Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
That zany Uncle Harold
Shakesthecoffecan:
The crescent I was refering to is right next to the cross, on the right. It is fainter than the cross.
It almost looks like and Omega.
Lynne:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on January 28, 2007, 04:56:18 pm ---Never mind. As you see, I found it again :).
Do you see the cross? Look a little bit right from the cross, along the log. First comes a darker section, then the brighter crescent shaped object. It's also "on" or directly in front of the log. It almost looks like a fluff, a thread on the celluloid. Can you see it now?
--- End quote ---
Got it! Thank you, Chrissi. I was looking for a crescent opening to the right, for some reason.
I love your interpretation of the cross - makes sense to me.
Now, the moon immediately springs to mind when I think of a crescent. I went over to wikipedia and did some research. A crescent opening to the left (in the northern hemisphere) is waxing, growing, new, wheras one opening to the right is waning, decreasing, old.
So I'm thinking the crescent is facing the wrong way for this interpretation to hold water.
Also from wiki: "The crescent symbol is also used to represent the moon in astronomy and astrology, and to represent silver (the metal associated with the moon) in alchemy, where, by inference, it can also be used to represent qualities that silver possesses."
quicksilver Jack - I like this one.
nakymaton:
--- Quote from: Lynne on January 28, 2007, 05:42:14 pm ---quicksilver Jack - I like this one.
--- End quote ---
Annie Proulx described Jake's scenes as having a "quicksilver" quality to them. :)
Lynne:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on January 28, 2007, 05:46:55 pm ---Annie Proulx described Jake's scenes as having a "quicksilver" quality to them. :)
--- End quote ---
Absolutely! I know my scripture canon!
:)
serious crayons:
Well, if this is deliberate, it supports my feeling that there are some faintly religious undertones throughout the whole Uncle Harold episode. Uncle Harold -- or "herald," a harbinger or announcer -- may or may not die. Jack has no control over it, either from "up here," in their Brokeback Eden, or "down there" in worldly society. Not long after that, Uncle Harold is resurrected -- that is, he doesn't die, even though Jack didn't go see him. And that news is of such primary importance that Jack announces it to Ennis even before explaining that their mountain idyll is over.
What does it all mean? I'm not sure. I don't think it fits together into a neat package. But combined with the parallels in the post-divorce scene (an unexpected arrival announced with "here I am," someone peering off into the distance, Jack following the person's gaze and coming to a realization, a choice between between romantic love and family commitments -- Jack deciding one way and Ennis the other -- the prospect of being seen by the outside world, Uncle Harold's survival and Jack's figurative -- and eventually literal -- "death," both Uncle Harold's and Jack's involving fluid in the lungs), it seems to have something to do with being powerless to control fate through one's actions. Jack can't save Uncle Harold by "rejecting" Ennis, so he doesn't try, yet Uncle Harold survives anyway. Ennis thinks he can save them both by rejecting Jack, so he does, yet Jack does not survive anyway.
Does that make any sense?
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