Author Topic: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)  (Read 5231 times)

Offline forsythia12

  • Brokeback Got Me Good
  • *****
  • Posts: 471
funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« on: March 07, 2008, 10:18:41 pm »
i always wondered about the scene with leshawn, randall, laureen and jack.  when laureen said "funny thing about husbands,....they don't ever want to dance with their wives"...did she really want jack to dance with her?  what was going on with their marriage at this point?  why did jack ask leshawn to dance?  was it just to 'stick it to laureen' since she was complaining all night?
i noticed that at this point in the movie was the first sign something was really wrong because at the thanksgiving dinner, laureen seemed fairly proud of jack for standing up to her old man, and jack defended laureen's parenting, and cooking in that scene.  he even brushed her shoulder when he walked by her to turn off the t.v..
and , (i know this has been debated) when ennis asked jack if him and laureen 'was normal and all', jack said yes....but in the last camping scene, jack finally admitted there was problems when he said "as far as our marriage goes, we could do it over the phone".  he also admitted to having another affair in this scene..so why the different tone?  was this just a long, drawn out marriage that slowly fell apart, or was jack and laureen finally just being vocal about their problems? obviously, we know what their problems were from the outside, but for them, i wonder the course of events that led up to this.  there's speculation that laureen knew about jack being gay, but she said 'funny thing about HUSBANDS' and not specifying jack.  was she seeing that leshawn had the same issues with randall that she had with jack?

any thoughts on this?

Offline optom3

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 4,638
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2008, 11:05:03 pm »
O.K I m going off topic slightly here,but my first husband of 7 years was gay and loved nothing more than to dance!!!!!First on the floor,last off.My curent husband of 14 years straight has never ever danced with me,!!!!!

As for the film,I think there may have been a sub conversation going on.As in husbands dont want to do anything with you.I would think that Lureen had long since surmised that Jacks attraction to her may have been the money, and possible escape route it could provide for him.She may have puzzled as to why he had not left when he plainly wanted nothing to do with her.

I also suspect that she had a pretty good idea that Ennis was competition for her affection,whether the true extent of the relationship was ever realised by her.We can all put our own interpretation on that.We know thatAlma is in full possesion of the facts.But are left guessing with Lureeen. We know from the SS that on the phone her voice was "cold as snow" so she disliked Ennis. What we can only guess is, whether that was because of his close relationship with Jack,or becuse she had put 2 and 2 together.

My guess would be that Jack got up to dance as a metaphorical finger in the air to her.I hate to say bad things about Jack but we already know he is economical with the truth,even to Ennis ,and I suspect by this stage a certain degree of bitterness was pervading all aspects of his life.This must have rubbed off on his wife as well,hence the sarcastic quip about husbands and wives dancing.
We also know from the SS that she was not even prepared to admit there was anything wrong with her son.This is really starnge for a mother,who are usually the first to notice any problems.Yet Jack the "dreamer"was aware of a problem but as it was Lureeens money ,had his hands tied.
She comes across at the end as very cold and embittered,maybe caused by Jacks indiffrence to her,but that even extends to her refusal to do anything about her son.
Put in that context,it is perhaps unsurprising tht the bitterness spills out even at social occcasions.



Offline forsythia12

  • Brokeback Got Me Good
  • *****
  • Posts: 471
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2008, 11:15:50 pm »
thanks fiona!
yes, i agree with what you say.
i just wonder what events led up to this sudden vocal show of apathy towards each other....when before, every problem seemed buried, and not discussed to anyone.....yet, here's laureen telling absolute strangers about how jack doesn't want to dance with her.
i also wonder if laureen was hurt by jack's lack of attention that night, him dancing with leshawn, or had she been hurt for quite some time now.
she seemd indifferent to him going up to wyoming, at least emotionally indifferent, as her complaint chiefly revolved around a new model coming in...

why do you suppose they even went to that party?  social 'show' since the newsome name was a big deal in childress?

Offline delalluvia

  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 8,289
  • "Truth is an iron bride"
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2008, 11:21:42 pm »
forsynthia
Lureen wasn't talking about dancing.  Well, not the vertical kind anyway.  ;)

By this time, she's starved for sex and affection.  He's obviously not sleeping with her.  To throw her off the possibility of anything other than a husband who's lost interest in his wife sexually, he asks LaShawn to dance.

See?  He's interested in other women.

His tactic works well, note the look on Lureen's face.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2008, 12:29:19 pm by delalluvia »

Offline forsythia12

  • Brokeback Got Me Good
  • *****
  • Posts: 471
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2008, 11:55:45 pm »
okay....

good point.

Offline Mandy21

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 2,238
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2008, 12:20:10 am »
If I recall correctly, it's LeShawn who makes the statement "husbands just never seem to want to dance with their wives, why is that?" directed at Lureen, and then Lureen taps Jack on the shoulder and says something like "I don't know.  Jack, why do you think that is?" and Jack says "I never gave it much thought".    I think the "husbands never want to dance with their wives" statement, which is agreed upon by both wives at the table, is a metaphor for something other than dancing; i.e., have sex with.  These two women are married to two gay men, but nobody at the table is willing to admit anything to anybody else at the table.  When LeShawn said that Randall was an animal husbandry major (which I believe is the study of animals having sex, correct me if I'm wrong), he stared directly at Jack, and they held the gaze for more than a second.  I think Jack was already starting to take some interest in Randall, and I think he asked his wife to dance, in part, to see how Randall would react; i.e., jealousy, anger, refusal, or 'take her, she's yours' attitude.  Obviously, he got the latter.

