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

Cowboy vs. cowboy-image

(1/2) > >>

Brown Eyes:
Heya,

This idea has been on my mind for a while, so I thought I'd go ahead and see how it flies as a thread topic (and forgive me if this issue has been dealt with elsewhere).

It's interesting to me to watch how the characters of Ennis and Jack evolve in the film in relation to the identity of being a cowboy.  And, their relationship to an identity as a cowboy seems to reflect each of their characters in broader terms.  Both Ennis and Jack start out as "real" cowboys... both in terms of look (clothes, hats, mannerisms, etc.) and work (really working as ranch hands, really participating in rodeos, etc.), but this changes for Jack.  Clearly, once he marries Lureen his identity in terms of work shifts.  Selling farm equipment seems to be one step beyond "true" cowboy work... too much time indoors, a little too suburban, etc.  And, this is early in the story too... even by the reunion Jack has already begun to slip away from his earlier identity.  Maybe this is why we never see him wearing his original black hat (with the twisted leather band) starting with the reunion scene.  His cowboy gear after this point seems more like a fashion statement than anything else.  His big black hat during the final argument scene seems like an exaggeration or even a caricature of his original hat.  Ennis, not surprisingly, is very different in his relation to being a cowboy since he never stops working as a ranch hand.  But, he stops wearing classic cowboy hats (or wears them less and less) towards the end... in favor of that less-than-flattering hat that looks something like a fishing hat.  But, his identity as a cowboy in terms of work remains solid.  So here, not surprisingly, we have a situation where Jack's character is more changeable than Ennis. 

But, I wonder what this issue in the film (I feel like this is less pronounced in the story since some of this is based largely on visual perception) is saying about western/ cowboy life and culture through the decades that the film covers. 

And, clearly Ennis and Jack aren't the only cowboys in the film... it's interesting to see the range of identities that seem to fit this term as depicted in the film.

Penthesilea:

--- Quote ---Selling farm equipment seems to be one step beyond "true" cowboy work... too much time indoors, a little too suburban, etc.
--- End quote ---

Waaaaayyyy back I once read a very fine, insightful post about Jack metamorphosing from a real cowboy to a suburban cowboy. I think it was even not here on BM, but on IMDB and if memory serves right, it was from clacypants (not sure about it, though).
Gosh, how I wish I'd remember where to find it. Does anyone remember this, too? Maybe even know where to find it?

This topic fits into the genereal tendency of Jack being the more modifying one and Ennis staying mostly the same over the 20 years: clothes, work, attitude, and most important his feelings and his state of mind.
Ennis is quite lonely from beginning to the end, only the extent of it changing over the years with meeting Jack, parting Jack, having a family, the divorce and finally Jack's death.
Jack is so spirited, so full of high hopes at the beginning, but desperate in the end.

Great idea for a thread, Amanda.

Brown Eyes:
Thanks Chrissi,

Sorry, I can't help much with finding the thread you mention.  I know what you mean... it's frustrating sometimes after all these discussions to forget where certain topics have come up.  I'm sure lots of ground will be re-hashed and re-hashed again over time.

Anyway, it's interesting that Jack becomes nostalgic for ranch life (already by the time of the reunion).  His basic dream centers on the "cow and calf operation", which seems to be the very essence of the definition of cowboy... men working with cows/cattle.  The idea would be less romantic in and of itself to Ennis just because that's the status quo for him.  Of course I mean just the work... living with Jack would certainly be romantic.  ;) :-*

Front-Ranger:
Interesting topic, Amanda! I will have to think about this. A couple of ideas off the top of my head--like many of us, Jack holds on to the trappings of the cowboy lifestyle long after the reality is gone.  :( He is nostalgic for the little cow-and-calf operation for several reasons I think. One is that the dream of a homestead or small ranch, in some ways "the American Dream" faded for almost everybody and what replaced it was the large factory style ranch with full use of technology like the big farm equipment sold by Newsome (Newsome as opposed to Bettermost  :-\). Another reason is that it's what his father tried to do but failed. (I think his father failed more because he was a hard-headed independent jerk who wouldn't let Uncle Harold help out.) And yet another reason is because the animal husbandry instinct was in Jack's genes (okay, his jeans too).

delalluvia:
Jack's metamorphasis is also pronounced in the short story.  More so.  He actually gets cosmetic work done on his teeth.

I imagine that what the two's dress habits symbolize is either something simple and economical -

Jack has more money, he's always been the showman of the two, it's not unusual for someone who is a cowboy/roughneck what have you, from retaining the dress and style of one when one's economic station improves. 

How many oilmen were once roughnecks, wearing run-down cowboy boots and cheap hats, until they hit it big and started buying exotic-leather boots and expensive felt hats? 

They are still cowboys/ranchers/roughnecks, they still dress the same - just better.

Or -

It's symbolic of the fall of the real Western cowboy.  He's either a museum quality cowboy - Jack with his 'costume-y' rich cowboy clothing or he's an iconic figure whose distinctive sharp pointed boots and hat curves have been smoothed by time and blending and homogenizing of his role until he's almost indistinguishable from a simple hired hand - Ennis?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page