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Am I Nuts???
Front-Ranger:
Good observation, Ellemeno! I hope you will mention the shirt on the "buckets and birds" thread! I started to notice the references to Jack as like a horse during crucial scenes, but the only reference to Ennis being like a bird that I found so far was when he was lying "spread eagled" on the bed in the motel scene.
Now that I have had the chance to alternate reading the short story with watching the DVD, it's interesting how Ennis is portrayed much more as the "unattainable object of love" in the movie. This makes us so frustrated at the unfairness to Jack but adds to the dramatic tension, I guess. The story is much more about two men who stand together against the world, while the film is more about Jack against Ennis, the world, and everything. Even his father-in-law and wife, who are more neutral in the story. It almost verges on being unbelievable that the whole world would be against this beautiful and lovable person! (I railed on that topic some more in my "Jack was maligned unfairly" thread on IMDB, now safely archived here.) Whenever watching the movie gets me down too much, I go back and read the story. It helps.
ednbarby:
Excellent point, F-R. I have that problem with the movie versus the story, too - I find it almost unbearable that *everyone* could be against that beautiful person to some extent or another. Not unbelievable, actually, but unbearable. And I think you've touched on why I was so devastated on my second viewing of the movie - much moreso than I was on my first. I think a second viewing is necessary to really *see* Jack. At least it was for me. To see how almost angelic he is - how much he sacrifices, and how he finally makes the ultimate sacrifice for/because of his beloved. The same thing happened to my husband on his second viewing the other night - he actually wept openly during the entire Lightning Flat visit whereas he barely got misty the first time he saw it in January - I'll have to ask him why he thinks that is. Most likely in his very Ennis-like way, he'll say next to nothing in response. :-\ But it's still worth a shot, right?
And I, too, noticed the frowning and the quivering lips on Ennis in the final tent scene. I had before thought of him as sleeping peacefully with Jack, but I realize that would be out of keeping with his character and with what we know he's going to have to tell Jack in the morning, so of course his sleep would be fitful. And yes, it makes me deeply, deeply sad.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Ellemeno on April 18, 2006, 02:07:16 pm ---I tend to feel angry/irked with Ennis when he withholds from Jack his expression of love. So when Jack says, "Truth is sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it," and Ennis says nothing at all back, I start getting pissed off at Ennis. And then when I see him holding Jack while Jack is asleep, I think "Why can't you show him that tenderness when he's awake?" And I hope that Jack can be aware of the holding, but worry that he's sleeping through it and missing it.
My annoyance with Ennis around his not responding to Jack's "Truth is..." speech was mitigated when I realized (through someone here pointing it out) that when Jack says those powerful words of yearning and pain, Ennis must feel piles and piles of guilt and dread, because he already knows that they won't be seeing each other til November, but still hasn't told Jack yet. So, as always, my annoyance with Ennis melts into "Poor Ennis," for his plight.
--- End quote ---
I think both of these issues -- Ennis' unresponsiveness to Jack's "truth is" statement, and what the flung arm indicates -- are examples of this movie's agonizing ambiguity. Personally, whenever there are two ways to interpret something, one happier and one sadder, I tend to grasp at the happy one, because there's enough sadness already.
So my interpretation is that when Ennis turns from Jack and looks quietly troubled, he is thinking about the news he has to break. And his arm flung over Jack is a sign that they were intimate earlier, and that they still have a good physical relationship, whether Jack's awake or not.
But I can see how you could go the other way with these.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on April 18, 2006, 02:42:32 pm ---Excellent point, F-R. I have that problem with the movie versus the story, too - I find it almost unbearable that *everyone* could be against that beautiful person to some extent or another. Not unbelievable, actually, but unbearable. And I think you've touched on why I was so devastated on my second viewing of the movie - much moreso than I was on my first. I think a second viewing is necessary to really *see* Jack. At least it was for me. To see how almost angelic he is - how much he sacrifices, and how he finally makes the ultimate sacrifice for/because of his beloved.
--- End quote ---
The way you so eloquently describe it, Barb, makes me think of the idea of the boddhisatva, the angel-like being who gives up everlasting nirvana in order to help other humans achieve enlightenment. Hopefully his sacrifice helped Ennis understand himself at last and led to the small epiphany that he had to go to Alma, Jr.'s wedding. Who knows, maybe he met somebody new at the wedding? One can dream.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on April 18, 2006, 06:16:00 pm ---Who knows, maybe he met somebody new at the wedding? One can dream.
--- End quote ---
Well, that would be better than nothing because Ennis would be less lonely. But the new guy wouldn't be Jack, so it would be kind of like Jack finding happiness with Randall rather than Ennis: Unsatisfying. (And I'm afraid I doubt Ennis would go for it anyway.)
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