I think Lureen was a girl who had a fling, got knocked up, had to get married, and was resentful ever since.  It just grew and grew over the years as she realized that the man she married wasn't who she thought he was at all.  I'm guessing this particular night wasn't the first "vocal show of apathy", as forsythia12 put it.  It's just the first one we got to see.  It takes time and practice to get that good at making your spouse feel like dirt.  And both of them were doing a pretty good job of it that night.

The part that interests me the most about the whole social dance night is when Jack and Randall are sitting outside on the bench, and Jack brings up the question of "why do women powder their noses right before they're going to go home and go to bed?", and neither of them know that the answer is that most women, after a night out on the town with their husbands, expect that he's going to make a romantic move when they get home, and they want to look nice for it.  It didn't even occur to these two men to think about making romantic moves on their wives when they get home; therefore, they couldn't understand.  Another part that kills me is when Randall proposes that they go down to his boss's cabin some weekend, get away, relax, drink some whiskey, do a little fishing, etc.  All exact memories of his times with Ennis.  Jack stares straight ahead, without blinking, as the words are coming out of Randall's mouth, and it's almost as if Jack wishes he could turn back time, and pretend that was Ennis, again, sitting right next to him, making those same proposals.  I think, more than anything, that is the reason why he ended up having the affair with Randall.  He got to do the same types of things, except with a replacement man who seemed a WHOLE lot more willing to commit, and a whole lot less trouble.

Just my thoughts.
Dawn is coming,
Open your eyes...

Offline forsythia12

  • Brokeback Got Me Good
  • *****
  • Posts: 471
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2008, 12:27:22 am »
If I recall correctly, it's LeShawn who makes the statement "husbands just never seem to want to dance with their wives, why is that?" directed at Lureen, and then Lureen taps Jack on the shoulder and says something like "I don't know.  Jack, why do you think that is?" and Jack says "I never gave it much thought".   

nope, it was laureen who said it.
thank you for your input.  there was this discussion in another thread about what jack was possibly thinking when randall made that purposal, and the thread is "what do you make of the "maybe texas" scene"?  sorry, i don't know the link, but it was in the 'topic of the week' a few weeks ago, and some people wrote in about that very scene with randall.

also, that's a good point about the powdered noses.

Offline Katie77

  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 7,998
  • Love is a force of Nature
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2008, 01:56:58 am »

The part that interests me the most about the whole social dance night is when Jack and Randall are sitting outside on the bench, and Jack brings up the question of "why do women powder their noses right before they're going to go home and go to bed?", and neither of them know that the answer is that most women, after a night out on the town with their husbands, expect that he's going to make a romantic move when they get home, and they want to look nice for it.  It didn't even occur to these two men to think about making romantic moves on their wives when they get home; therefore, they couldn't understand.  .

I find this part of your post quite funny, because I dont think thats why women go and "powder their nose"....not in this century, anyway.......

They probably just needed to go to the Ladies room, after all they had been drinking and its usually when you get up from the table to leave that you realize that your bladder is full...

Also...it gives the ladies a chance to talk "girl stuff" that they maybe did not want to talk about with their husbands around.

I think the comment was just small talk between the two men and and in its own way was a bit affectionate towards the two ladies in a humourous kind of way.

I think Jack was stunned when Randall mentioned the cabin...but Im sure a lot of things were going through his head.
Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect.

It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfection

Offline forsythia12

  • Brokeback Got Me Good
  • *****
  • Posts: 471
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2008, 02:01:33 am »
I find this part of your post quite funny, because I dont think thats why women go and "powder their nose"....not in this century, anyway.......

They probably just needed to go to the Ladies room, after all they had been drinking and its usually when you get up from the table to leave that you realize that your bladder is full...

Also...it gives the ladies a chance to talk "girl stuff" that they maybe did not want to talk about with their husbands around.

I think the comment was just small talk between the two men and and in its own way was a bit affectionate towards the two ladies in a humourous kind of way.

I think Jack was stunned when Randall mentioned the cabin...but Im sure a lot of things were going through his head.

yes, you're probably right sue!  powdered noses was probably just an expression...either way, i never paid much attention to it until now.
all these posts bring up good points, so thank you to you all.

Offline Fran

  • "ABCs of BBM" moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 9,905
Re: funny thing about husbands. (jack and laureen's marriage)
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2008, 02:17:13 am »
yes, you're probably right sue!  powdered noses was probably just an expression...either way, i never paid much attention to it until now.
all these posts bring up good points, so thank you to you all.

When my sisters and I were little, "Let's go powder our noses" was my mother's euphemism for "Let's visit the restroom."  To me, it's just an expression, but maybe the screenwriters were implying something deeper.