Our BetterMost Community > The Polling Place
Your age and your favourite cowboy
Brown Eyes:
OK, so I found the reference to Ennis and light. It's interesting... it turns out that what I was remembering was an interview with Jake!
Here's the quotation-
"We talked a lot. Heath would say stuff to me like, ‘I really think this character is very sensitive to light and I think he’s very sensitive to sound. He doesn’t really like being around any place that’s too noisy.’ We would talk a lot about that. And then when it came to doing love scenes and stuff like that, the best metaphor I can give is that it felt like we were both like, ‘Are you ready? Yeah. Let’s go,’ and we dove off the boat into the deep end. It’s like when you’re terrified of the water, you see a little kid thrown in the water and they’re trying to get back to the boat as fast as they can. That’s what it was like. But at the same time when we were there we really went for it." and the interview was titled "Jake Gyllenhaal Talks About "Brokeback Mountain"
by Mary Rebecca Murray. I don't know exactly where it came from because it's something I saved to my hard-drive without preserving the web link. I think I found it on something like "about.com" but I could be wrong.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughtful replies to my post Katherine. It's interesting to hear about your lesbian friend's disinterest in BBM. I'm not really that surprised. My best lesbian friend still hasn't seen it (and she's a very smart movie buff, etc.). Her reason is that she read the story long ago and didn't like it much. lol. And, interestingly, my best gay boy friend (and he's truly my best friend) really likes BBM, but no where near as much as I do. Well, there's no accounting for taste.
::) :D
I feel a new thread topic coming on... "how to deal with friends who don't like and/or get BBM." A friend of mine is coming over on Wednesday to watch my copy of BBM with me. She's never seen it yet. And, for what it's worth, as far as I know she's straight. So, anyway, I'm actually nervous about this whole situation. She has no idea of my level of obsession (of the amount of time I've spent discussing the movie, that I'm registered to such a thing as "BetterMost," etc.) and now I'm worried about how I'll deal with this if she doesn't like it. I'll try not to drive her crazy by overwhelming her with observations about buckets and coffeepots and the like. I'll have to restrain myself especially when it comes to that darn topic of the wind.
::)
Of all the millions of times I've seen BBM, I've only watched it with another person once. My 4th theatre viewing was with a girl I was casually dating and it was her first viewing. The fun thing was that a week or so later I was talking to her and she reported the problem of "not being able to get the film out of her head." The first symptoms of Brokeback fever. I was rather pleased.
OK, sorry for the crazy personal tangent.
Trying to return to topic...
I don't think that Ennis is more complex than Jack... they're just complex in different ways. I do think Ennis is significantly more tortured... by himself primarily. Jack's complexity, I think manifests itself, at least in part by how smart he is in dealing with Ennis (in understanding and reacting to Ennis's complexities was no easy accomplishment). He knows just what to say, what to hold back, how to find the level of intimacy that Ennis needs, etc. My favorite early example of Jack being smart at the level of flirting is his famous reaction to Ennis's little playful taunt "my Daddy thought all rodeo cowboys were f*** ups". Instead of actually getting mad, or taking this personally, Jack realizes that this is an opportunity to make Ennis smile and loosen up. So, he swallows the little insult and decides to do his little rodeo imitation. I feel like, as silly as that example may be on the surface, it shows a lot about Jack's personality, self-control and determination.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: atz75 on May 07, 2006, 01:28:17 am --- But at the same time when we were there we really went for it." ... "Jake Gyllenhaal Talks About "Brokeback Mountain"
--- End quote ---
That's for sure! :D And thank god for that!
--- Quote ---I feel a new thread topic coming on... "how to deal with friends who don't like and/or get BBM." A friend of mine is coming over on Wednesday to watch my copy of BBM with me. She's never seen it yet. And, for what it's worth, as far as I know she's straight. So, anyway, I'm actually nervous about this whole situation. She has no idea of my level of obsession (of the amount of time I've spent discussing the movie, that I'm registered to such a thing as "BetterMost," etc.) and now I'm worried about how I'll deal with this if she doesn't like it. I'll try not to drive her crazy by overwhelming her with observations about buckets and coffeepots and the the like. I'll have to restrain myself especially when it comes to that darn topic of the wind.
--- End quote ---
Tricky situation! Maybe you should give her some idea before you hit play, for both of your sakes. The chances of her being equally obsessed are pretty small. There are what, about 300 of us here, out of the 10 million or however many who've seen the movie ... I've wondered, too, how to even begin to describe the metaphors and nuances to the uninitiated. My approach is to start with the most obvious ones: the gutted sheep -- even on my first viewing, I realized that was a metaphor for something -- and pointing out how Lureen's line about husbands never dancing with their wives could have another meaning. Then I hope they get interested enough to take it from there.
I've more or less given up on trying to get my husband to watch it. If I kept after him, I'm sure he probably would, but now I'm thinking that unless he asks I'll probably keep it to myself. Probably not a healthy situation, but we're too out of balance about it by now. I'd prefer he not see it at all than see it and not love it.
--- Quote ---OK, sorry for the crazy personal tangent.
--- End quote ---
Don't be! That's what we're here for.
--- Quote ---Trying to return to topic...
I don't think that Ennis is more complex than Jack... they're just complex in different ways. I do think Ennis is significantly more tortured... by himself primarily. Jack's complexity, I think manifests itself, at least in part by how smart he is in dealing with Ennis (in understanding and reacting to Ennis's complexities was no easy accomplishment). He knows just what to say, what to hold back, how to find the level of intimacy that Ennis needs, etc. My favorite early example of Jack being smart at the level of flirting is his famous reaction to Ennis's little playful taunt "my Daddy thought all rodeo cowboys were f*** ups". Instead of actually getting mad, or taking this personally, Jack realizes that this is an opportunity to make Ennis smile and loosen up. So, he swallows the little insult and decides to do his little rodeo imitation. I feel like, as silly as that example may be on the surface, it shows a lot about Jack's personality, self-control and determination.
--- End quote ---
Agreed with all of the above. Not to get too pop-psych, but Jack has a lot of emotional intelligence -- far more than Ennis. I don't mean to imply Jack isn't wise or sensitive (and he has a great sense of humor about teasing!). By complex, I suppose I mean something closer to "conflicted."
Front-Ranger:
This is really interesting...there is a thread about friends and loved ones that don't get it. It's called Secrets and Lies. Great interview with Jake! Thanks for finding it.
chefjudy:
:) interesting poll - those of us over 35 are split pretty evenly between Jack and Ennis............
kudzudaddy:
Great thread!
So many interesting responses... Amanda -- love your perspective... and so well-said, too.
I'm definitely an Ennis man and the "nurture" angle is definitely part of it. Want to hug him and tell him it's all right just like Jack did... and in the bedroom in lightning flats... I want to rip through the screen to comfort him. To watch that edifice crumble is almost unbearable... to know that underneath that craggy stoic outside is a scared 9-year old boy wishing daddy would just take him home....
But some hurts never heal -- some wrongs are never righted... and life, like nature just keeps rolling along.
This from a certified old fart of the gay persuasion.
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