In the end, I think their relationship/attraction has everything to do with the
Yes?? Talk about a cliffhanger!
Yes?? Talk about a cliffhanger!
Eventually, I think their attraction has everything to do with the yin and yang symbol. They realize they're bound to one another because each one embodies character traits (often opposite traits) that the other one desperately needs to be complete and fulfilled.
that's a female view of a man's experience. Both in the SS and the film, ennis' inner self-doubt and yearnings were subtle and typical of a man in his situation. Again, good reading in the modern manhood blog.
Fair enough. but, we do know that both men were, in fact, inclined toward homosexuality. At 19, they were within their peak years of sexual motivation. Their location, situations, knowledge and awareness bases inhibited much direct or overt expressions, and that is what made the story so filled with anticipation--when, where, how, how much would their initial attraction lead?
I feel confident that neither ennis or jack would have responded positively to the other had their been a 'gayness' about his character or behavior. No way. It was outward shroud of masculinity with a difficult to determine undercurrent of sexual allure and curiousity that led to step two, imo and experience.
That was wonderful Buffy......
Even waterboarding wouldn't get that out of me! ;D
You know, maybe they didn't realize it was actual LOVE until they saw each other at their reunion.That´s how I think about it. I think it was first then that they realised how strong their bond was, that´s it indeed wasn´t a one shot thing.
but they still could walk away from one another after that, not knowing if they would ever see each other again.
Monika, I love your captioned image series. Love love love it. I would love to figure out a way for it to be stand alone visible for everyone to see.
BTW, might as well open up this other can of worms . . any normal people who had worked together all summer, and who could stand each other even a little bit would have parted differently than AP had them part. Jack would have offered Ennis a ride to the highway at the very least. They had come down a month early, neither one was expected anywhere in a big hurry, so Jack conceivably could have offered to take him all the way or part way to Riverton. But I think they (Ang, AP) didn't allow that - cause once Ennis was in Jack's truck, they'd have more freedom. They might start thinking creatively (after they had sex 16 times, of course) about their future. Anyone ever think it strange how they parted?
Judy
In the S.S I love the way that mention is made of the fact that less and less time is spent with the sheep and more with each other, this even before TS1. It almost resembles a courtship dance, nothing admitted, yet at the same time an unspoken desire to spend more time with each other, and less doing their job. For me the S.S is more illuminating than the film, where after TS1 it says " without saying anything about it both knew how it would go for the rest of the summer, sheep be damned"
It is interesting that everything does seem to come quite easily to Jack, nothing dents his enthusiasm until much later. Yet when Ennis visits the Twist family home, he realises just how far Jack has travelled.Thanks for the post, Fiona. Beautiful and heartbreaking indeed.
I always find it quite unbearably sad that in the end, and in spite of what they have experienced, physically at least, neither of them has actually travelled that far. Jack is back in the home he grew up in,and was so desperate to escape, not even his request for his ashes is respected, Ennis is in his trailer and in the S.S we are led to believe is moving on yet again.
Emotionally we will never know how far Jack had journeyed, Ennis we are at least shown a glimpse of the beginnings of an emotional breakthrough.
To me, both the s.s and the film end with no real inner peace for either Jack or Ennis. The euphoria they both experienced on BBM was never again captured. There would be some closure, if Jack had at least been able to have his ashes scattered there, in time Ennis too could have joined him.
If the Twists really knew about Jack and Ennis and the almost mythical BBM, then it is an act of monumental cruelty, for OMT not to have carried out his only child's wishes.
It also strikes me as slightly out of kilter with what we know of the religious proclivities, of at least Jack's mum. Is it not one of the most heinous crimes, for church going beings, not to carry out the wishes of the deceased. It only reinforces for me, the cruelty of OMT. I am certain that his wife would have been more than happy to make sure Jack was laid to rest where he had asked.
Oh my, this film and story still have such an emotional impact even after all this time. I am not particularly religious but to think that someone has no peace, even in death, delivers an almighty blow to the heart.
I absolutely love those words, they tear, my very soul apart, what a perfect example of Bittersweet. Like you I also wonder about the Jack we do not see,more so than Ennis. Does he as you say, go upstairs to his room and try to breathe in the very essence of Ennis and BBM. Does he cry as he recalls the idyllic summer that was Brokeback.
Does BBM ever let go I wonder, or will I be forever be held captive within its spell ?
although I really don't thinkDo you think that Jack realised it earlier or at the same time as Ennis, Bailey?
he was completely able to comprehend that what his feelings were were love
until after their reunion.
