newcomer from HBO with some questions!

[kallyn]

Hi guys.  I just saw Brokeback randomly for the first time last night on HBO, and then watched it again on demand this morning after I couldn't get it out of my head!  I've been reading threads in here last night and today and I was pleased that I caught a lot of the little details on my first watching.  The second was even richer in depth.  Anyway, I noticed a few things that I was wondering about:

1) Lureen's hair.  Every time you see her and time has passed, it becomes more and more styled and more and more blonde (also her makeup keeps getting heavier).  Is there any significance to this?  Maybe her appearance is becoming faker as her marriage is becoming faker?  I searched the forum for "lureen's hair" but nothing came up.

2) Right before Ennis starts trying to beat that guy up outside of the bar, he pulls up in his truck and it only has one working headlight.  There's gotta be a reason for that, right?  It doesn't seem like anything in this movie is insignificant.

Also, in my first viewing I thought that Ennis had said "I'm sorry" in the tent scene, but on the second viewing I thought that Jack said it.  I guess it just means that I'll have to watch it again OH DARN.   

[uhketchup]

Welcome to the board 

1) Agreed with your interpretation there, definitiely signifies her growing superficiality in contrast to the ever-deep relationship between Jack and Ennis

2) Hadn't thought about the second headlight, and so I'm not going to make a pretentious, tenuous point to support it!

And the whole Ennis "I'm sorry" theory is still ambiguous I'm afraid - I like to think he says it though, hence the heartbreaking reply "It's alright" from Jack - simplicity is best.

I can assure you, your first viewing will most certainly not be the last!

[nakymaton]

Welcome, kallyn.

About Lureen's hair: I think Anne Hathaway said something about it in an interview... something about how, as time goes by, Jack turns to the liquor bottle and Lureen turns to the peroxide bottle. But, yeah, I agree that it's a sign that the marriage is becoming more and more fake, or that Lureen is trying to find some way to become more attractive because she knows she doesn't have Jack's attention.

About the headlight: whoa! I've never heard anyone discuss that detail before, I don't think. As for reasons... hmmm. Well, partly it shows that Ennis isn't doing very well financially. And, hmmm, broken lights or electrical things. Maybe the spark isn't quite there when Ennis isn't around Jack? (Somebody else will do a better job interpreting that one, I'm sure. ) (Heh... I just read uhketchup's response, but I'll go out on a limb and make pretentious, tenuous points. Hopefully somebody will tell me if they don't make any sense.)

And the dialogue in the 2nd tent scene is one of the Great Mysteries of the Brokeback Mountain Cult, I think. That, and how exactly Jack died. And whether Jack really quit Ennis. And...

[uhketchup]

Nakymaton, neither pretentious nor tenuous - I'm impressed 

[ednbarby]

... And whether Ennis says "I love you" into the shirts in Jack's room...  

Welcome, Kallyn!  It's so nice to see a post today from a brand new viewer/admirer brought to us by my heroes at HBO.

I agree quite a bit with what's been said here so far - that Lureen keeps lightening her hair, literally, to try to feel attractive/get Jack's attention and figuratively, to me, because she symbolizes fire and her hair getting lighter and lighter is symbolic of her fire going out and turning to ash.

Someone back on the old IMDb board many months ago posted a beautiful piece called "The Elements" - if anyone can find it, please post it, but in the meantime I'll attempt rather lamely to paraphrase it:

Alma is water - like a bubbling brook when we first meet her but over time still and cold as a frozen lake

Lureen is fire - burning brightly at first but over time reduced to glowing embers, and then to ash, as evidenced in her ever lightening hair

Jack is air - as fresh as a cool breeze when we first meet him, but then quieted over time only to be buried forever in the Earth.

Ennis is the Earth.

[Front-Ranger]

Welcome kallyn!! You'll have a cuppa coffee won't you? Piece of cherry cake?

Re: yr questions...Did you notice at the very end that Lureen's hair was actually white and all feathery around her face like angel's wings? And how her lips and nails were very red and her nails were as long as talons? Anyway, that's my take on it. But I also agree with what naky and the others said about Lureen's increasing blondness and iciness/ashiness.

No, I never noticed about the headlight being out--good observation. What do you think it means? It would be great if you could post about this on the ffzzzt ~~ electricity references topic on this same forum. Also, look at the topic about hard-to-hear phrases for a long discussion about the "I'm sorry/s'awlright" controversy...I think there's actually a poll about it (I heard I'm sorry too, but I thot Jack said it).

[moremojo]

Alma is water - like a bubbling brook when we first meet her but over time still and cold as a frozen lake

Lureen is fire - burning brightly at first but over time reduced to glowing embers, and then to ash, as evidenced in her ever lightening hair

Jack is air - as fresh as a cool breeze when we first meet him, but then quieted over time only to be buried forever in the Earth.

Ennis is the Earth.

Most interesting to read about the ladies; I had only previously been familiar with the Ennis-as-earth/Jack-as-air symbolism. One might add that the earth (Ennis) is shaped and changed forever by the sometimes subtle but ever relentless power of the wind (Jack).

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Really good observations folks. I had noticed the head light out, but choked it up to Ennis's poverty, and the hair, yes, it grows lighter and lighter, I had noticed that and thought of it as her becoming more and more plastic, detached from reality which culminates in her presentation to Ennis of her version of the facts surrounding Jack's death.

I believe Ennis says to Jack: "I'm sorry" in the second tent scene. About what? His nervousness? Lack of experence? It is wide open to interpretation.

Recently while I was watching I noticed both Ennis and Jack were seperatly wearing "Bolero" ties, those string thingies, at their Thanksgiving dinners. I zoomed in on them and saw Ennis's was a horse head, but Jack's I am still trying to figure out.   

You are right fiend, this movie is loaded with symbolism.

[southendmd]

Welcome, kallyn.

Here's my take on the missing headlight:  It could be a simple symbol that Ennis is incomplete without Jack, and Alma had just brought that to the front of his mind.

Paul

[Phillip Dampier]

Welcome to all of our newcomers!  It was less than a year ago when a lot of us were sitting in the same daze you guys are feeling right now about this movie.  We understand it completely.  Our moderators are going to try and "bump" posts from the forum's earlier days to the top so you can see what we were coping with just a few months ago. 

Most of all, I can tell you that while you will eventually not spend hour after hour dwelling on the movie, it will change your life permanently.  It certainly did with me, which is why we've built this online community.  It's our hope you will find a home with us here both now and well into the future, as we've all made tremendous new friendships online and off!