...  beer bottles.....Ennis' gloves hanging out of his pocket....  his dark brown eyes...) and blues (bluebird earrings...  blue sky...  blue paint brands....  Jack's big blue eyes) and all of the natural mountain surroundings with the greens and whites.....  BBM is like a big, beautiful painting in these colors....  and accented with just the right splashes of red to make it complete.  RED--  we see it, of course, on Lureen-- but also on Alma Sr. when she's hoping to go to the Knife & Fork (she even applies red lipstick, whick makes me feel so sad for her), and later at Thanksgiving.  We see Jack's red truck...  Jack and Ennis each wear red at some point....  and sadly, they each show us some of their bright red blood.  The color coordination in Brokeback Mountain, (along with every other part of it) is absolutely glorious.

Thanks, Silk & Front, for bringing it up!

Front-Ranger:
I was playing the ABCs game today and it reminded me of another instance of blue/brown. When Ennis and Alma were tobaganning down the hill shortly after they were married, Ennis was wearing a blue knit cap, and Alma was wearing a brown toque with fake fur trim.

ednbarby:
I've always seen the significance of the contrasting colors as being in line with the color spectrum.  Blue and yellow are at opposite ends of it.  Interior designers will tell you to contrast a wall with blue undertones with one with yellow ones to give you a dramatic contrast.  We did that in our master bedroom (cornflower blue on the bedroom wall and marigold yellow on the adjoining bathroom's) because one suggested it to us, and it is a stunning effect.  I think of it in the movie as showing that Jack and Ennis are opposites but opposites that need one another to bring out the beauty in each.  The yin and the yang.  Two halves of the same whole, broken down the middle.  I know Ang must have understood that, and understood at the same time the dramatic effect of the contrasts in color.

God, I love this movie.

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