Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Did Jack wait too much time for Ennis to come around?
whiteoutofthemoon:
Someone said that in one of the preOscar interviews, Jake was asked how Jack really died in the movie, and he responded "Jack died the moment they couldn't be together".
This is one of the many messages I got from the movie....this idea of "waiting". I have this habit of "holding out" for the best situation....the best job, best vacation plans, best situation for relationships....but while waiting, the opportunity just passes by and it's way too too late. In this regard then, the person who was waiting too much time was not Jack, but Ennis.....and the tragedy of the whole story is that he lost that opportunity for happiness forever b/c he kept pushing it away.
Jack, on the other hand, is a dreamer.... and dreamers always have an allowance for "that one chance" that things will work out if they wait and try long enough. So this begs the question, which is of much larger scope, of whether or nor they were better off with the ways things were, or else, not meeting at all? Is it better to have loved and lost, or not to have loved at all? Was Jack better off seeing Ennis twice a year as opposed to not seeing him at all? Moments of fleeting bliss, vs no happiness ever? That's a tough one, but at the end, Jack came to realize that it really wasn't enough...there ain't never enough time, never enough.
alec716:
--- Quote from: whiteoutofthemoon on June 09, 2006, 03:26:26 pm ---Is it better to have loved and lost, or not to have loved at all? Was Jack better off seeing Ennis twice a year as opposed to not seeing him at all? Moments of fleeting bliss, vs no happiness ever? That's a tough one, but at the end, Jack came to realize that it really wasn't enough...there ain't never enough time, never enough.
--- End quote ---
And, I believe, Ennis only came to the realization of "never enough time, never enough" after Jack died. Nightmare, nightmare, no going back for Ennis.
Count me in on the side of moments of fleeting bliss, if no moment-to-moment togetherness is possible. As Eartha Kitt sings, "memories you memorize... to keep your winters warm." (yes, I am a HUGE fan of Eartha Kitt... is there an online discussion board for people like me?!)
I believe that most people on the planet never get to touch the kind of passion and love that Jack and Ennis shared (and yes, in their own way, the COMMITMENT). Fortunately, I do get to touch it. My beloved partner and I live in different countries (same time zone, at least!), and cannot see each other as often as we would like. We have lived together for extended periods when immigration and other factors have permitted and will do so again. Thankfully, we are able to get on a fair number of airplanes back and forth in the interim times. I am aware that that is a significant privilege in life. And Canada better not get nutty and repeal its current, federal-level recognition of same-sex marriage... we can't return the gold rings waiting in our respective dresser drawers! We are constantly striving to make changes in our lives so that we can spend more precious time together, and we are on the phone multiple times each day. I take comfort in the notion that at least the reasons for our periodic physical separations are external, not internal as were Ennis' core reasons for not sharing a day-to-day life with Jack. I would rather have what I have with whom I have it than have something lesser with someone whose breath I could feel more often -- NO QUESTIONS ASKED. And I think that makes me fantastically lucky.
oh my gosh... I just got intensely personally vulnerable with a bunch of people online whom I have never met in person... how did that happen?! It must be the spells of Brokeback Mountain and the BetterMostians working their magic on me!
and I am guessing that part of the reason for my obsession with Annie Proulx's tale just became pretty transparent.
thanks for listening.
and that, my friends, is this evening's rant. g'night, y'all. :-*
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: alec716 on June 14, 2006, 10:32:39 pm --- I would rather have what I have with whom I have it than have something lesser with someone whose breath I could feel more often -- NO QUESTIONS ASKED. And I think that makes me fantastically lucky.
--- End quote ---
Once again, another nice rant, Alec! Feel free to rant every evening.
If you can't get intensely personally vulnerable with a bunch of strangers online, who can you get intensely personally vulnerable with?! Me, I am often more intensely personally vulnerable here than I am with friends and family.
Anyway, the quote above is beautifully put. You're right! And not to bring the subject back to fiction, but that's why I'll bet Jack never would have chosen Randall over Ennis.
Phillip Dampier:
bump
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page
Go to full version