Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
"If your can't fix it, Jack...You gotta stand it."
serious crayons:
Let me say at the outset that I agree with all your interpretations of those lines. I like to think of them as near declarations of love, along with "sending up a prayer of thanks."
But -- this movie is SO torturously ambiguous! -- they also could be interepreted as:
"If you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it." (We just have to put up with society's unbreakable rules.)
"For how long?" (How long do we have to go on like this?)
"As long as we can ride it." (As long as we can handle the frustration. ) "Ain't no reins on this one." (There's no way to change the rules.)
And much as I prefer to hear it the other way, I can't entirely blot that possibility out of my mind. Jeff, is that the way you used to interpret the scene before you changed your views?
nakymaton:
--- Quote from: fernly on December 15, 2006, 10:32:50 am ---Here's a link:
http://www.focusfeatures.com/viewer.php?f=brokeback_mountain&c=trailer&ext=wmv&w=480&&h=270
--- End quote ---
Ahhhh! Thank you, fernly!
*watches trailer*
Damn. I should see that movie. ;)
(I must've watched that trailer a thousand times, too. Watch trailer. Click link back to list of theaters showing movie. Watch trailer again. Search google news for stories. Check list of theaters showing the movie. Watch trailer. Repeat until unsatisfied. That was me a year ago.)
Mikaela:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on December 15, 2006, 03:24:03 pm ---"If you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it." (We just have to put up with society's unbreakable rules.)
"For how long?" (How long do we have to go on like this?)
"As long as we can ride it." (As long as we can handle the frustration. ) "Ain't no reins on this one." (There's no way to change the rules.)
--- End quote ---
I've always thought it starts out the way you write here, and then it changes. I hear the entire exchange as follows:
"If you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it." (We just have to put up with society's unbreakable rules.)
"For how long?" (How long do we have to go on like this?)
"As long as we can ride it." (As long as we can manage to meet up yet take care to fly under society's and the tire iron wielders' radar. ) "Ain't no reins on this one." (There's no limit to our feelings and how we might potentially happen to act - and what we might risk - as a consequence.)
So I suppose I see those last lines of Ennis's both as a declaration of love and commitment to Jack, but simultaneously as a premonition of bad things to come of it in the end. :'(
--- Quote ---Damn. I should see that movie.
--- End quote ---
I haven't seen the film since lateSeptember when I visited Meryl in New York. I'm afraid if I see it now it'll be just as completely devastating as before. And I'm even more scared that it might not have that impact on me any more.
I *am* going to see the film on Oscar night though. That's a promise and one I mean to keep!
nakymaton:
You know, the exchange could be about society's rules... but "ain't no reins on this one" suggests something out of control, not rules that can't be broken. I imagine, I dunno, maybe an unbroken horse being ridden bareback -- something that Ennis wants to keep under control, but simply can't.
It's just a devastatingly sad line when I think about it. I mean, love as this untamed thing that ought to be broken? :'( :'( :'(
(Mikaela, I haven't watched the movie since August. I don't plan to watch it again, not even on Oscar night, I don't think. But we'll see -- I swore off LotR, but right now I'm trying to catch up with a very fun re-reading that's happening on livejournal. But it's easier for me to go back to a book than to a movie. Books are the things that ultimately stick around for me.)
Mikaela:
--- Quote ---"ain't no reins on this one" suggests something out of control, not rules that can't be broken. I imagine, I dunno, maybe an unbroken horse being ridden bareback -- something that Ennis wants to keep under control, but simply can't.
--- End quote ---
Yes, that's exactly the way I see this. And after all, the exchange takes place very soon after the reunion kiss - out in the open, "out of control". That he could behave like that must baffle and scare Ennis. He didn't intend to let go of the reins on his self-control, but suddenly they just weren't there. A struggle between lust and caution where for once his caution and self-control didn't win out. (I just can't help using those exact words here, I think it's so strange that Ang Lee's current film is actually titled Lust, Caution).
Mel, I must be honest enough to say that it seems I'm slowly winding down my BBM fan activity by now. And I've yet no wish to return to LotR.... that will take time. I just can't think of very much more to say re BBM. Fanfiction always is my last stage of fannishness and by now even the BBM fanfiction sector is moving towards that clique&wank&drama stage that has nothing to do with appreciation and consideration of canon, and which sends me scampering far away. So.... :-\
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