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Since Ennis was so closeted, why did he out himself to the Twists?
wolf:
--- Quote from: katie77 on June 28, 2006, 09:21:36 pm ---Yes, there was no hesitation in Ennis going to visit theTwists.....he was going to fulfil Jacks wish, to get the ashes and take them to Brokeback.
I am sure Mrs Twist knew about the boys, or at least felt that there was something special between them...Not sure if Old man Twist got the right picture, I think all he thought about in his selfish way, was the thought of two blokes coming up and fixing up his ranch.
Mrs Twist knew Ennis was not going to get the ashes, but she made sure Ennis was going to get the two shirts and was not going to leave empty handed...Maybe Jack had told her the origins of the shirts at some time, i believe he probably did.
By the way, "ednbarby"...what a beautiful quote you have at the bottom of your post..I have read it over and over.
--- End quote ---
Katie, reading your post and noting your use of the word "blokes" has me wondering if you're Australian!
w
Katie77:
Yes i am an aussie.....and i have met another one here since i joined the board the other day...
Nice to meet ya mate....
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: JakeTwist on June 28, 2006, 05:15:37 pm ---This thread is dedicated to Katherine!
--- End quote ---
Wow, thanks, JakeTwist! How flattering! Guess I'd better post on it, then. (I just discovered it now.) Also, my view seems to be different from many of those here.
When Ennis goes to see the Twists, IMO, he's basically coming out to them. As someone else put it, in what I thought was a very plain but beautiful way (much to my chagrin -- and despite concerted searches -- I can't remember who it was): "I'm the queer who loved your son."
Ennis doesn't tell the Twists he and Jack were lovers. That would be entirely out of character. But Ennis does tell the Twists "I can't begin to tell you how bad I feel" about Jack. Which is literally true -- he feels really bad, but can't talk about it. But Mr. Twist immediately makes clear that he knows what's going on. "Tell you what, I know where Brokeback Mountain is," is his coded/symbolic way of saying he knows Jack was gay. (To clarify, that's not Mr. Twist deliberately speaking in code to Ennis, it's the filmmakers deliberately speaking in code to us viewers: the mountain symbolizes their homosexual relationship, so Mr. Twist's line symbolically implies he knows about Jack's homosexuality). If that's not clear enough, Mr. Twist makes it even more so when he talks about Jack wanting to ranch up with Ennis, and then this spring with another fella. Mr. Twist may be a jerk, but he's not an idiot. He gets it. And Ennis knows full well he gets it.
As does Mrs. Twist, which is again obvious to Ennis. Her sympathy, her gentle push toward the shirts, her nodding approval when he takes them -- he understands what she's saying, and indicates so by the way he responds to her in return: nods, a thank you, a lingering grateful look on the porch as he leaves.
So Ennis understands that the Twists "know." But at that point he doesn't care. He doesn't run out and get himself beat up, as he did on Thanksgiving. He is willing to face Mr. Twist and be courteous despite the old man's rudeness. He even comes close to tears at the news of the other fella, despite what he knows it would reveal. Though protective of Jack (he somewhat shields the shirts from Mr. Twist), he also walks right through the kitchen with them, symbol of his and Jack's relationship.
Since Jack's death, he has realized that his desire to hide his homosexuality and their relationship has ruined his life. In that light, hiding seems a lot less important. What has become far more important is expressing his grief, and doing what he can to honor Jack's memory.
ednbarby:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on June 28, 2006, 10:02:39 pm ---I've been noticing the quotation, too. You a Sting fan, Barb? :)
--- End quote ---
Yes. But the version I prefer is actually Eva Cassidy's. I used to play it for Will when he was going to sleep at night as a baby. It has a much more poignant and melancholy sound to it than Sting's version.
Here's a lovely BBM montage someone made to Eva's version - it was coming across this on youtube (or was it here?) and loving it last week that made me change my signature to the first line in the song. I just watched it again now and welled up all over again...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocwLOQcGaow&search=brokeback%20mountain%20fields%20of%20gold
Mikaela:
The reason why Ennis went up to Lightning Flat?
I think he had this overwhelming need to feel as close as possible to Jack - to see and to touch some sort of physical evidence that Jack had existed. He also may have wanted to experience the small comfort (although bleak) that can be found in shared grief. And he had a need to see Jack's last wish for final resting place fulfilled. After having refused to fulfill his wish for a "sweet life" on earth all of Jack's life, that might perhaps provide some sort of closure. Moreoever I think Ennis wished to once revisit Brokeback with Jack - to say goodbye to the place in saying goodbye to the man.
--- Quote from: latjoreme on June 29, 2006, 02:29:02 am ---When Ennis goes to see the Twists, IMO, he's basically coming out to them. [snip]
But Mr. Twist immediately makes clear that he knows what's going on. "Tell you what, I know where Brokeback Mountain is," is his coded/symbolic way of saying he knows Jack was gay. If that's not clear enough, Mr. Twist makes it even more so when he talks about Jack wanting to ranch up with Ennis, and then this spring with another fella. Mr. Twist may be a jerk, but he's not an idiot. He gets it. And Ennis knows full well he gets it.
As does Mrs. Twist, which is again obvious to Ennis. Her sympathy, her gentle push toward the shirts, her nodding approval when he takes them -- he understands what she's saying, and indicates so by the way he responds to her in return: nods, a thank you, a lingering grateful look on the porch as he leaves.
So Ennis understands that the Twists "know." But at that point he doesn't care.
--- End quote ---
I agree that both the Twists know, and that they make it very plain to Ennis that they know, as plain as can be without saying the words outright.
But I don't think Ennis had any thought of "coming out" to the Twists; - I very much doubt he even considered the risk of being "outed". (But even if he did, he wouldn't have let that stop him.) I don't think he would have expected the Twists to have heard about him except perhaps as some casual "hunting buddy", so their level of knowledge about him must have come as a surprise. I think he hoped they'd just see his offer as a bona fide condolence visit and offer of help, nothing more.
But once he's there, he realizes that they do know - and yet, the heavens don't come crashing down. As the quote above says, he doesn't care. He discovers that horrible as it is, he can actually stand this. In the behaviour of Mr. Twist he meets the contempt of the world that he's always expected to meet, if the truth became known. But he finds that is not as horrible as he's always feared it would be; - there are worse things. And he also unexpectedly meets an outstretched hand - acceptance, compassion, respect.
Ennis receives two posthumous and very precious gifts from Jack at Lightning Flat, that both go a long way towards putting Ennis's deepest fears to rest and giving him some measure of inner peace: The shirts, proving to Ennis that Jack loved him all along until his death, when Ennis feared he didn't. And the Twists's behaviour towards Ennis, prompted by the knowledge that Jack had deposited with his parents, proving to Ennis in practice that he is able to stand being known as a queer, that he may actually survive people *knowing* about him, that he may well meet understanding, not only disgust.
Perhaps the visit with the Twists and Jack's two gifts represented important early steps in a process that eventually will let Ennis have peace with himself and truly accept who he really is.
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