Double meanings: Lines that can be taken more than one way

[nakymaton]

And "this ain't no rodeo" -- that's a nice reading of it. I'd like to hear nakymaton's other suggestions, as well. The whole lassooing thing -- Ennis casually tossing the first loop off, but then getting caught in the second, but fighting back -- seems kind of laden with subtext, doesn't it?

First page of this thread. After I stopped overanalyzing "Shit." goadra's is better than mine, though, I think.

[serious crayons]

Sorry, Mel. I'm sure I have repeated my own posts on any number of occasions. In fact, I have caught myself doing it a few times.

[Front-Ranger]

I just realized what you meant a few posts back, Katherine, about the lassoing: that the first and second toss of the lasso correspond to the first and second tent scenes. Is that what you meant? Maybe we can discuss this at Ted's (maybe I should mention that Ted refers to Ted Turner!!) 

[serious crayons]

I just realized what you meant a few posts back, Katherine, about the lassoing: that the first and second toss of the lasso correspond to the first and second tent scenes. Is that what you meant? Maybe we can discuss this at Ted's (maybe I should mention that Ted refers to Ted Turner!!) 

No, that's not what I mean, though I wish it had been. Let's definitely discuss this at Ted's. And I'm even more excited to go there now that I know it's Ted Turner!
 

[Brown Eyes]

Whoa and wow.  There's just so much going on in this thread it's hard to keep up!  So, I finally caught up with all the long posts about Ennis and the idea that his dad might have "done the job."  Sorry to return to a dark subject... but I wanted to add a few things.  Mikaela, and everyone, the discussion about that issue is just so interesting.  I have to say that I don't hear Ennis's use of the word "job" as meaning that he thinks of the murder:

as nothing more than a job needed doing

I think important factors here are Ennis's tone of voice combined with some of the other things he says about Earl and Rich.  I feel like his tone of voice conveys deep resentment and disdain towards his father, and almost resignation towards how awful he was.  His matter-of-fact word and his tone make me think that he often thinks of his dad in extremely negative terms in his own head.  It's as if his pronouncement of his dad's horrendous behavior is the matter-of-fact situation here because he's come to think of his dad routinely in such a negative light.  Mikaela, I really like the contrast you've pointed out between Ennis's statements about his father that skew towards a positive impression for the audience in stark contrast to this Earl flashback.  But, I'm guessing that he privately thinks of his dad with huge amounts of disdain.  His choice of the word "job" sounds like he's trying to avoid using the word "murder" or "kill" in relation to his father... because even though he seems to understand this situation it's probably way too much psychologically to actually say explicitly that his father is a murder (although here he almost does this).  So, in a sense he choses the word "job" is a psychological defense mechanism.  And regarding his own attitude towards Earl and Rich, he pays them a compliment in calling them "tough old birds."  To me, this sets up a contrast between how his dad clearly saw the men and the (significanly more positive) opinion that Ennis had already formed or could form on his own.  I think he's saying he admired their courage for stoically putting up with lots of mocking and a difficult situation in the town where they lived.  The taunting they faced combined with the murder surely put a deep fear in Ennis about the consequences that could come from living with another man.  My guess is that if he was 9 years old when he saw Earl, he may already have already begun to feel a little different from other boys around him... or he was just on the verge of discovering this, so it was a particularly awful time for this trauma to happen.

It is chilling to think of the Earl story in relation to Ennis's empty threat to Jack about "all those things that I don't know" during the argument scene.  Given Ennis's background, it's a particularly awful thing to say.  But Jack here doesn't flinch or blink and eye.  He knows this is an empty statement (despite Ennis trying to seem so emphatic and serious about his stern warning).  Essentially, I don't think he means "job" in a literal way and I certainly don't think he really meant what he said to Jack during the lake scene.  These two instances are particularly good and complex examples of Ennis's very difficult relationship to language and verbal expression, I think.

 

[twistedude]

"I got a kid. Eight months old. Smilea a lot."

"He's from Texas."

Both mean: excuse me, but I'm not in my right mind.

[Brown Eyes]

"I got a kid. Eight months old. Smilea a lot."

"He's from Texas."

Both mean: excuse me, but I'm not in my right mind.

LOL.  cute Julie.

[Brown Eyes]

Hey there Friends,

I decided to bump an old thread called "The Earl Flashback" http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?action=post;topic=981.0;num_replies=18 here in the BBM Open Forum.  In case anyone's interested, some of the discussions there overlap with conversations here about the "done the job" issue.

 

[jpwagoneer1964]

Man, this movie is so incredibly ambiguous. I see the exact same scene and read it as, Ennis sitting by the campfire already knows that he wants to go into the tent but he's really nervous about it -- not just because he's homophobic but because this is something he's never done before (maybe with a woman, either) and he's both excited and fearful. When he finally does go in, he is perfectly willing but it's such a foreign experience for him that he's not exactly sure how to proceed and it takes him a while to relax into it. But, with help from Jack's "s'alrights," he does!

Did you notice on the mountian how the scene was held with them sitting so close. They likely remained there for quite some time. Also Jack made a special trip to where Ennis was to see him. Bet they hardly spoke or needed to during supper, just enjoying the closeness.
Also Ennis is waring the shirt Jack had washed that morning a well as the jeans.

[Mikaela]

Another of those bridging scenes double meanings: LaShawn says "....boy, were we behind the times". And the film cuts directly to someone else who's behind the times - Alma Jr., waiting for her daddy and apparently behind the times when it comes to recent developments (ie. Ennis having hooked up with Cassie).


Amanda, you've made many interesting points about Earl and Rich. I absolutely agree that Ennis had and still has a grudging respect for them. (I wonder how old they were when Ennis was 8. At that age, doesn't take a lot of years to appear "old".)  But on top of the respect the boy had for them before the gay bashing, I think his father's action instilled deepset fear and disgust of homosexuality into Ennis, whether it be in Earl and Rich or in himself, a disgust that he couldn't reconcile with the other parts of eithers' life . Ennis seems to tie himself in endless conflicted knots over that, and probably over how to think of his father and his actions as well. I think he's got quite a lot of grudging and mixed-up respect for his dad too, in addition to a lot of hurt anger and fear and  - probably - contempt. At any rate he's unable to speak out against his dad - or for Earl and Rich - without ambiguity and mixed-up emotions creeping in among his words.

I know Ennis uses the tire iron and risk of being killed as his reason for keeping Jack at a distance, but that's not the only or even main reason, IMO. He'd not be that afraid of physical violence and standing up to the threat of physical violence if he'd known himself to be in the right. But he doesn't  - some significant part of him thinks they'd be right for coming after him with tire irons, if he should decide to have a go at the "sweet life" that Jack wants. "Two guys living together - no way" doesn't only apply to what society at large would think about it, but to what Ennis himself truly believes as well, and the shame he can't manage to shake or alter even when the love of his life is at stake - till it's too late.