Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
After watching my DVD a half Dozen times
Jeff Wrangler:
Thread's gotten kinda long to review, so I apologize in advance for not giving proper credit where due on Friday's posts on the subject of whether Ennis or Jack is the real tragic figure/tragic hero, in the "classical" sense. In the wake of my first home viewing Friday night, I'm now seeing Jack as more tragic than I did before, and not just because he's the one who dies.
In the privacy of my living room Friday night, it was really borne into me that it is Jack who says, in the motel room, that ol' Brokeback got them good, it is Jack who sought out Ennis after four years, and it is Jack, in the final confrontation, who says that all they have is Brokeback Mountain, everything built on that. Then it struck me how it is Jack who "never grew up," never got past that summer on Brokeback.
I've always been impressed by Ennis's willingness to accept his adult responsibilities--his wife and children--despite his feelings for Jack, whereas Jack is the one who wants to run off and set up that little cow and calf operation, turning his back on his wife and child. Considering the changing nature of the economy in the West, that cow and calf operation probably wouldn't have succeeded anyway. Poor Jack. All he wanted was to play cowboy with Ennis. I gotta love him for that, but, in the end, it's kind of ... childish. I guess for me, that's how I understand Jack's flaw now. He's the boy who wouldn't grow up.
And that's not too uncommon in my fellow gay men.
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on April 08, 2006, 10:58:03 am ---I've always been impressed by Ennis's willingness to accept his adult responsibilities--his wife and children--despite his feelings for Jack, whereas Jack is the one who wants to run off and set up that little cow and calf operation, turning his back on his wife and child. Considering the changing nature of the economy in the West, that cow and calf operation probably wouldn't have succeeded anyway. Poor Jack. All he wanted was to play cowboy with Ennis. I gotta love him for that, but, in the end, it's kind of ... childish. I guess for me, that's how I understand Jack's flaw now. He's the boy who wouldn't grow up.
And that's not too uncommon in my fellow gay men.
--- End quote ---
It's not too uncommon for ANY man, gay or straight. I think you're being too harsh on Jack. After all, Ennis accepted his adult responsibilities alright - in between quitting his jobs left and right so he could be with Jack. Jack not only accepted his adult responsibilities, he took on - from what is implied - the bulk of the childcare. The same of which cannot be said for Ennis.
Truth is, we don't know what kept Ennis to his 'family responsibilities'. Fear does a good job of keeping someone toeing the line, so does guilt and so does repression. It's to be respected that he stayed with his family, but hardly applauded as to the reasons why.
Ennis accepted his adult responsibilites - but only grudgingly. It is implied in the movie and said outright in the short story that Ennis never does anything with his family. He never goes out with his wife or takes the family on vacation. He mopes around his apartment like a teen-ager in love in his parents home, bereft of his true love, the only one who understands him.
Jack and Lureen, on the other hand, do have a social life. Seems they go out quite a bit. Jack can't be with the one he loves, so he makes do, with prostitutes, with affairs, but in the meantime, he and the wife go out, he travels, takes primary care of Bobby.
Seems Jack is the more mature one, while Ennis is the one who can't quite let go of that first summer. IMO.
And also, just because Jack was willing to give up Lureen doesn't mean he would have given up all rights to Bobby. I think we can all agree that Jack loved his son. The man was willing to travel thousands of miles at the drop of a hat for someone he loved - Ennis. Why not for Bobby - on parental visits?
ednbarby:
I'm completely with Dela on this one. If anyone, it's Ennis who wouldn't grow up. As I've said before, I think Jack was always a man, even when he was a boy. He was always comfortable in his own skin and he was never satisfied with just accepting things the way they are. He was the opposite of Ennis - his approach to life was that if you can't stand it, you gotta fix it. It repeats itself over and over throughout the movie:
- Kicking the truck when he parks it at Aguirre's
- Glaring at Aguirre when he realizes he's punishing him for the high predator/weather loss that happened under his watch the previous summer
- Perhaps my favorite line in the whole movie because it so captures Jack's essence, "No more beans!"
- When he says to Ennis, "We got to do something about this food situation. Maybe we oughtta shoot one a the sheep..." and then when Ennis says something to the effect of "We're just gonna have to make due with what we have, he says, "Well, I won't." (Another one that really captures his essence, IMO).
- The sheer rocks he has to go back to Aguirre's office the next summer looking for Ennis
- His conscious decision to woo Lureen for her money because he figures if he can't have what he wants and needs spiritually, at least he can better his life financially
I could go on and on, but I'll end it with the one I've said before that absolutely defines Jack: "Tell ya what, I know where Brokeback Mountain is. Jack thought he was too goddamned special to be buried in the family plot." It's not what Jack thought - it's just the truth.
And Jack's speech about Brokeback Mountain being all they got - fucking all, BOY - is his telling Ennis that it's he who has never grown up, never been able to accept who he is and what he's got, and that because of that, that's the furthest they ever got.
Flashframe777:
--- Quote from: vkm91941 on April 06, 2006, 03:09:12 pm ---I am firmly back in the Jack was murdered camp. The "flash-back" of what happens seems to be more Lureen's to me than Ennis's. And that little cry/moan she makes when she realizes who Ennis is, is her realization that Jack had the same relationship with Ennis that he was having with Randall. As Annie says in her story...the little voice is as cold as snow.
You know that old addage you don't shit wear you eat, will I've come to the conclusion that Jack did indeed take up with Randall and he was telling the truth when he told Ennis he almost got caught a coupla times sneaking out to be with the "wife"(when actually he was sneaking out to be with Randall)....that time he did get caught and it cost him his life..
I may change my mind after another half dozen viewing but this is where I'm sitting rightnow pretty strong in that conviction.
--- End quote ---
WELCOME BACK HOME!
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on April 08, 2006, 12:08:51 pm --- If anyone, it's Ennis who wouldn't grow up. ... And Jack's speech about Brokeback Mountain being all they got - fucking all, BOY - is his telling Ennis that it's he who has never grown up, never been able to accept who he is and what he's got, and that because of that, that's the furthest they ever got.
--- End quote ---
Then perhaps the movie could be seen as the story of Ennis growing up and becoming a man. Unfortunately, too late.
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