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

What if....

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ednbarby:
Also built into the question, I think, is Ennis' acknowledgment that he didn't really love her mother, and that he hurt her profoundly by living a lie.  Not only is he acknowledging, of course, that he loves Jack, but that he doesn't want Alma, Jr. to go through the pain her mother did by marrying someone whose love for her isn't true.

I agree - it's the defining moment of the film.  And like I say, it really does take my breath away (at least I always find myself holding it, then finally exhaling) every time I watch it.

serious crayons:

--- Quote from: ekeby on August 04, 2006, 08:45:05 pm ---Mara's beautifully delivered response gives Ennis's question even more weight.

My own opinion is that if Jr. realizes anything, she understands that her father knows what love is. That alone would be quite a revelation for a teenager in the throes of love herself.
--- End quote ---

Well put, Ekeby.

After all, she knows he didn't love Cassie and probably suspects he didn't love her mother. So her recognition here may not be anything more than a realization that he has, at some point, loved and lost, and that judging from his expression he's still in pain over it.


--- Quote ---Ennis's phrasing is unusual because what a father would usually ask the daughter is "do YOU love HIM." Ennis turns it around, putting emphasis on male love, kurt's, and, indirectly, his own. It is that moment where the missing  "I love you" finally appears in the movie.
--- End quote ---

And not only would Ennis phrase the question differently, but he'd probably ask a million other things about Kurt. But his mind, at the moment, is elsewhere ...

Brown Eyes:
I think that if Alma Jr. were to find the shirts in the closet (and I think there's a strong possiblity that she would find them at some point) it might at least spark a dialogue.  It would be very interesting, because I do think she understands that there's something complex about her Dad and I do think she understands that Jack was a mysterious and very important force in the dynamics of their family and important to her Dad period.  I agree that she's someplace between being clueless and completely understanding that Ennis is gay and was in love with Jack.  Still the "your good enough' conversation with Cassie is very suspicious.  Alma Jr. definitely knows something.

I have the same anxiety that many of you have... that someone someday will mistakenly wash those shirts.  Now, that would be just too heartbreaking for words.  I can't even imagine what that would to to Ennis.
 :-\ :'(

Front-Ranger:
Don't worry everybody!! I saw the shirts at Rockmount Western Wear and they were safely encased under glass!!  ;) Though I didn't see any blood on them, however...

ekeby:

--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on August 05, 2006, 06:10:34 pm ---Don't worry everybody!! I saw the shirts at Rockmount Western Wear and they were safely encased under glass!!  ;) Though I didn't see any blood on them, however...

--- End quote ---

I read that the shirts had been laundered before they were put up for sale . . . I remember thinking "why?"

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