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After watching my DVD a half Dozen times
JCinNYC2006:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on April 06, 2006, 07:53:50 pm ---I know. I can't handle it, either. The truth really is unbearable.
I think realizing that truth from Ennis' point of view in the end is what made weep so much, I thought I'd asphyxiate from it during the Lightning Flat scenes the second and third times I saw Brokeback in the theater. And it's what made me start sobbing in the midst of singing "...And when no hope was left in sight on that starry, starry night, you took your life as lovers often do" to my son the night after the day I saw it for the first time.
--- End quote ---
Ohhhhh that song is another doozy, and no one sings it like Don McLean. But I know what you mean about finding the 'real answer' of Jack's death to be too much. For me, it's a reminder of how some gay people can still pay with their lives for being who they are. 40 years after they first met, it still happens.
Sorry to be a downer....I hate dwelling on that aspect of the movie.
Ruffalo
serious crayons:
Greek tragedy - a literary composition written to be performed by actors in which a central character called a tragic protagonist or hero suffers some serious misfortune which is not accidental and therefore meaningless, but is significant in that the misfortune is logically connected with the hero's actions. Tragedy stresses the vulnerability of human beings whose suffering is brought on by a combination of human and divine actions, but is generally undeserved with regard to its harshness.
OK, how about this? Maybe your interpretation has to do with whether as a viewer you're Enniscentric or Jackcentric.
If Ennis is the tragic hero, then it's HIS tragic flaw -- his refusal to be true to himself and Jack -- that leads to his tragic fate. That is having to endure the love of his life dying (which could be one way or another; the uncertainty only adds to his suffering), and accept the knowledge that he missed his one chance to be happy, that it's largely his own fault -- there's that logical connection with the hero's actions -- and that he will be grieving for the rest of his life (a fate undeserved with regard to its harshness, if you ask me).
If Jack is the tragic hero, then HIS tragic flaw is his openness and hope and optimism and willingness to take risks. I know, doesn't sound like much of a flaw, but in a society as intolerant as theirs, it becomes one. That interpretation supports the tire-iron conclusion, because it's logically connected to the hero's actions, whereas a roadside accident is not. That his suffering is of undeserved harshness, in that case, goes without saying.
montferrat:
Katherine, I have always known I was "Enniscentric", which does NOT mean I don't love Jack!
However, yes, I totally agree that if you view this as Ennis' story, then one doesn't need for the tire-iron scenario to be the "real" cause of death.
It has always been my view that Jack's death is ambiguous and that Ennis is the main protagonist of this story.
Again, you can't have Ennis without Jack, I LOVE jack. I Want Jack's babies. But, at the end of the day, I'm Enniscentric.
:)
ednbarby:
Mmmmmmm. I do so love the idea of the fatal flaw. Because we all possess (at least) one, do we not? Another of my favorite movies (Quiz Show) explored Vanity as being the one. As do some of my favorite novels, like Lord Jim, Return of the Native, A Tale of Two Cities, and Moby Dick.
Pick a habit - we got plenty to go around.
For me, Ennis' fatal flaw is fear.
Did you exchange a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
ednbarby:
[quote author]Ohhhhh that song is another doozy, and no one sings it like Don McLean. But I know what you mean about finding the 'real answer' of Jack's death to be too much. For me, it's a reminder of how some gay people can still pay with their lives for being who they are. 40 years after they first met, it still happens.
Sorry to be a downer....I hate dwelling on that aspect of the movie.[/quote]
I know what you mean. I do, too. And yet, that's the first and foremost thing this movie taught me - how monumentally difficult it must be for gay men in our stupid society. No, it didn't beat me over the head with its message like, ahem, *some* movies. It gave me credit for being intelligent enough to come to that conclusion on my own.
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