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Missed opportunity...

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Kd5000:
So Moremojo,

Would you say that Ennis is a state of arrested social development (i.e. can't overcome his internalize fears, homophobia), for lack of better word choice? 

Maybe I'm being too blunt, but I do remember reading on TOB that if Ennis had a second chance with Jack, he would have blown it.  When someone had posted that, it got me rather incensed, as I thought if the gods give you a second chance, you will have learned what you have lost and make amends. Obviously in this film, Ennis won't get a second chance with Jack.

Regarding Childress, it's probably a smaller place then Riverton.  Someone might see Jack and Ennis together and report back to Lureen's dad. I don't think there's that much back country in the TX panhandle to get lost from civilization, but they do have some crappie houses for "fishin trips."  ;D   



This don't happen in Wyoming, maybe Denver....

moremojo:

--- Quote from: Kd5000 on May 09, 2006, 04:14:37 pm ---So Moremojo,

Would you say that Ennis is a state of arrested social development (i.e. can't overcome his internalize fears, homophobia), for lack of better word choice? 

--- End quote ---
Tragically, I don't Ennis would/could have overcome his paranoia while Jack lived. It took Jack's death to awaken Ennis fully to how precious that man was to him, and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he represented. Now Ennis is seen to be emotionally evolving throughout the story, so who can say for sure, but the lakeside quarrel still seems to show the relationship at an impasse.

I'm not absolutely certain I believe that, at the end, if Jack were to be magically resurrected, Ennis would still be able to venture into the kind of life Jack always wanted for them. "Jack, I swear..." is ambiguous, and to my mind tells us for certain only that Ennis loves Jack immensely and will never forget him. Ennis is with Jack in spirit, though he will forever be bereft of him in body.

BTW, sorry to anyone if my above post in this thread sounded arrogant. I wasn't trying to presume to state with any kind of authority how Ennis would behave in such-and-such a situation. I was just trying to convey how I personally view Ennis's character and likely choices.

Scott

serious crayons:
No prob, Scott. It gets old prefacing every thought with "IMO" or "I think" ... Let's just declare that it goes without saying that there are no right answers, and we're all just stating opinions.

TJ:
According to the US Census of 2000, Riverton's population was 9,310 and Childress was 6,768. The differences in population size is not really that much.

While someone in the movie's version where Jack worked for his father-in-law might have reported seeing Jack with Ennis and Jack was in the ol' man's company, I really don't think that would have happened short story-wise; because Jack did not work for the company until after Lureen's father was dead.

Ennis's first missed opportunity, short story version, was that he did not understand why he felt like he had gut cramps when the guys drove their truck off in opposite directions and it took him a long time to figure out that the empty feeling which caused dry heaves had to do with "separation anxiety" because the man with whom he was in love drove off in the opposite direction.

Ennis should have turned that old truck around and followed Jack. He would have caught up with him eventually. After all, he knew exactly where Jack was headed.

Ellemeno:
When the movie was in the theaters and I was going every once in a while to see it, my husband and I had running (sad, not funny) joke.

Him: How was your movie?
Me:  I can't believe it - Ennis still blew it again THIS time.

I seriously think that one of the main reasons I kept wanting to see the movie so often was to give Ennis another chance to try it again and get it right this time.  Kind of like Groundhog Day.

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