Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Peak Brokie experiences
serious crayons:
I've been thinking back on the 10 months since I saw BBM, and all the great experiences I've had in that time -- seeing the movie over and over, finding a group of people who were equally obsessed with it and equally excited about discussing it, exploring its amazing complexity and subtlety, making friends and finding a wonderful community.
So I decided to ask anybody who's interested, regardless of how long they've been here, to share some of their most exciting moments as Brokies. These could involve the movie itself, friendships, personal discoveries ... whatever has been great. I'm thinking more of specific events rather than gradual growth or general change, but whatever stands out for you will be welcome.
I'll start, with one of my earliest memories. I'd been on imdb for just a couple of weeks and had noticed some threads discussing the deep significance of clothing colors and numbers and little things like that. I didn't post on them or even read them very carefully, because secretly I thought, geez, people are getting a little carried away here ::) I'd seen the movie two or three times, loved it, but it seemed ridiculous to comb through minute details for meaning.
Then came what I think of as my "Helen Keller at the water pump" moment: opening up a whole new world that I hadn't known existed. I saw a thread -- started, I believe, by Casey Cornelius -- examining that tiny scene where Ennis is spreading tar and his coworker is blathering on and Ennis pauses to look off into the distance. I considered this scene pretty much a throwaway, there mainly to establish that Ennis was settling into married and work, stuck with a boring coworker, maybe realizing that life felt empty without Jack.
But Casey noted how the babbling coworker has just uttered the words "breakin my back" -- suggesting that it's the reminder of Brokeback that triggers Ennis' wistful reaction. Someone else pointed out that Ennis is wearing a blue-plaid shirt -- Jack's color -- as if Ennis is unconsciously expressing his emotions in, yes, his clothing choices. Someone else pointed out that Ennis must be thinking of Jack when he stares off into the distance ("Hell," this poster said, "I'm thinking of Jack when I stare off into the distance; of course Ennis is." :laugh:) And people went on to talk about how Ennis stares off into the distance, usually into nature, in many other scenes when he thinks about Jack.
It was an epiphany. I realized, Wow, if this two-minute, unremarkable scene -- one I'd always assumed was there mainly to mark time passing -- could be freighted with that much meaning, imagine what depths the other 132 minutes must hold! And of course I eventually learned that, yes, in this movie even apparently minor details like clothing color and numbers actually are extremely significant. Ten months later, I'm still discovering them. But that was the first big one.
Ellemeno:
Great description, Katherine. I like imagining how many posts of yours created these kinds of ah ha! moments for others. :)
Sitting in the movie theater alone for the umpteenth time and hearing someone in the audience stifle a sob.
Sitting in the Aero Theater surrounded by actual Brokie buddies in the flesh, and actually gazing at Heath and all in the flesh too, at the same time.
Laying in bed that night in the motel, with henrypie in the other bed, talking in the dark about all we'd experienced that day. Taking hold of her hand and puffing on her cigarette - no wait, sorry, that was Ennis and Jack, not me and henrypie. :)
Creating that Cowboy Etiquette with you all. Have I ever been involved in something funnier? And the BBM Scenes in emoticons thread (which still feels like losing the library at Alexandria or sump'n, I still hope it can be found intact somehow.) Have I ever been involved in anything funnier AND more touching?
What's a matter with me, there's a thousand of 'em. Why can't I think of more examples right now?
nakymaton:
My peak experience was seeing two shooting stars just before dawn during my four-hour drive to see the movie for the first time.
I mean, seeing the movie was good, too, but nothing compares to a pair of shooting stars in the middle of an empty desert.
southendmd:
Great thread, Katherine. I like the idea of getting very specific.
Here's one of mine:
Reading Annie's essay in the Story to Screenplay where she talks about how difficult it was to write the "dozy embrace" paragraph. She mentions that she repeatedly listened to "Spiritual", an instrumental piece by Charlie Haden and Pat Metheney.
I had that album! It was the only CD by either artist that I had. I knew that music. And, to think that Annie was listening to that while writing, and I was listening to that with friends, also in 1997!
I've posted this elsewhere, but here's an amazingly lovely video of "Spiritual" and the "dozy embrace" (in slow motion, no less) together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi6i8bfwV-w
Paul
moremojo:
One peak experience for this movie buff was the realization, within a week or so of first seeing the film, that not only had I seen an unusually powerful movie that had quickly become my new favorite film, but I had just witnessed the single most important film ever made. There was a spiritual energy emanating from this work that was wholly new and excitingly dumbfounding in my experience; the artists behind this story and picture had tapped into the tragic heart of the human experience. If ever film deserved to be called a miracle, Brokeback Mountain would be it.
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