Questions- Ennis and rifle and sweaters

[Delmardeb]

From a Newbie to Experienced Brokies:

I have 2 questions to ask- one is why does Ennis bring his rifle when he and Jack talk after the FNIT scene? Second question- Is there any significance why Alma and Jack's mother are wearing the same blue sweaters?

[LauraGigs]

You always have a rifle handy when discussing your sexual orientation.  (A crucial point of Cowboy Etiquette.)   

Seriously, these are great questions.

From a filmmaking point of view, it created a great moment of tension and suspense.  At that point you don't know what Ennis is thinking or what he will do.  (Is he so homophobic, ashamed of what he did, or angry with Jack for what happened that he would consider threatening Jack with violence?)  You see it quickly, too, in Jack's worried upward glance at Ennis — until Ennis crouches down and starts talking.

[LauraGigs]

One thing to notice is that over her house dress, Jack's mother wears a beige plaid shirt with the blue sweater over it, just like the 2 shirts she wants Ennis to find.  (I never noticed until I saw this photo:)
 

Anyway, in Eastern culture (Ang Lee is Taiwanese), blue is the color of love. It has also been said that everyone who loves Ennis wears blue. (Jack is clad head-to-foot in it through most of the film. In the reunion-kiss scene, he wears blue with red—the Eastern color of joy.)

Expect many others to weigh in on these great questions!

[ifyoucantfixit]

          I always thought of it as a safety issue..As in when Jack took the rifle off the horse and laid it on the log..A horse is a live being, and if it got spooked, it could possibly cause the rifle to discharge..Being raised around horses and guns...We would have always known not to leave it on the horse,,,You could get the horse or yourself killed in any case.

[ifyoucantfixit]

               Holy cow.  I have seen that movie so many times i have quit counting..Last night yet again...I never noticed that before either.

[LauraGigs]

I realized I forgot to address (duh) your main point about why similar sweaters are worn by Mrs. Twist and Alma.

I'm not an expert on Ang Lee, but it seems that he touches a lot on family and inter-generational issues in most of his films.  My theory on the both-sweaters question is that it illustrates how love (or the ability to love) is passed through the generations in BBM. 

Mrs. Twist definitely passed it on to Jack (and it is said that Jack's love for Ennis is channeled through her in this scene).  And love is passed from Ennis to Alma Jr. in the final scene — maybe thanks to the love he received from Jack.  So maybe the continuity of love passed from Ma Twist —> Jack —> Ennis —> Alma Jr is being implied here.

[RossInIllinois]

Ang Lee has nothing  to do with choosing the wardrobe at all. HOWEVER I have known directors and Production designers to seek departments  out with a memo saying I want to see NOTHING RED on any of my sets including set dressing wardrobe etc.  The abundance of "blue" may have been asked for by Ang or the DP or the Production Designer or just what the costume designer envisioned for the film. The sweaters are similar in color but quite different in style. It also might have been a last minute add on to Mrs. Twists wardrobe to cover up a mic wire or some sort of wardrobe problem they were having with the dress she was put into for the scene. This happens quite often.

[Front-Ranger]

About the choosing of the wardrobe, I was reading a book about the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and it had a discussion of the wardrobe choices that Ang Lee made in that movie. He made choices in both the colors and the patterns worn. Ang Lee has explained that since filmakers don't have the ability to use descriptive words like novelists do, they have to convey thoughts and feelings through visual elements such as colors, props, and set selections, and aural elements such as music and sound effects. So, it seems clear that he directed the wardrobe choices and other elements of the movie.

[RossInIllinois]

The Director NEVER chooses wardrobe. The Director might convey the look he wants out of the wardrobe to the costume designer but the final choice is up to the costume designer period. He can refuse it if he hates what it looks like on the talent but that rarely happens.

[serious crayons]

Ross, it doesn't sound like you're actually disagreeing with what's been said. I don't think anybody's arguing that Ang Lee went into the wardrobe room himself and rummaged around on the racks finding the outfits he wanted.

But it sounds like, from what you said, it's quite possible for him to say, "I'd like these three characters to wear blue" to the costume designer. And then the costume designer came up with the specific items of blue apparel.

Both little Ennis in the flashback scene and Mrs. Twist are both wearing solid blue over tan plaid -- a combination that echoes the shirts in the closet. It's fairly unusual for a woman to wear a sweater over a shirt over a dress. When, on top of that, they aren't just any old sweater and shirt but ones in the colors of the men's significant shirts, it doesn't seem accidental.

Here again, it's possible that the costume designer came up with that brilliant idea him/herself, just as Heath Ledger reportedly came up with the idea of switching the positions of the shirts. But seems likely that the idea came out of discussions between the director and costume designer.