It might be worth bearing in mind that Proulx has insisted over and over again in interviews and articles that Ennis and Jack were not cowboys...they wanted to be cowboys, but they came together as sheepherders on the mountain (the low end of the totem pole in the ranching culture in which they lived). Jack didn't even remain on the land but became a small-town gentleman-salesman of not insubstantial wealth (or at least with links to that wealth).
Proulx's argument seems to be based on strict delineations derived from types of work (and we know that Ennis did work with cattle at various points in his life), but I think a deeper implication of her statements is that Ennis and Jack did, however subconsciously, model their style and behavior on a cowboy ideal that may not have existed in their world anymore. The open range had closed by the late nineteenth century, and the golden age of the cowboy had become a thing of the past, preserved mainly in stories and media representations, such as the movies. It is certainly conceivable, thinking along these lines, that Jack and Ennis were influenced by the actors they may have seen in Westerns or the images they may have encountered in magazines and books, so that the rough equivalent of the "Marlboro Man" may have helped shape their sense of identity (not to mention the kind of man they mutually found attractive).
On the issue of Brokeback Mountain's genre, even if it is not strictly speaking a Western, it derives much of its totemic force from the tradition of the Western. The closing image, for example, is a subtle nod to the final shot in John Ford's 1956 classic The Searchers.
Great post Friend!
Looking at the evolution of how Jack and Ennis look and how their equipment looks (for example, canvas tent vs. fancier waterproof tents at end) even across the story's span (63-83) is instructive in thinking about how BBM visualizes the *idea* or a cowboy or western culture in the late 20th century.
I agree that for Jack in particular, his cowboy clothing becomes very much a fashion statement. And, that even by the time of the reunion in 1967, his identity as a "real cowboy" (i.e. working with cattle... either within the rodeo context or ranch context) was behind him. We know he'd retired from the rodeo by the time of the reunion and the "cow and calf operation" is at the level of fantasy for him when he suggests it to Ennis.
So, Jack's interest in continuing to wear cowboy hats, his big belt buckles, etc. does become (increasingly) an image thing. I think the contrast between his first black hat and his larger last black hat is interesting. By the time of the lakeside argument, he really
looks like he's from Texas (at least to my eyes).
In many ways, I think BBM is about a meditation on the breakdown or at least huge changes in western culture (in response to economic realities, etc.) that have occured in the 20th century and particularly the late 20th century.
The idea that Jack and even Ennis are "wannabe" cowboys to certain degrees indicates how nostalgic the idea of the cowboy really has become. I mean, even the Marlborough Man is a thing of the past now.
And, when it comes to Ennis... the idea that he's revealed to have many of the expected exterior characteristics of a stoic, tough, silent cowboy (visually the iconic package in many ways)... those characteristics are also exactly simultaneously characteristics that define a rather frightened, closeted gay man trying to survive in an environment that he perceives as hostile.
