Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
"If your can't fix it, Jack...You gotta stand it."
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on December 16, 2006, 10:51:12 am ---I agree with you Jeff. There's something about the classical tragedy that draws people back over and over, and it's not a desire to wallow in morbidity. Somehow the most beautiful things are also the most tragic, in a way.
--- End quote ---
Right, Lee, it isn't the desire to wallow in morbidity. You'd think I'da thunk this a long time ago, but only in the past week or so did I realize that the "spiritual uplift" I would feel leaving theater after seeing the movie is really catharsis, and I seem to remember somebody, maybe a high school English teacher, saying that catharsis is what you are "supposed to feel" from great classical tragedy.
Br. Patrick:
Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since I discovered the story and the film. I have seen this film 5 times in the theaters and 5 times on DVD and never heard the "Jack". The film devastates me for days so I have to be careful if I need to be in control of my emotions publicly for the few days after a viewing. I LOVE this scene. First of all, it shows Ennis really smiling. Lookin' up to heaven and giving thanks - so cool - and then it's back to reality. If you can't fix it... to me is Ennis' DEFENSE MECHANISM for his whole life. If you think of his biography, that's how he survived! I had a similar one. When I was about 8 years old I was left alone all night for the first time. I sat in the middle of the floor and cried and cried and heard every creak in the house, the empty house, that I was now alone in. My solution became My Defense Mechanism. I promised myself never to NEED anyone ever! And with one exception, I have never felt loneliness in my life because of that Defense Mechanism. To say that it stunted my emotional growth would be an understatement. BUT I SURVIVED. I currently live alone, a Benedictine Monk (hermit). The first time I saw BBM MY Defense Mechanism for not needing anyone ever disappeared! I borrowed Ennis' "If you can't fix it.." until I could deal with this in therapy (I've been in therapy since 1989). But Ennis is also using it to handle his own HOMOPHOBIA! Look at his 'conflicted face' in the Motel while Jack BEAMS... Early childhood trauma's scar us. We create Defense Mechanisms to handle it. But SOMETHING is ALWAYS LOST in that process.
peace :)
br. patrick
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on December 16, 2006, 02:57:28 am ---After a while, my love for BBM has become a central part of my worldview -- a part of my soul, really -- so that even though it's still always there and always affecting the way I see things, it's not constantly on the surface of my consciousness. Does that make sense?
--- End quote ---
Yes, it makes complete sense to me... and I suspect it probably makes sense to many long-time Brokies around here. BBM has completely changed the way I move through the world... on deep and profound levels (too complex to go into here) and has even changed the way I react to mundane things. Now, electric fans, the wind in the grass, coffeepots, whiskey, and sheep (to name just a few things) get me excited and whistful in ways never before contemplated prior to BBM. And, I think my bond with y'all (with BetterMost Brokies in general) is especially strong because I feel like we've all gone through this process of discovery together. We've had the experience together of figuring out some of the major themes, symbols, controversies, ambiguities, etc. that seem central to Brokeback. I think I'm most nostalgic for those days of discovery. I'm confident that BBM contains many more mysteries to unpack, but I'm also aware lately that many of the main themes have probably been teased out by now. I'm very jealous of the newbies sometimes... and their awe and excitement... because I truly remember that (and still feel it... or at least know that it's there and legitimate). And, at least some of us have had the collective bonding experience of the move from imdb to BetterMost (and back again in some cases). When I think about all the deep thinking and debating we've done together on this board... it's truly amazing.
:-*
cheers
Amanda
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on December 15, 2006, 06:05:08 pm ---As a matter of fact, I might as well say it, at the risk of upsetting a lot of people, but getting slammed by this scene back in August has pretty much changed my entire emotional response to the film. I won't say I see it as less tragic, because that wouldn't be correct, but I now do see it as less--I don't know--operatic (?)--in the intensity of its emotions. And hand in hand with that, Film Ennis now looks more like Story Ennis to me than he did six months ago. I can't explain it, I just know this to be how I'm feeling.
And then again, I am hoping this Sunday evening to make the time to watch the DVD again. By calendar date, Sunday is one day shy of the first time I saw the film in the theater. And who knows but that something else will hit me like that proverbial ton of bricks and my understanding will change again. :-\
--- End quote ---
(Geez, how self-referential is that--quoting myself? ;D )
Anyway, had my Personal Anniversary Eve viewing last night. No changes in emotional response or understanding. Noticed, however, how tightly Ennis is gripping Jack's jacket when Jack embraces him after his collapse at the lake.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on December 16, 2006, 11:26:11 pm --- And, I think my bond with y'all (with BetterMost Brokies in general) is especially strong because I feel like we've all gone through this process of discovery together. We've had the experience together of figuring out some of the major themes, symbols, controversies, ambiguities, etc. that seem central to Brokeback.
--- End quote ---
Good way to put it, Amanda. We're such a diverse group -- all ages and genders and ethnicities and sexualities and professions and nationalities and backgrounds, scattered around the world, people who might not have a lot in common otherwise and almost certainly would not have crossed paths any other way. Yet we have this one weird, powerful thing uniting us. I will never understand exactly why it happened to us, a small percentage of viewers of the movie, and not to either everybody else who saw it or nobody who saw it. But I'm glad it did! I feel proud to be a member of the Brokie community, strange an identity as that may be. :-* :D
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