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

Over the years...

<< < (2/3) > >>

serious crayons:

--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on July 07, 2006, 11:30:23 pm ---What I am saying is that I think that if Ennis thought David Bowie in a dress was what being gay was all about, what it meant to be gay, it would have made him--Ennis--even more self-repressed than he was to begin with.

--- End quote ---

Oh, well, that could be. There's no doubt he had a warped view of what it meant to be gay. And whatever it meant to him, it did contribute to his self-repression.

Jeff, did you get my PM? For some reason I don't think it went through. In any case, I was calling your attention to my new signature line! It's partly inspired by your admiration of the sentence. It kind of gives me chills, myself. And I think it has a lot to do with why many of us are here.

Brown Eyes:
Oh man, people, don't get me started about David Bowie (see signature).  That's the one topic that I'm more obsessed with than BBM...  Imagine this BetterMost-style analysis applied to Bowie (and his song lyrics primarily) since I was 12 (I'm now 31).  My days as a message board user all started years ago with Bowie sites.  I've noticed that there seem to be quite a few Bowie fans around here. 

Anyway, leaving Bowie out of this for a moment... This is an interesting topic.  The story would certainly be very different if this was a story took place a little further west and was about Jack and Ennis living in San Francisco or L.A. from the early '60s through the early '80s.  Why doesn't Jack suggest going to San Francisco for a change rather than Mexico, or Denver (which he brings up in the book)?  Did things like Stonewall have any impact at all in Wyoming or Texas for that matter?

nakymaton:
Glam rock and disco and all that weren't even popular in rural Maine in the early 80's. Stuff like the music that plays on Alma Jr's car radio at the end of the movie was the rock I knew growing up; the other stuff was mocked (often in very homophobic terms, I remember). When I drove across the western US in the late 80's, the radio options seemed even more limited... country music or dead air. (Today, the choices haven't changed much, except that Wyoming Public Radio plays some pretty cool progressive bluegrass, and there's the additional option of Rush Limbaugh & company.)

Rural parts of the US missed the progressive stuff from the 70's... just got the paranoia about somebody putting LSD in pretend tatoos, and putting razor blades in apples. And then rural America hit back hard, reacting to the 70's with Reagan-era social conservatism.

The only references to gay culture that I remember growing up rural in the late 70's/early 80's were slurs against the Village People, and then fears about AIDS.

Luvlylittlewing:
Forgive me if I'm going OT here, but I'm wondering as a black woman if racial attitudes changed for our boys at all during the 70's and 80s.  I know there is no indication whatsoever that Jack and Ennis were racist, and I don't believe that they were.  However, I once read a BBM screenplay on-line and noticed a scene that was not included in the movie.  I believe it invovled Ennis sitting in the Greyhound station while he was pushing his lemon pie around the plate, and before Cassie walked in.  In this particular screenplay Ennis was intently watching an episode of Diffrent Strokes.  I always wondered what he thought about Willis and his little bro (no, I can't remember his name :)

Somehow I think Ennis would have been horrified to see David Bowie in that black dress and makeup.  By the way, I loved that look, especially the black cheek contouring, lips and eyes, and thought the trend blew over way too quickly. :)

David In Indy:

--- Quote from: littlewing1957 on July 09, 2006, 08:50:38 pm ---Forgive me if I'm going OT here, but I'm wondering as a black woman if racial attitudes changed for our boys at all during the 70's and 80s.  I know there is no indication whatsoever that Jack and Ennis were racist, and I don't believe that they were.  However, I once read a BBM screenplay on-line and noticed a scene that was not included in the movie.  I believe it invovled Ennis sitting in the Greyhound station while he was pushing his lemon pie around the plate, and before Cassie walked in.  In this particular screenplay Ennis was intently watching an episode of Diffrent Strokes.  I always wondered what he thought about Willis and his little bro (no, I can't remember his name :)

Somehow I think Ennis would have been horrified to see David Bowie in that black dress and makeup.  By the way, I loved that look, especially the black cheek contouring, lips and eyes, and thought the trend blew over way too quickly. :)

--- End quote ---

That is a really interesting question, Littlewing.

I have been sitting here for a few minutes trying to think this through before I posted, and quite frankly I didn't get very far! ???

It is fairly clear Ennis would have had little exposure, if any to African Americans or the culture. It is also fairly clear Ennis has problems expressing his emotions, but he had a big heart. I would like to think Ennis is fairly open minded (I am remembering the scene where Jack tells Ennis he is a Pentecostal. Ennis didn't know anything about the religion, but he didn't seem uncomfortable or judgmental towards Jack at all when Jack was explaining the religion to him).

I think Ennis would have simply been watching the show and enjoying it. I also think if Ennis did have any thoughts running through his mind, they would have been geared towards watching the show and trying to learn from it.

This is how I think of Ennis anyhow. I like to think of Ennis as a quiet man with an accepting heart and an open mind.  He just has trouble showing it sometimes!  :)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page