BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum

Our BetterMost Community => Chez Tremblay => Topic started by: Kd5000 on April 28, 2006, 01:01:52 pm

Title: I know this has probably been asked before, timeframe for how long before Jack
Post by: Kd5000 on April 28, 2006, 01:01:52 pm
and Ennis got it on. Two weeks or so, or do you think it was longer.  I would have thought it would have taken longer for "Romeo" to make his moves, the getting familiar with the job, the getting comfortable with each other, starting to confide thigns in each other, the night they both get drunk and Jack invites him into the tent. Well it would take me longer then two weeks to make the move. ;)  It's hard to tell where you stand with a guy like Ennis. Then again I'm thinking from a perspective of someone who is now 42, not 19.   Maybe 19 year olds are more spontaneous.

Wasn't there time together on BBM a mere two months as they were shorted out by one month. Maybe I have miscalculated.  So they had 1 1/2 months of bliss. Was it longer?
Title: Re: I know this has probably been asked before, timeframe for how long before Jack
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on April 28, 2006, 01:11:11 pm
I remember a thread on this at the old IMDb homestead, and I remember thinking personally that about a month elapsed before "it" happened, but I can't at the moment remember why I thought it was a month. Maybe it had to do with the shots of the full moon to indicated elapsed time? (It's been a while since I last watched the DVD. Spending too much time on the board, writing fanfiction. ...)
Title: Re: I know this has probably been asked before, timeframe for how long before Jack
Post by: PatSinnott on April 28, 2006, 01:13:02 pm
There is a full moon the night Jack is up on the mountain with the sheep, and looks over to see Ennis' campfire.  The night they spend together in the tent is also a full moon, so about a month.  I just watched the DVD again last night, so I'm sure they were both full moons.
Title: Re: I know this has probably been asked before, timeframe for how long before Jack
Post by: starboardlight on April 28, 2006, 01:42:35 pm
Yeah, I think it as our henrypie that had a post about the fullmoon dates back on CT. I wish we'd saved it. but we figured it was atleast a month. There were definitely 2 full moons.
Title: Re: I know this has probably been asked before, timeframe for how long before Ja
Post by: newyearsday on April 28, 2006, 02:12:33 pm
We have the full moon thread! The whole original post thread from the big board at IMDb has been saved. It will be up on the archive in due time. So much to do, but never enough time, never enough....
Title: Re: I know this has probably been asked before, timeframe for how long before Jack
Post by: Kd5000 on April 28, 2006, 02:30:01 pm
Thanks for the replies. So fast. Didn't know ppl were basing it on lunar calculation.

Yeah, it would take me about a month. More realistic. :)

A) Week 1 & 2, just focused on learning the ropes, getting the routine established.

B) Week 2 and 3, getting to know each other, exchanging chit chat, regular guy stuff, developing a rapore (?Sp),

C) Week 4,  confiding things in each other, getting more personable, a degree of trust is established, it's okay to make a move as he might be thinkin the same thing as I am...
Title: Re: I know this has probably been asked before, timeframe for how long before Jack
Post by: henrypie on April 28, 2006, 02:56:12 pm
Just to fess up, it wasn't me with the moon thing.  Moon-calculations are just math in disguise and therefore a brain-switcher-offer for me.

But think -- a whole month! of not knowing/acknowledging/doing what they were there for.  And for Jack, who kinda maybe knew?  Man, good thing there was an icy stream nearby.
Title: Re: I know this has probably been asked before, timeframe for how long before Ja
Post by: MaineWriter on April 28, 2006, 04:37:33 pm
This is Leslie, and I came up with the original moonie thread...surf managed to save bits and pieces of it during the troll wars. Here it is. The first part is mine and some of the later comments came from others:

“Because this movie has become an obsession and I am into all sorts of useless trivia, I decided to figure out, what was the exact date on which they met? What was the date of the tent scene?

Assuming they go up on the mountain in the spring, I found out the full moon for May, 1963, which happened to be May 8 (if you remember, the first night on the mountain, there was a full moon). So assume they had their "job interview" with Aguirre on May 7 (he says they'll truck them up the next day)--May 7, 1963 was a Monday, which makes sense for starting the workweek.

So they meet on May 7, head up the mountain on May 8. The first night in the tent there was also a full moon which would mean a month had passed since they met. The full moon in June was June 7, 1963. Again, that makes sense since Ennis got so cold when the fire died out. It wasn't the heat of the summer yet.

Why is any of this important? It's not, really, but I find some comfort in knowing they had more than two months of loving each other before they had to leave the mountain.”

“These dates also make sense because in the story (this isn't in the movie) it mentions that they talked about the Thresher sinking. That happened on April 10, 1963 so it was just a month prior to their start up on the mountain. Clearly it would still be on their minds as a topic of conversation.”


“Because of the two full moons, it was obvious that at least one month had passed between their arrival on Brokeback and the first tent scene. It's lovely to think they had as long as two months together as lovers before they had to part--”


“Or even more simply--that Ang finds a full moon not only deeply meaningful, but auspicious, and for reasons of his own decided to always show it as full--


“in the Classical Reference thread, it was brought up that the full moon in Chinese classical literature and poetry represent lovers' union. It was a consensus that this meaning is significant, because Ang Lee would have brought that from his own background. We see the imagery of the full moon used all three times in relation to Jack and Ennis. The first the full moon is partially obscured behind clouds, as Jack looks down the mountain at the dot of fire that is Ennis's camp. Their love is yet to be revealed. The second time, the moon is emerging from clouds. This is right before their sexual awaking. The third, the moon is fully open, during their fishing trip.”