Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
I had a discussion today!
Lynne:
Barb - I think you are absolutely on the right track with your analysis. And, btw, I think it's lovely that your husband and you are so well-matched.
This whole 'dealing with the non-believers' has been a major source of frustration for me. On the positive side, I have become much better at explaining WHY the movie touched me so deeply. Every time I get questioned, it gives me another opportunity to give voice to all of those complicated and conflicting emotions that have been churning.
I will add only one observation I have made. In addition to needing compassion, sensitivity, and at least some level of intelligence, I think the people who 'get it' are emotionally ready to receive it. I think there must be some open space in the heart for Brokeback Mountain to fill. I don't it's necessary that something was missing previously - though that may be the case for some. There is a long list of reasons why the movie affected each of us, and although they can be categorized (there's a poll that boils it down), there are as many subtle variations to the reasons as there are individuals, I would think.
-Lynne
Anya_Angie:
That's exactly it I think, being a fixer vs. being a stander! I've definitely always seen myself as optimistic. When life gives me lemons I make lemonade. That sort of thing. I don't just take what I'm given, I don't settle for it. And yes I analyze things when I'm interested (for example in movies how relatively poor the visual effects are in Narnia, and how poor the battle scenes are done). As a child I didn't really care for the film Fantasia, but as an adult I love it, think it's extraordinary and I am in awe of its animation, and now I love classical music of course. Oh, but trying to watch it with my stepfather was torture. We didn't even get halfway through the first piece when I stormed home because of his constant complaining.
OK that's getting a bit OT. Anyway, I think how the film affects you could be based on how you look at films. Are they just movies, or are they portals into different settings? I for one feel like I'm in just about every film I see, and I take the elements of filmmaking very seriously. I don't just go out of a theater saying Oh that was a great movie! I go out talking about the various ASPECTS of the movie that I love and the areas where it needs improvement, especialy with regards to scores. I'm very passionate about film music, ever since I was 7 when my father and I watched The Ten Commandments. I thought it was the most glorious music I'd ever heard! I also loved the music in The Secret of NIMH and Disney's Sleeping Beauty, but looking back, watching The Ten Commandments for the first time and hearing that magnificent score, few scores have since matched it, and that's when I truly fell in love with film music. I didn't know anything about composers until John Williams' E.T. and Home Alone. And then he was the only composer I knew well by name (because I was so young I didn't bother with longer names like Jerry Goldsmith LOL!). Eventually I grew to like the works of Horner, Elfman, Goldenthal, the Newman family, and so many others. Now I have 200 scores in my collection and growing, I've been collecting for ten years, and the first thing I ask when seeing or hearing about a new film is "Who's the composer?"
Brokeback has one of the most emotional scores I've ever heard. Its theme "The Wings" is right up there with the great love themes "Across The Stars" and "For The Love Of A Princess," two of my all-time favorites.
Course it doesn't help that both of those are from the last ten years LOL! But still, they stand up to time.
silkncense:
--- Quote ---the people who 'get it' are emotionally ready to receive it.
--- End quote ---
Maybe that's it!
I know I probably have more compassion than many people I know but I am not sure that is totally it.
And I am probably more of an Ennis "stander" than a Jack "fixer" so that can't explain it for me...
It clearly is not intelligence cause those that I suggested it to & saw only a well acted, ok film are people I consider(ed) intelligent...
Maybe this is the ONE thing about this movie that we have not figured out.
starboardlight:
--- Quote from: silkncense on May 14, 2006, 06:40:52 pm ---Has anyone formulated an opinion as to WHY some of us not only see all the subtlety of this film but are deeply impacted by it.
And, it clearly is not limited to any particular 'group' - we've seen young, old(ish) ;), gay, straight, male & female. Thoughts?
--- End quote ---
I agree with Barb as well as with what Lynn wrote. Compassion is key, but being emotionally ready for the message is also important. I want to throw in another theory. I think that the people who love this film are people who can deal with ambiguities and contradictions in life, of which the film is full. People who understand that there isn't always an easy answer in life can get deeper inside the story. From some of your own description of how you dealt the film, you're willing to negotiate those ambiguities and try to work through them from your own perspectives. Even if you don't succeed in figuring them out, just the effort allowed you to become involved in the story. By the end you're all deeply invested in the lives and experienced told. The people who don't "get it" are those that need things to be clear and distinct. They get hung up with morality and judgement. Their comments about not understand what Ennis says is very telling. They need to know every word that was said. Being hung up on the exact details and words, they miss that the gist of his facial expression tells us what's really going on. They certainly miss the big picture. And Angie's mom is right. This film does require analysis. This film doesn't tell us what or how to think about anything. You have to be willing to work and have your thoughts challenged and pushed. That's one of the beautiful thing about art, isn't it? And I think that explain all the people with "delayed reactions". We didn't know how to feel, beyond being devastated, when the film ended, but as we process it further after leaving the theater, the film hit us even harder because we continue to work through those conflicting emotions and details. When it all fits, that when it hits us hardest. I'm one of those that didn't cry when I first saw it, nor the second time I saw it. Rather I cried several days later when it all came together for me.
While it's a generalization, and there are exceptions, I do think that Brokies are those who accept contradictions in life and are willing to work through them, and those that don't get it are those who need to see things in black and white, those who need to be told that there is only one clear answer.
silkncense:
--- Quote ---The people who don't "get it" are those that need things to be clear and distinct. They get hung up with morality and judgement.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---they miss that the gist of his facial expression tells us what's really going on. They certainly miss the big picture. And Angie's mom is right. This film does require analysis. This film doesn't tell us what or how to think about anything. You have to be willing to work and have your thoughts challenged and pushed.
--- End quote ---
And those that don't tend to feel safer as 'one of the herd.' I have a little cartoon on my desk, three panels:
1.) "Is it me or..."
2.) "Yes."
3.) "I was afraid of that."
--- Quote ---And I think that explain all the people with "delayed reactions". We didn't know how to feel, beyond being devastated, when the film ended, but as we process it further after leaving the theater, the film hit us even harder because we continue to work through those conflicting emotions and details.
--- End quote ---
Nipith!
I think you are exactly right - I absolutely did NOT understand why everyone didn't react as I did. But while I continued mulling the film, I did not give the proper amount of time to understanding why others failed to see what I did in the film itself.
Lately, I had been trying to understand that. Thanks much for the assist!
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