Bookends!

[Front-Ranger]

Maybe when he has a can on top of him and he's trying to open it.

I was thinking more along the lines of when he has Lureen on top of him in the back seat of the T-bird.

[serious crayons]

In the story: “As they descended the slope Ennis felt he was in a slow-motion, but headlong, irreversible fall.”

I always connect that with Alma's "long, slow dive." But that's more a mirror than a bookend. And it's not in the movie or related to music ... So I'm curious about what you have in mind!

[nakymaton]

Yes. It was a long time before I caught all the lyrics. It seems to express Ennis’s view so well—“Losing’s just become a way of life for me.” He became accustomed to losing early in his life, so probably thought he never deserved any happiness.

I just googled the lyrics. Wow. I think I'm going to start another thread just to let people talk about the background music choices, because I don't think we have one (?). I'll put the lyrics there.

Ok, new one:

Aguirre answers the phone in his office. ("Yeah? No. NO. Not on your fuckin life.")

[serious crayons]

Well, the phone call sort of reminds me of Peter denying Jesus three times (I can almost hear a cock crowing outside Aguirre's trailer).

And the scene in general strikes me as sort of a bookend to Ennis getting married -- it's like a wedding that Aguirre is performing. ("Do you, Jack, promise to eat your breakfast and dinner in the camp, but sleep with the sheep 100 percent? ... And do you, Ennis, promise to be at the bridge every Friday at noon for supplies? (**hands Ennis watch/ring **) Then by the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you a pair of deuces. You may get the hell out of my office.")

But regarding the phone call specifically, is the bookend the three times Ennis rejects Jack's offer: once just after the reunion, once after the divorce and once when Jack suggests he move to Texas?

[nakymaton]

But regarding the phone call specifically, is the bookend the three times Ennis rejects Jack's offer: once just after the reunion, once after the divorce and once when Jack suggests he move to Texas?

That wasn't what I was thinking of.

I was thinking of answering the phone, specifically, and a little bit of the rhythm of the speech.

[Brown Eyes]

I have no idea what the answer to goadra/Barbara's is, so I'll answer Amanda's instead:

Ennis's face changes when Alma talks about him growing up so lonely?

I'm jumping in belatedly here to say, yup!  That's what I was thinking.

[nakymaton]

I'll answer this, if I can remember what I was thinking.

The rhythm of Aguirre's speech on the phone reminds me of the rhythm of Lureen's speech when Ennis calls her after Jack's death.

"Who? Who is this?"

But I'm not sure it's right or not.

[serious crayons]

Pick a moment in a scene, then think of a later—or earlier—moment that either matches (bookend) or shows something opposite (mirror).

Oh, interesting! I always thought of bookends as being scenes that show a beginning and ending: Ennis collapsing in an alley at the beginning of their relationship, Ennis collapsing in an alley at the end of their relationship. Mirrors I thought of as being scenes that show something in common, perhaps "reflecting" each other, but not necessarily forming that sort of beginning/ending narrative connection: Ennis catching the watch, Jack dropping the keys.

Whichever way you look at it, you often wind up at the same place, I think.

Mel, your answer to your own challenge sounds right to me! The rhythms do match.

(Bonus question: Does "No, no, not on your fucking life" remind anyone besides me of anything?)

I've got another bookend involving the phone-call scene:

Scene: On the phone, Lureen tells Ennis she knows who he is, and Ennis tells Lureen that he and Jack worked on Brokeback together in the summer of 1963.

Bookend (earlier):

[belbbmfan]

maybe this mirror moment has been mentioned before...

In the first night in the tent, Ennis asks "What are you doing?" when Jack has touched him and he asks exactly the same thing when Cassie puts her feet on his lap to get a footrub.

[serious crayons]

Tell you what, I wasn’t entirely sure myself. Your definition’s much better.

They're both good!

I’ll take a wild guess: “We coulda had a good life together. A ****** real good life. Had us a place of our own.” 3 affirmations of the kinda life they coulda had vs. Aguirre’s 3x denial?

Well, that works! I like that answer a lot. They could not have a good life together, could not have a real good life, and not on your f'in life could they have had a place of their own.

What I had in mind, though, was not really a bookend OR a mirror, which is why I made it a bonus question. The whole scene reminds me of a marriage ceremony (from the story: "they came together on paper.") Jack and Ennis are standing in the chapel (the trailer), Aguirre is the clergyman, the watch is the ring, the work instructions are the preamble to the vows (is there a name for that part of the ceremony? The "Do you, Jack, promise to pitch a pup tent on the QT, to eat your breakfast and supper in the camp, to sleep with the sheep 100 percent..." stuff?), and "No, no, not on your f'in life" are the vows themselves. At the end of the ceremony, the newlyweds walk down the aisle (the trailer steps) together and kiss -- I mean, shake hands.