Author Topic: lovable subtle details  (Read 476130 times)

Offline newyearsday

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #60 on: May 01, 2006, 11:03:48 pm »
Amanda, I just wanted to mention that I love the Jack=wind metaphor, too.  I've made a study of it, and I find that every time he is either in a scene or it's clear Ennis is thinking about him, we hear the wind howling in the background (and sometimes in the foreground).  I love how it's almost at a fever pitch outside when Ennis is sitting on his bed in his undershirt with his eyes closed while Alma hugs him from behind, trying with all his might to pretend she is him.   Same as when he's in his trailer at the very end, and the wind is just whipping up a frenzy outside.

I also *love* that Aguirre says when Jack returns the next summer looking for Ennis:  "Well.  Look what the wind blew in."  Not look what the cat dragged in which is of course the most common way of saying the same thing, but what the wind blew in.

I should probably post this next bit in the most irrational reactions thread, but it follows here.  The wind down here in South Florida has been howling every day for months.  It's eerie and giving me a bad feeling about the upcoming hurricane season.  March is usually very blowy down here, but February and April aren't so much.  When it started up in February after I'd seen the movie a few times and discovered the wind metaphor, I walked outside one morning to get the paper, and it was whipping things up in such a Jack-like way, I just had to say out loud, "Hiya, Jack."I'm not suffering from insanity - I'm quite enjoying it, actually.


Lovely lovely post, Barb. Howdy by the way. Your necklace should arrive in a couple of days. So, yes, I need to look for the wind blowing more in that Alma/Ennis scene in the bedroom; it's been mentioned before by EnnisLovesJack I think. And I love that you said 'Hiya, Jack' to the wind! *wimpers from the bittersweetness*. The whole "Love is a Force of Nature" thing just has so many layers. It's truely astounding how gorgeous that metaphor is.

I love this thread in general too. And Julie, there is a nice newish thread on the big board that Meryl started several weeks ago called the Number Three (I think it's called that.) It will be saved in the archives.

And here's my favorite un-talked about moment (at least to my knowledge--hope I'm not repeating someone else's thoughts): I always LOVE LOVE LOVE the shot of Jack looking for the blue parka in the closet, standing with his weight on one leg like that, cute butt, purple shirt, kinda annoyed in this adorable way b/c he's wantin a redline it but can't leave yet.

I love Jake's butt in that scene! not such a subtle detail, but very lovable!

 :D ;D :D
« Last Edit: May 01, 2006, 11:05:48 pm by newyearsday »
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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #61 on: May 01, 2006, 11:24:56 pm »
-I love that the BetterMost cans are blue and brown... sort of mirroring the signature colors for Jack and Ennis.

-I love that after Ennis's nose starts to bleed, right before the sucker punch, Jack caresses Ennis's face just like he does when he's about to kiss him in the second tent scene.

-And, now I have a question about a subtle detail.  Why does Alma go and get her purse after she sees Ennis and Jack kiss?  In her state of shock she goes and deliberately packs up her purse and has it ready.  Does she really even want to go out with them after wha she's seen?  Does she still think that dinner at the Knife and Fork is still an option?  Somehow I find this gesture of hers particularly heartbreaking in contrast to the pure joy going on between our boys.
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Offline maggiesmommy GayLee

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #62 on: May 01, 2006, 11:27:50 pm »
in the short story it says she is trying to delay Ennis' and JAcks departure by asking Ennis to go get her"smokes", he anticipates this and says before she can even finish her thoughts that if she needs smoles they are in the pocket of his blue shirt in the closet..
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Offline Sheriff Roland

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #63 on: May 01, 2006, 11:31:13 pm »
And, now I have a question about a subtle detail.  Why does Alma go and get her purse after she sees Ennis and Jack kiss?  In her state of shock she goes and deliberately packs up her purse and has it ready.  Does she really even want to go out with them after wha she's seen?  Does she still think that dinner at the Knife and Fork is still an option?  Somehow I find this gesture of hers particularly heartbreaking in contrast to the pure joy going on between our boys.

Amanda, I just took it as something to keep herself busy with her hands, while she's mulling things over - I know - pretty lame, but that was my train of thought on the subject. Does everything have to have a meaning?
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Offline maggiesmommy GayLee

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #64 on: May 01, 2006, 11:36:26 pm »
copied and pasted from my downloaded copy of teh short story...i was wrong about delaying the departure, it was to bring him back sooner...
"Sure enough," Alma said, taking a dollar bill from her pocket. Ennis guessed she was going to ask him to get her a pack of cigarettes, bring him back sooner.
"Please to meet you," said Jack, trembling like a run-out horse.
"Ennis -- " said Alma in her misery voice, but that didn't slow him down on the stairs and he called back, "Alma, you want smokes there's some in the pocket a my blue shirt in the bedroom."
They went off in Jack's truck, bought a bottle of whiskey and within twenty minutes were in the Motel Siesta jouncing a bed. A few handfuls of hail rattled against the window followed by rain and slippery wind banging the unsecured door of the next room then and through the night.
 
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Offline nakymaton

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #65 on: May 01, 2006, 11:45:38 pm »
I read an interview with Michelle Williams about the purse detail (and I can't find it any more). It was apparently her idea -- it was supposed to be a sort of instinctive reaction, that Alma would reach for one comforting thing that was clearly hers... and that was her purse. Alma couldn't make sense of what she just saw, but the things in her purse were real and solid and hers and made sense, and so she reached for them.
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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #66 on: May 02, 2006, 12:01:09 am »
Does everything have to have a meaning?

Heya Roland... yes!  ::) :D :-\ ;)

nakymaton... I like your suggestion/ Michelle's suggestion.  That makes good sense and makes it more interesting.  I didn't really think of the purse action as being connected with the smokes question (either in the story or in the film).  I think she was asking Ennis to get cigarettes and come back with them hoping that it would somehow make him come home quicker.  I don't think she was thinking of going out for them on her own... she would have had to drag the girls along etc.
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Offline Ellemeno

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #67 on: May 02, 2006, 12:36:19 am »
-here's a new detail (thinking of early moments of physical contact)- as they're setting up their second camp we see a long shot of Jack picking up that drift-wood log from the stream near the bridge and hauls it up on his shoulder.  Ennis comes over to him and seems to touch Jack on his shoulder or arm.  An interesting moment where Ennis is initiating a bit of intimacy.  A display of just how comfortable and friendly he's feeling towards Jack. It's funny that he doesn't seem to be coming to help carry the log... just to touch Jack.

Yes!  I have been meaning to mention this and ask y'all's thoughts on this moment for months.  This happens before the first tent scene.  It seems very relaxed and affectionate.


Offline twistedude

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #68 on: May 02, 2006, 02:26:11 am »
chefjudy--well, I had to do the washing up as well...the entire Thanksgiving day is one long cook and gorge...I don't do it anymore...I'm 71 today, and I've had ENOUGH THANKSGIVING to last a lifetime or two...at first, I hardly looked at the Thanksgiving scenes in Brokeback, till I started noticing interestiong little things that had nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

Are there 3 full moons in the movie..,or 4?
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Offline starboardlight

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #69 on: May 02, 2006, 02:47:52 am »
chefjudy--well, I had to do the washing up as well...the entire Thanksgiving day is one long cook and gorge...I don't do it anymore...I'm 71 today, and I've had ENOUGH THANKSGIVING to last a lifetime or two...at first, I hardly looked at the Thanksgiving scenes in Brokeback, till I started noticing interestiong little things that had nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

Are there 3 full moons in the movie..,or 4?

there were 3 full moons.
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