BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum
Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond => Brokeback Mountain Open Forum => Topic started by: RossInIllinois on April 23, 2007, 10:49:41 pm
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I just watched the movie again and noticed Ennis with a paper bag in his hand when first arriving in the movie THEN AGAIN the bag looks almost the same when he leaves Jacks parents home. I wonder if this was intentional? If so why?
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OMG How funny I never saw that "other" thread ;D
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The paper bag strikes me as an almost biblical reference. In the beginning stories of the Redeemer, Jesus, he was born in a manger, which is a place where animals eat
(to eat=manger). And then on his last evening on earth, he took bread and presented it to his disciples and said, "Here is my body, which is broken for you."
In the same way, Ennis arrived at Brokeback Mountain with a couple of shirts in a paper bag. At the end of the movie, he was leaving Lightning Flat, with the two shirts, consecrated with blood, in a paper bag.
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Wow, Lee, that is some deep Biblical analogy there. Impressive!
And here, I always thought it was just cause Ennis couldn't afford a proper suitcase to carry his clothes/gear around at the beginning. ;D And then in the second instance, he arrived expecting to take away nothing but some additional insight into his friend, so the bag had to be given to him by Jack's mom. What else could she have offered him from that sparse house? In other words, I never saw it as anything but practical. But I kinda dig your metaphysical take on it.
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At the end of the movie, he was leaving Lightning Flat, with the two shirts, consecrated with blood, in a paper bag.
The paper bag as Holy Grail.
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Just a little over six years ago, I was leaving the museum in Casper, Wyoming, after hearing Annie Proulx speak for the first time. My new friends and I were on our way to eat at the Wonder Bar, but we had a little time to spend before dinner. We decided to go over to the library next door which was having a sale of old books in its basement. I bought a raggedy paperback of The Virginian and a Life Magazine from the '60s and another book, and EDelMar bought a stack of books, one about the general store in Lysite whose owner he knew. He put the books in the cab of The Truck and then we walked down the sidewalk towards the bar. He paused as he was about to dispose of the paper bag the books had been wrapped in into a trash container and then gave it to me. "Would you keep this for me?" he said. "I like the way it rustles." I accepted the bag reverently and stowed it in my own car along with my purchases. Later, I gave it back to him.
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The paper bag in the beginning of the film held what was important to him, his extra change of clothes. At the end of the film, it held extra clothes that represented his relationship with Jack, which by then had become the most imporant thing to him.
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For me the paper bag represent a circular movement. In the beginning, all Ennis has is a paper bag with clothes. And inspite of everything, that´s all he is really left with in the end too. In the end, Ennis hasn´t really evolved much since we first see him, paper bag in hand, jump down from that semi-trailer - he is still in Wyoming, still working 24/7 and is still afraid of his own shadow.
"...high-school drop-out country boys with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation."
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The paper bags are also a bookend, containing the whole movie.
The first one at the very beginning of the film, the last one in the next-to-last scene.
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The paper bag in the beginning of the film held what was important to him, his extra change of clothes. At the end of the film, it held extra clothes that represented his relationship with Jack, which by then had become the most imporant thing to him.
Yes Indeed!
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Lovely to see you again, friend. Merry Christmas!
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Welcome back Ross!