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Ennis' non-vomiting

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kirkmusic:
I've read a bunch of people say that when Jack drives away after the first summer on Brokeback, Ennis walks into a (whatever that little area was) and vomits.  In the short story and also on the screen what we can see actually happening is Ennis heaving but nothing coming out.  Like there's something inside that instinctually needs to come out, to be expressed, but can't and doesn't.  Like even when his body is desperately trying to open Ennis up, he can't comply.  Good image that.  And it was Annie's to begin with.

I hope I'm not repeating an old thread.  I haven't seen it anywhere so I thought I'd bring it up.

vkm91941:
Agreed Kirk it's almost like inconsolable grief.  Being brokenhearted at the sudden awareness of the enormity of the loss.  After the closeness and intimacy they shared for 2 months, to watch Jack drive away with the belief he would never see him again. That's what brought Ennis to his knees.

Jeff Wrangler:
Like even when his body is desperately trying to open Ennis up, he can't comply.

Nice way to put it, Kirk.

Ennis's body knows what it's losing, but his mind can't or won't grasp it. It's like Diana Ossana says in her essay in Story to Screenplay, he's completely out of touch with his own feelings.

serious crayons:
Well, who am I to argue with Diana, but it seems to me that Movie Ennis is less out of touch with his feelings (as in, not aware of them because they're too subconscious or complex) than he is overwhelmed by his feelings, afraid of them and unable to express them. Of course, maybe that's what Diana meant.

Movie Ennis was shocked and upset as soon as he saw the tent taken down, sulked for an hour and not only vomited in the alley but also punched the wall, collapsed and cried. Even when he fought with Jack back on the mountain, he was expressing his frustration and anger at the situation, and maybe also at Jack for seeming so chipper. (I also think the fighting was a way to get in some last bit of physical contact when he didn't know how to initiate it romantically, and that impulse probably WAS more subconscious on his part.) In other words, Ennis pretty much knew how he felt, but had no idea what to do about it.

Story Ennis I would describe as out of touch, though. He tells Jack it took him a year to figure out why he vomited. There's a sense that his emotions are more suppressed.

Jeff Wrangler:

--- Quote from: latjoreme on April 13, 2006, 09:31:45 am ---Well, who am I to argue with Diana, but it seems to me that Movie Ennis is less out of touch with his feelings (as in, not aware of them because they're too subconscious or complex) than he is overwhelmed by his feelings, afraid of them and unable to express them. Of course, maybe that's what Diana meant.

Movie Ennis was shocked and upset as soon as he saw the tent taken down, sulked for an hour and not only vomited in the alley but also punched the wall, collapsed and cried. Even when he fought with Jack back on the mountain, he was expressing his frustration and anger at the situation, and maybe also at Jack for seeming so chipper. (I also think the fighting was a way to get in some last bit of physical contact when he didn't know how to initiate it romantically, and that impulse probably WAS more subconscious on his part.) In other words, Ennis pretty much knew how he felt, but had no idea what to do about it.

Story Ennis I would describe as out of touch, though. He tells Jack it took him a year to figure out why he vomited. There's a sense that his emotions are more suppressed.

--- End quote ---

Now, isn't that funny? It seems to me that you and I see "the two Ennises" (Story vs. Film) exactly opposite. (But I agree with your point about Ennis being overwhelmed by his feelings. He is certainly that. But I would submit that being overwhelmed doesn't necessarily mean being in touch.)

It did take Story Ennis a year to figure out what caused his gut cramps--but he did figure it out. By the time Jack comes back to Wyoming after four years, he knows perfectly well what's going on with himself and Jack. He just won't act on it out of fear of society's reaction.

In contrast, with help from reading Diana's essay in Story to Screenplay, my understanding is that all that dialogue that I love so much in Annie Proulx's motel scene--about how he shouldn't have let Jack out of his sights, and so forth--is not in the movie because Film Ennis hasn't figured it out--in other words, he's not in touch with his feelings. And he doesn't really "get it" until the end, when he finds those shirts, and it's too late.

That's how I understand the film. That's my Brokeback Mountain and I'm stickin' to it.    ;)

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