Our BetterMost Community > The Polling Place

Ennis/Jack/both; book/movie/both?

<< < (2/7) > >>

Penthesilea:
I voted for movie and Ennis (Hi Katherine, guess you're not surprised, are you  ;D?)

Though I love all four of them:

The book for it's unsentimental, mostly sparse language. And for the fact that despite it's sparseness (or just because of it), it's sometimes so poetical. And naturally for the storyline itself.

I love the movie more, because it's more complex. This is true for movie vs. book comparison as a whole and it's true for the single characters. They are portrayed and elaborated more intensely in the movie. The movie moves and haunts me more than the story.
And naturally for all those reasons others have already mentioned: cinematorgaphy, TS2 alone could make me vote the movie over the book, our boys are so hot in the movie, the many, many added remarkable dialogue lines (see the belonging polls: fav Jack-lines and fav Ennis-lines).


In love Jack for his caring, nurturing, lovable character. His liveliness, his courage to go for the things he wants, his dreaminess and his optimism. And for the fact that he loves Ennis so much. And movie-Jack for his blue eyes and *that* smile.

And Ennis: difficult to describe in a few recapitulaing words. Go and read the "I love everything Ennis"-thread. I agree with everything said there  :)

I just try:
I love his braveness, that he fights his inner demons every time he goes to see Jack. That he is able to love Jack despite his struggle.
He is kind, polite, lovable, also nurturing (like Jack). I love the way he adores his daughters. I love that he always tries to do the right thing, athough it would have been better in some regards, if he had acted otherwise (sticking to Alma eg). He is solid and reliable.

In general, I'm more into the quiet-but-strong-types. And for those who see him as a weak character: I disagree. I think it requires a lot of strength to repress ones own nature and longings for so many years. If only he had put his strength and all those efforts into something better.

Still waters run deep; this is very true for Ennis and I love him for that.

serious crayons:
I agree with everything you say, Penth -- no surprise, hunh?  ;)

I just want to add that I don't mean to give Jack short shrift. I fear I sometimes sound that way, but in fact I love him also. It's just that I know there is no shortage of others who will speak on his behalf, whereas the Ennis fan club is smaller and so has to work harder.

Though at this very moment, among those who state a preference, Ennis is ahead, 3 to 2! (How long will that last?)

ednbarby:
I'm in the majority, looks like (for now) - I like the story and the movie equally and I like both men equally.  I'm glad I saw the movie without having read the story first, but I love Annie's writing and nowhere moreso than in this story.  I don't prefer either character - I just prefer the both of them together.

Jeff Wrangler:
Wow, this was a great idea for a poll, and a real tough one to answer!

The truth is, my feelings are a bit more complicated than any of the answers.

I like the story and the film equally. If I may borrow a phrase from fanfiction, for me they are almost like alternative universes to each other.

I identify with Ennis in both story and film, but I like Ennis more in the story. I prefer Film Jack to Story Jack. Annie Proulx tells us some things about Story Jack that I'd prefer not to know. In the film, where we know only what we see on the screen before us, there is some open space between what I know about Jack and what I want to believe about Jack.

ednbarby:

--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on July 05, 2006, 06:48:43 pm ---I identify with Ennis in both story and film, but I like Ennis more in the story. I prefer Film Jack to Story Jack. Annie Proulx tells us some things about Story Jack that I'd prefer not to know. In the film, where we know only what we see on the screen before us, there is some open space between what I know about Jack and what I want to believe about Jack.

--- End quote ---

Wow.  I couldn't agree with you more, here, Jeff.  I over-simplified my answer because I thought my reasons for liking both characters equally were too complicated to explain.  And then you came along and nailed it.  Thanks!  :)  Story Ennis is less uptight than Movie Ennis, for sure.  And Movie Jack (thanks to Mr. Gyllenhaal primarily) is more vulnerable than Story Jack, who I find almost unnervingly aggressive.  Still, I enjoy the story just as much, but sometimes for different reasons than I enjoy the movie.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page