Author Topic: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain  (Read 6985 times)

Offline brokebackjack

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #10 on: March 28, 2007, 09:51:46 am »
Where to begin? I guess Aguirre is as good a place as any.

After the descent from the mountain, Aguirre looked at the flock and said, "Some a these never went up there with you." So, there were some extra sheep. But then it says that the count was not what he'd hoped for either. Meaning, the count of the sheep was lower than it should have been? Go figure.


Well the paint was so  worn it was hard to tell; the BREEDS were mixed. There are different breeds of sheep, noticeable instantly to sheepmen. He meant literally some of these never went up there with you, they were another breed of sheep. Least that's what I get.

I'm confused by discongruities Lee, thought it meant editing etc, obvious flaws. Is that what you mean here?
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Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #11 on: March 29, 2007, 01:16:14 pm »
No, congruency means, in harmony, in agreement, and conforming to the circumstances or requirements of a situation. So discongrencies in the movie/story would be sayings or actions that are not in harmony or agreement with the situation or what we would expect. I was thinking of calling this Discongruency and Contradictions in BBM, but decided that would be too long. More examples will follow shortly.

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Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #12 on: March 29, 2007, 03:39:14 pm »
The music in Brokeback Mountain epitomizes the discongruencies of the story perfectly with its interspersed harmonic and dissonant chords. Just think of the first notes of the movie: two high notes sounded almost together that complement and yet clash with each other.

"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2007, 01:18:10 pm »
That was a good point about the breeds of sheep, Jack. I am often puzzled by how those sheep got all the way from Chile to the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, LOL, but there must be a good 'spalnation for it.

Another discongruency that's always interested me is the phrase "the two of them in the euphoric bitter air." Can something be euphoric and bitter at the same time? I'm trying to imagine it.
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #14 on: April 01, 2007, 11:30:08 pm »
Another discongruency that's always interested me is the phrase "the two of them in the euphoric bitter air." Can something be euphoric and bitter at the same time? I'm trying to imagine it.

I think of euphoric as a mood, and, in this case, bitter as a flavor -- a challenging, yet bracing and refreshing flavor. But you're right, bitter can be a mood, too, and in that sense is pretty much the opposite of euphoric.

Offline BBM-Cat

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #15 on: April 02, 2007, 12:01:50 am »
This is an interesting discongruency....'euphoric' implies expansive, while 'bitter' implies an imposed limitation. I was trying to think of an example to FR's question - can something be euphoric and bitter at the same time? This is a great question. I thought about a recent visit to New York City I took last year with my husband and his family - we walked all over and toured the sights including the Empire State Building, Ground Zero (9/11), etc. To me the experience was 'euphoric' because it was exciting, like sensory overload - so much to take in at one time;  at the same time it was also kind of 'bitter' because the environment was unfamiliar to me and I felt out of sorts, and there were certainly some sights on the trip that were harder to deal with emotionally than others (like Ground Zero). The bustle of NYC is certainly a far cry from BBM but maybe the 'euphoric and bitter air' is likened to the mileau that surrounded Jack & Ennis' new found companionship/love relationship and all of it's uncertainties.
Six-word Stories:  ~Jack: Lightning Flat, lightning love, flat denied   ~Ennis: Open space: flat tire, tire iron?

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #16 on: April 02, 2007, 05:50:59 am »
Another discongruency that's always interested me is the phrase "the two of them in the euphoric bitter air." Can something be euphoric and bitter at the same time? I'm trying to imagine it.



I have two possible interpretations for the "euphoric, bitter air". The first one is more mundane, the second one more spiritual.

The mundane one:
Let me start with the second word, bitter: I always interpreted it as bitterly cold. Now I looked it up in the dictionary and indeed, it said that bitter, when used in regard to weather, wind or air, means bitterly cold.
So although it was bitterly cold on the mountain, and other people would have hated the situation and the job, they didn't mind it - in fact they loved their time up there. They loved it so much, it gave them such a sense of euphoria that they felt like they were able to fly.

The more spiritual one:
The air was euphoric for the same reason as before (liberating, clean, giving them so much sense of freedom and happyness they thought they could fly). And the "bitter" part is meant as a foreshadowing of the things to come and as a reminder that even in their Garden Eden, the world was not perfect: Aguirre watched them (and this is told to the reader in ther very next sentence!), and both knew that they could not stay on the mountain forever, that everything has to come to an end.

I can imagine things that are euphoric and bitter at the same time (bitter not in the sense of cold, but in the sense of hard/ difficult/hurtful). BBM-cat's example is a good one. Or imagine a person who was once very important and/or beloved to you, but you parted in anger - and then meeting this person for the first time after years. Think also of the word bittersweet.

Offline brokebackjack

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #17 on: April 02, 2007, 08:15:18 am »
now that is a beautiful post....
"I couldn't stand it no more so i fixed it"

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Discongruency in Brokeback Mountain
« Reply #18 on: April 05, 2007, 07:05:35 pm »
I agree.

We live on conflict. I mean, what else can you expect from a species that gets around by first falling forward and then catching itself, by alternatively balancing and unbalancing on its caliper legs??

The music of the movie expresses this with its interspersal of harmonic and dissonant chords.

"chewing gum and duct tape"