I was intrigued to read magicmountain’s mini-essay: “
Ennis coming out vs the Ennis we love”. It raised many issues that I have considered in writing my own piece of fanfiction (Ennis on the Couch) and which I have not thought much more about in recent weeks. I’m therefore grateful to magicmountain for bringing this matter rather nicely back into my consciousness. I have used quotations from Annie Proulx’s
Brokeback Mountain and made reference to
The Laramie Saga by Louise van Hine to illustrate my arguments.
When I first started writing about Ennis, I spent a lot of time thinking about him from a cognitive-behavioural therapy and attachment theory perspective. As time went on, I began to look more closely at issues of homophobia, heterosexism and internalised homophobia. I initially looked at the three models presented on the process of coming out which were outlined in a popular textbook for therapists of lesbian, gay and bisexual clients and found one which I felt was the most applicable to Ennis’ presentation. While I appreciate that it is a different model to the one magicmountain presented, I feel it adds another layer of understanding to the enigma that is Ennis del Mar.
The Cass (1979) model is an interactionist model where the interplay between individual and society leads to a development of sexual identity. This is a six stage model: identity confusion; identity comparison; identity tolerance; identity acceptance; identity pride; identity synthesis. A good summary of this model can be found at:
http://lgbt.unc.edu/allies/articles/stages.html. It appears to be the most widely used model and the stages are not seen as mutually exclusive.
With regard to
Brokeback Mountain, I would argue that Ennis only completes the first two ‘stages’ of this model, and will probably have fully completed the developmental tasks relating to ‘identity comparison’. He may have some inclination that he is ‘not completely straight’ but my belief is that he would tell himself that he is only in love with Jack Twist which is most keenly expressed when he visits Jack’s parents after his death (“I feel awful bad about Jack. Can’t begin to say how bad I feel.”). His feelings for Jack do not, for Ennis, shape his identity as a gay man – his love for Jack is something of an anomaly.
With regard to
the Laramie Saga, I think Ennis has probably mastered the second stage and is working on the issues of identity tolerance and identity acceptance. He begins to make connections within the gay community and begins to disclose his sexual orientation. He presents as being more comfortable being seen in the company of other gay men and has less contact with the heterosexual community. However, he does not develop to the point where he engages in ‘identity pride’, which seems to be the point which Ellery has reached. Ellery prides himself on being an advocate and protector for gay men in Laramie however he does tend to polarise between homosexual men and heterosexual men. He has difficulties in accepting bisexual men, potentially because they challenge his “us and them” mentality. Neither Ennis nor Ellery appeared to have transitioned to the final stage of ‘identity synthesis’ where sexual orientation is seen as only one aspect of a holistic self-concept. This is entirely understandable when both characters are viewed in the socio-political context in which they live and where external homophobia perpetuates their need to defend their sexual identity.
There were a few factors mentioned as catalysts in magicmountain’s analysis which really got me thinking.
The first was the suggestion that Ennis is beginning to disclose his homosexuality to Jack’s parents and Lureen – that’s not how I interpret those scenes. At no point does he say that he loved Jack or that he is gay. You could argue that he was ‘hinting’ that he was Jack’s lover but that is not really coming out, not properly. It’s what people do when they are too afraid to be up front about it and ergo probably not fully accepting of it themselves.
Secondly, yes he does go to a gay bar in Wyoming – he ticks the box for ‘community socialisation’. What leads him to do this is rather more of a mystery to me. You mentioned that Jack’s death may have been a catalyst to Ennis’ development as the experience of the “most feared” in some way ameliorates fear. That makes intuitive sense and in some therapies you would encourage people to place themselves in anxiety-provoking (but not dangerous) situations in order to “disconfirm” their ‘thinking errors’ about the outcome of the situation. However, when it comes to actual traumatic experiences such as losing a loved one to murder (the circumstances are ambiguous but as it is Ennis’ belief that he was murdered, that is what will drive his reaction to the situation) the opposite tends to occur. Therefore such an event would serve to reinforce Ennis’ belief that being gay is wrong and that people who are gay deserve to be punished. This would then set up a chain of thoughts and behaviours which would be self-defeating in nature. The classic ‘learned helplessness’ model of depression (Seligman, 1975).
Thirdly, it is proposed that “as the model demonstrates, the pathway Ennis takes in
The Laramie Saga conforms in a general sense with a well beaten path”. I think it is important to remember here that coming out is not a single event but an ongoing process. That individuals may transition back and forth between stages or work on more than one stage at the same time. There are times where potentially Ennis has ‘slipped back’ for example, his relationship with Cassie being a return to the ‘denial’ phase of coming out following a time where he was in the ‘identity confusion’ phase as outlined in
Woodman and Leena (1980). These models are not designed to be linear, a clear path from A to B. I would also argue that Ennis continues to struggle with his sexuality and this is largely due to his social environment. There may have been clear triggers to his ‘evolution’ but I see no sign of them in either
Brokeback Mountain or
the Laramie Saga. And without a trigger to change, there is no evolution – “Nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved”. That is why, painful as it is, Canon!Ennis remains a
“sad, conflicted, ungiving and lonely man”. It is especially painful as these cycles continue to perpetuate. For me, that is the real tragedy. Perhaps we can’t do anything to save Ennis but we can support and understand those who have fallen by the roadside following in his footsteps.
Topic: Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll (Read 3169698 times)