Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

Brokeback Mountain: Force of Nature or Nurture?

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Phillip Dampier:
One of the many things about this film that are being debated is the question of whether or not Jack and Ennis were actually gay?  Some have suggested they are capable of functioning in a heterosexual marriage, albeit with all the baggage they bring to such a relationship, and thus they are more likely to be bisexual.  Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Jack Twist, suggested the characters were actually straight but were helplessly caught up in feelings and emotions for one another which went beyond their sexual orientation.

Of these Gyllenhaal's own theory seems least likely, if only because his character seeks out sexual encounters with other men outside of his on-again/off-again relationship with Ennis.  The only reasonable argument the actor could have made, perhaps, is that these encounters were substitutes for Ennis.

A few therapists and psychologists who maintain their own blogs suggest that the characters were most likely bisexual.  One described the relationship between Jack and Ennis and their respective fathers as cold and distant, which suggests they were seeking some sort of bond with a male father figure in their lives.  Another offered that the movie poster's tag "love is a force of nature" would have probably been more aptly "love is a force of nurture," because above all else, that is what Jack and Ennis required.

How do you feel about the characters' sexuality and do you believe the movie's sexual encounter was more of a physical/sexual fulfillment or an emotional one?  Further, is this something you've had to encounter yourself.

Drew Kerrigan:
It's definitely a very emotional one. The physical/sexual factor just comes second although this is inevitable because both men are just perfect with each other. The chemistry is very evident with Jack being the head-on passionate one while Ennis is the more logical yet repressed partner - opposites do attract then! I agree with the father-son connection theory though, no doubt about that...

Phillip Dampier:

--- Quote from: Drew Kerrigan on February 22, 2006, 04:02:38 am ---It's definitely a very emotional one. The physical/sexual factor just comes second although this is inevitable because both men are just perfect with each other. The chemistry is very evident with Jack being the head-on passionate one while Ennis is the more logical yet repressed partner - opposites do attract then! I agree with the father-son connection theory though, no doubt about that...

--- End quote ---

The short story was actually more vivid when it came to the sex than the film itself.  Hollywood sensibilities at work there, no doubt.  The movie runs contrary to the usual Hollywood romance formula where two people meet, there is lots of sexual tension between the characters, at least one is clueless or resistant, the audience is silently telling them to wake up and just go for it and they do with passionate kissing and foreplay and sweeping soundtrack music turned up to full blast.

In Brokeback it was totally different.  In fact, it was shockingly different because it happened with such spontaneity, and with physical gymnastics that reminded me more of a rodeo roping scene than a sexual encounter.  And it was over in less than 20 thrusts.

It was also surprising considering that kind of raw physical-passion is something I've never really experienced, so it didn't seem as real to me.  The following evening (at least that was when it seemed to be) was a bit more typical and believable.

wayne1932:
I find that trying to put labels on these guys is futile.  I think that the 100% hetero or 100% gay is a fiction, and that those who say they are are just trying to put themselves in a comfortable pigeon hole, so they don't have to think about these strange urges that sometimes can come out of nowhere.  What we do is governed 90% by circumstance and 10 percent gut feel.     JUST MY OPINION. 

I have been married 43 years to a wonderful woman, and have not intention of finding someone else male or female. 

But I find that I just tingle when I think of Heath or Jake.  What does that make me--I'm old enough to be their grandfather  ?   Could be just wishing I was younger and could live some of my life over again.  But I grew up in that era, so I would have probably made the same choices.

John Passaniti:

--- Quote from: wayne1932 on February 25, 2006, 12:20:18 pm ---I find that trying to put labels on these guys is futile.  I think that the 100% hetero or 100% gay is a fiction, and that those who say they are are just trying to put themselves in a comfortable pigeon hole, so they don't have to think about these strange urges that sometimes can come out of nowhere.  What we do is governed 90% by circumstance and 10 percent gut feel.     JUST MY OPINION.

--- End quote ---

It isn't just your opinion.  One of the many groundbreaking things the Kinsey studies back in the 40's and 50's did was to dispsense with the notion that you can classify people as either 100% gay or 100% straight.  Kinsey instead came up with a seven point scale to place people on.  People were placed on this scale according to both past sexual history and their responses to questions on interest/attraction.  And what he found was entirely sensible and expected:  That most people aren't 100% anything.  And further, it isn't uncommon for people to change over time.

That's not to say there aren't 100 percenters out there.  But in terms of the overall population, they are less common than the majority who are some shade of bisexual, either in terms of sexual history or interest/attraction.

To me the question of if someone (much less the characters of Jack and Ennis!) is actually gay is silly.  The question presumes a clear definition of what "gay" is.  Is that definition based on behavior or attraction?  Do you disregard past behavior (say for teenage experiementation)?  Do you count people who have never had homosexual sex but who say they wouldn't have a problem with it?  Would someone in prison who partnered with another man for protection or as a substitute for hetrosexual sex be considered gay?

What can be said about the characters of Jack and Ennis is that they had an attraction to each other that went beyond "a couple high-altitude fucks a year" (to quote the film).  If that's all that drove the characters into each other's arms, nobody would have cared about the movie except reflexive gay movie reviewers who like pretty much everything that even has a hint of gay in it.  What made the story powerful and affecting was the characters clearly had a deep emotional attraction to each other.  And that is why people leaving the theatre are crying.  It's something that anyone who has been in love can relate to, regardless of the genders involved.

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