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

Truth and Lies

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nakymaton:
Yeah, "prefer" is definitely the wrong word to have used there. You're right, I don't think they see any options other than continuing to pretend to believe the lies.

And coathanger as border collie... now I'm picturing this coat hanger obsessively running around the closet, eyeing all the shirts until they nest inside one another. Or maybe herding them out of the closet and into the laundry basket.

(Sorry about random weird images, Diane!)

Front-Ranger:
ROFLOL!! ;D

dly64:
You guys are cracking me up!


--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on October 07, 2006, 11:18:49 pm ---In essence, Jack and Ennis come full circle. They discover their truths on Brokeback Mountain, and then they live through lies, and they come back to the truth at the end. Annie Proulx uses the metaphor of the coat hanger, the way that it can be straightened out in order to unlock the car door, and then is bent back into shape again to serve its original purpose of holding a garment. But in this case, the unlocking is done to the soul, to gain access to the truth.
--- End quote ---



--- Quote from: nakymaton on October 07, 2006, 11:33:45 pm ---...the sparks flying up with their truths and lies...
 
(PS to Lee... but when the metaphorical coat hanger is torqued back to its original shape, do they go back to pretending the lies are true? ...for what they'd said was no news. Nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved. In the story, do they both know about the lies, both Jack's lies to others and Ennis's lies to himself, but prefer to go on pretending to believe them? When the car door is unlocked, does it matter if the coat hanger is torqued back into shape? And what is the coat hanger a metaphor for, anyway? What unlocks truth?)
--- End quote ---

I like what you are both saying. I had never thought of the coat hanger metaphor that Annie uses. If we look at the coat hanger … when it’s straightened, it can never really go back to its original shape. It will never look the same. That’s what happens when the truth is spoken. Nothing is the same. And anyway … what does Ennis find later on a coat hanger? He finds the shirts. The tool that is used to unlock a door is the key to Jack’s truth … his love for Ennis.


--- Quote from: nakymaton on October 07, 2006, 11:33:45 pm ---That's an interesting point, that they both start telling the truth at the lake. (Does it ever seem like the lake scene is almost the climax of the movie, except that it isn't, because it doesn't resolve, and then Jack dies and Ennis has to confront the truth in Jack's closet?)
--- End quote ---

I think that’s the power of this film. The story changes directions at the time of the lake. They both realize the truth, but it’s too late. We (the audience) don’t know that until we see what Ennis sees: DECEASED  stamped across the postcard. And then …. The shirts! Could it get any sadder, more poignant?

Katie77:
I think some of you are giving Annie too much credit for all those so called metaphors.........

nakymaton:
Wait til you hear what "the" is a metaphorical symbol for.... ;) ;D

*...and the border collies start circling Mel until she promises to behave...*

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