Thoughts on first scene at Agguires trailer

[jpwagoneer1964]

I aways thought that both Ennis and especially Jack might have considered one another competition for a single Job. After all Jack worked Brokeback alone the previous summer and gives a  look of frustration as gets out of his truck. Certianly a bit of sizing up going on. Once understood that both would be on the mountian they seem to notice eachother in a different light.

[SFEnnisSF]

Hmmm, interesting.  I had not thought of that...

[Jeff Wrangler]

That's an interesting possibilty.

My understanding of the situation, which I admit is based on Annie Proulx's story and not on just what we see on the screen, is that despite Joe Aguirre's "lookin' for work" comment, they had both been told to report to Aguirre for their job assignment.

I would hope that there would have not even been a thought of just sending one guy up there alone. That would be far too dangerous in case of illness or accident.

In her essay in Story to Screenplay, AP mentions an old rancher who always sent his sheep herders up in pairs, so that if they got lonely they could "poke" each other. 

[wolf]

I've always seen it as some serious sizing up and male posturing.  Youthful bravado on Jack's part, 'don't talk to me' quasi-aggression on Ennis's part.  End of the day it has never struck me as sexual, that first encounter, only as two males sizing eachother up in the usual competitive way.

W

[jpwagoneer1964]

That's an interesting possibilty.

My understanding of the situation, which I admit is based on Annie Proulx's story and not on just what we see on the screen, is that despite Joe Aguirre's "lookin' for work" comment, they had both been told to report to Aguirre for their job assignment.

I would hope that there would have not even been a thought of just sending one guy up there alone. That would be far too dangerous in case of illness or accident.

In her essay in Story to Screenplay, AP mentions an old rancher who always sent his sheep herders up in pairs, so that if they got lonely they could "poke" each other. 

In the story it said " each glad to have a companion where none had be expected". The film gives evidence that Jack worked alone the previous year.

[serious crayons]

I was under the impression that each applied for the job that he ended up getting. But I'm not sure where I got that idea.

[alec716]

I've always seen it as some serious sizing up and male posturing.  Youthful bravado on Jack's part, 'don't talk to me' quasi-aggression on Ennis's part.  End of the day it has never struck me as sexual, that first encounter, only as two males sizing eachother up in the usual competitive way.

From a purely subjective angle, I saw it differently.  I thought that Jack was hot for Ennis from the moment he leaned against the side of his beat-up truck in Agurire's parking lot and stared at Ennis, and from when he was looking at Ennis in the truck's rear-view mirror as he shaved.  And there is that great side-long glance that Jack throws Ennnis' way when Aguirre is talking to them inside the trailer.  But maybe my perception was skewed because I knew ahead of time that the 2 of them became, shall we say, "BetterMost" friends. 

Yet another interesting ambiguity in this film... thanks for sharing your opinion... I enjoy hearing other views and experiences with the story!

[wolf]

maybe my perception was skewed because I knew ahead of time that the 2 of them became, shall we say, "BetterMost" friends. 

that was pretty much my experience.  the first time I saw it, I didn't know how or when or in what form it'd come (so to speak!).  ergo, that opening scene struck me as an exquisitely composed look at young males circling eachother in a competitive and ever-so-slightly 'rutting season' quest for dominance.  that it should morph into actual rutting isn't necessarily a stretch, given the clearly spoken testosterone on display.  so while it wasn't specificially sexual to me, it certainly contained the seeds.

HOWEVER, on second viewing I found myself reading way too much sexual stuff into it.  More than I wanted to and more than I consider is actually there.  I've had a friend or two point out Jack's 'blatant' sexual posturing when leaning on his truck - but I'd argue (from an informed platform) that cowboys often do just that when in company with other cowboys.  They're 'leaners', and they tend to have a decidedly but unconsciously sensuous way of moving.  I once spent a week at a roping and reining workshop with a bunch of Texans and I think I may have been 'in season' myself for the duration - just watching those boys lean suggestively on trucks, horses, hay bales, and sometimes each other. 

w

[alec716]

that was pretty much my experience.  the first time I saw it, I didn't know how or when or in what form it'd come (so to speak!).  ergo, that opening scene struck me as an exquisitely composed look at young males circling eachother in a competitive and ever-so-slightly 'rutting season' quest for dominance.  that it should morph into actual rutting isn't necessarily a stretch, given the clearly spoken testosterone on display.  so while it wasn't specificially sexual to me, it certainly contained the seeds.

Great way to put it, wolf -- exquisitely composed, indeed.  I like the "rutting season" imagery -- and not just in a sexual sense.  I think it sums up the complex dimensions of this encouter very well.

quote author=wolf link=topic=2458.msg43106#msg43106 date=1150342078]
 I once spent a week at a roping and reining workshop with a bunch of Texans and I think I may have been 'in season' myself for the duration - just watching those boys lean suggestively on trucks, horses, hay bales, and sometimes each other. 
[/quote]

no pictures to post, I imagine? 

[serious crayons]

I read a good review where the guy said the first time he saw the scene he thought Jake was overacting and posturing. The second time he watched, he realized the posturing was deliberate -- it's not so much how a cowboy stands, it's Jack's idea of how a cowboy stands. That always sounds about right to me.

But why paraphrase? I have it bookmarked:

Gyllenhaal’s performance at first seems a little out of place; everyone around him (at this point, essentially Ledger, Randy Quaid, and some sheep) seems entirely at ease and unactorish, but on a second viewing I realized that what I was watching wasn’t Gyllenhaal’s performance — it was Jack’s. Jack is constantly trying to fill the role of Western hero, trying to impress; when we first see him, waiting with Ennis outside Joe Aguirre’s trailer-office, he leans against his truck in an exaggeratedly casual posture, with a “hey, cowboy” leer.

Here's the whole review:

http://www.pajiba.com/brokeback-mountain.htm

[Brown Eyes]

Cool reference Katherine. 

The way I see it, the initial encounter is meant to appear like very typical and slightly competitive cowboy posturing (by each of them... but yes, more so by Jack) and "sizing up".  But just below the surface is the flirting... a kind of flirting that many audiences probably wouldn't be used to looking for.    Subtle cowboy-flirting is not the same thing as filirting in a romantic comedy, etc.  This reminds me of the old questions about when the attraction started for both Jack and Ennis (and whether it was from this first scene).  Perhaps their indications of interest are so subtle (especially from Ennis's side of things) that many people wouldn't even register what's happening (or what might be happening).  They (and again, especially Ennis) probably feel they have to be super subtle and circumspect due to a level of confusion/ naivete and all the fears that come out through the course of the film.

[Phillip Dampier]

bump