Author Topic: Carving up the Two Old Birds  (Read 38512 times)

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #30 on: November 26, 2009, 03:31:06 pm »
A great read for Thanksgiving!

Good idea, FRiend! I just linked this thread as a Thanksgiving greeting to our Brokie brethren over on IMDb.


Offline Luvlylittlewing

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #31 on: November 27, 2009, 11:06:10 pm »
Good idea, FRiend! I just linked this thread as a Thanksgiving greeting to our Brokie brethren over on IMDb.



I just saw it over there, K.  I've really enjoyed reading over this thread once again.  That GuyMadison (Clancy's current name) is one of my favorite BBM scholars.

Offline tango

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #32 on: November 28, 2009, 01:02:53 am »
Cassie is one of my favorite characters!  See delivers the single most pivotal line in the entire film. 

Can you explain why this is for a newbie? I understand the point of Cassie and think you're talking about the "girls don't fall in love with fun" line right? If so (or not), can you explain what you mean?   Thanks so much.  :)

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #33 on: November 28, 2009, 11:39:29 am »
Can you explain why this is for a newbie? I understand the point of Cassie and think you're talking about the "girls don't fall in love with fun" line right? If so (or not), can you explain what you mean?   Thanks so much.  :)

Tango, ruthlesslysentimental is no longer among us on this site (AFAIK). It would be nice if he would pop in and explain it himself.

But I think you are right about what line he was referring to. Very insightful, "newbie"!  ;)

As I recall, his feeling was that hearing that line made Ennis realize that Jack wasn't just in their relationship for the "fun" -- that he actually was in love. That's why Ennis suddenly looks so contemplative at that point.

And BTW, friend, welcome. If you dig back into the earlier threads on this forum, you will find many fascinating discussions of symbolism, metaphor, structure, etc. in the movie and story.



Offline tango

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #34 on: November 28, 2009, 01:22:49 pm »
Thank you.  I was kinda thinking along those lines myself but wasn't sure if it was another Cassie line. I spent so much time boo-hooing and sniffling the last 3rd of the movie, it's hard to catch it all.  I guess I'll just have to watch it again.  ;D  I have read quite a of the forums before I registered but still have many more to explore.  Thanks for the warm welcome.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #35 on: November 24, 2011, 12:33:13 pm »
Ruthlesslysentimental had many eccentricities, but he was an amazing Brokologist. His posts were like a Fitzgerald scholar deconstructing Gatsby.

Of course, the rest of us are pretty brilliant Brokologists, too! The best thing about analyzing this movie was how it was such a group effort. People spent literally years breaking down scenes, studying details, throwing together ideas, and it all gradually formed a complex collective understanding of so many aspects and levels: the metaphors and symbolism in everything from clothing to sets to landscape, the subtle dialogue that means far more than the words usually say, the an inkblot- or mirror-shaped structure, the religious and cultural subtexts, and so on. What an experience!


Offline Meryl

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #36 on: November 24, 2011, 01:56:58 pm »
Ruthlesslysentimental had many eccentricities, but he was an amazing Brokologist. His posts were like a Fitzgerald scholar deconstructing Gatsby.

Of course, the rest of us are pretty brilliant Brokologists, too! The best thing about analyzing this movie was how it was such a group effort. People spent literally years breaking down scenes, studying details, throwing together ideas, and it all gradually formed a complex collective understanding of so many aspects and levels: the metaphors and symbolism in everything from clothing to sets to landscape, the subtle dialogue that means far more than the words usually say, the an inkblot- or mirror-shaped structure, the religious and cultural subtexts, and so on. What an experience!

Well said, crayons!  It's a unique and wonderful thing to be a part of the "complex collective understanding" that is Brokology.  8)
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #37 on: January 04, 2012, 01:31:46 am »
Well said, crayons!  It's a unique and wonderful thing to be a part of the "complex collective understanding" that is Brokology.  8)

Amen!!  :)
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Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #38 on: November 23, 2013, 06:35:30 pm »
...The one other thing I didn’t include in my OP is the one significant absence of a knife.  In the Twist family home, Mrs. Twist offers cherry cake.  How would she serve it to Ennis?  She'd have to use a knife to cut the cake.  But Ennis "can't eat no cake just now."  Text: no cake just now.  Subtext: he's sick with grief, doesn't feel like eating.  Metaphor: she offers to carve or form him a little more, but he's not ready for that last little bit of forming.  But, after Old Man Twist tells about the other rancher, and Mrs. Twist puts her hand of compassion on his shoulder to nudge him upstairs, the formation will become complete... as evoked by the fully formed cowboy statuette.

Actually, in the story, Mrs. Twist was carving up something (an apple?) with a "sharp serrated instrument" as Ennis entered the house.

I agree mostly with all the theories presented in this amazing topic, except for Jack being a potato. Jack was peeling a potato in the foreground as Ennis was peeling off his clothes in the background. To me, that says that Ennis is the potato and Jack is the knife. Jack is not only the can opener breaking open Ennis's armored spirit but he is also the knife peeling back the layers that Ennis has surrounded himself with. Watch how Jack's cigarette smoke swirls around the potato and also around the nude figure of Ennis and it will become clear. In Asian symbology, the knife is also a symbol for air, because it moves through the air and cuts through it with a swooshing sound. Jack was a knife and Ennis was a gun.
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: Carving up the Two Old Birds
« Reply #39 on: November 23, 2013, 09:26:32 pm »
Jack was a knife and Ennis was a gun.

Brava! Almost eight years since pot and kettle, blue and tan, wind and earth ... and you're still discovering great Brokaphors!