Do you think that Jack realised it earlier or at the same time as Ennis, Bailey?
Oh, I do think Jack realized it while on that mountain.
He knew Ennis was skittish about the 'queer' part.
It was actually Jack in the SS that said it was a one shot thing, nobody's business but ours.
I think when they both came down off that mountain, they both knew something special happened
between them, but they didn't know how to articulate it.
As Ennis said in the reunion...... I been setting up here all this time wondering if I was..............
then he went on to say I know I ain't.
I think that line says exactly how Ennis was feeling.......to accept he was in love with Jack, was to him, admitting he was queer....he really did not want to think of himself as queer.
Even at the reunion, he is still reinforcing, that he "knows he aint".......was marrying Alma and being able to make love to a woman, his justification that he was not?
It seems he was more concerned about thinking himself queer, than anything else.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f322/buffymon/BM_0154.jpg) He does it for me, I know it ain´t no fun up there. He´s doing it for me...why would anyone do something like that for me?
I think the only time that he (Jack) ever felt fulfilled and accepted for who he really was, was that distant summer on Brokeback Mountain and I think he spent the rest of his life trying to recreate it. But as you pointed out, in the end he ends up back home with his parents who doesn't even carry out his last wishes.
Like you I also wonder about the Jack we do not see,more so than Ennis. Does he as you say, go upstairs to his room and try to breathe in the very essence of Ennis and BBM. Does he cry as he recalls the idyllic summer that was Brokeback.
I so often think of Jack as the being like a candle flickering in the breeze, close to being extinguished and yet somehow managing to burn for a little while longer. It would be glorious and much easier to imagine Jack as the eternal flame,clinging onto a vague yet ever dimming hope of some solace around the next bend. The words in the story, "let be, let be" seem to indicate that as he recalls and relishes the moment of the dozy embrace, he dare not allow himself to think more deeply.That to me seems to indicate that although outwardly optimistic, his inner self knows the reality and as such any exploration of the true situation is too much to even contemplate.
Even to-day, gays do not think of themselves as queer! Gays are persons like everyone else who is not gay! We all are humans!
Being a gay man, I do not think that I am queer! But one thinks about that that (some) others do, and maybe gay bashing might be from them!
It was only spirit of being oneself that made Ennis and Jack attract to each other as a couple, a loving one!! I see that as that! Does anyone else do?
I have no problem with the word "queer." I wear it as a badge of honour. I'm in good company.
I have no problem with the word "queer." I wear it as a badge of honour. I'm in good company.
Queer is only derogatory if you allow it to be, so I agree with you.
In the north of England there is a very old phrase, there's nowt so queer as folk, normally muttered in conjunction with, there's more out than in. !! Iam definitely very queer/strange/odd, but it at least spares me from the grey cloak of mediocrity.
One good thing about moving to the states, is many of my quirks are perfectly acceptable and accepted as part of the perceived eccenticity of the British. ;D
I think his fear of thinking of himself as queer was bigger then his fear of the tire iron.
Exactly Marie !!!I think you're right. The image from the movie that has always stuck in my mind in regard to this, is the look on Jack's face as he watches Ennis ride off; it's a look of perfect contentment . In this exact moment, there is not any other place on earth he would rather be. I think that was a very rare state of mind for dreamer Jack. How could he possibly do something besides fall in love?
I don't think they had ever encountered anyone before in their life that showed them one damn bit of companionship.
Someone that really listened and cared.
They truly understood each other.
I think you're right. The image from the movie that has always stuck in my mind in regard to this, is the look on Jack's face as he watches Ennis ride off; it's a look of perfect contentment . In this exact moment, there is not any other place on earth he would rather be. I think that was a very rare state of mind for dreamer Jack. How could he possibly do something besides fall in love?
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f322/buffymon/BM_1292-3.jpg)
Does BBM ever let go? Well, in my own case, I thought I was pretty much all cried out. Until, that is, I read what you wrote above. And back again the tears came. Looks like I'm a captive for life and I'm at peace with that.
I see it as perfect contentment also.Yes, love is what I see too. After all, the ss refers to it as a "single moment of artless, charmed happiness.
Probably never had anyone to ever hold him like that before.
Even though Ennis wouldn't hold him from the front because he didn't
want to know it was a man he was holding.
Jack knew what it meant.
When I see that scene, I see a look of love in Jacks eyes.
This expression on Jack's face was enuff to earn him the Oscar right there, IMHO.Amen to that!
Same here. I think about Ennis and Jack all the time. I even dream about them...still!