Author Topic: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"  (Read 7759 times)

Offline RossInIllinois

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I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« on: April 23, 2007, 10:49:41 pm »
I just watched the movie again and noticed Ennis with a paper bag in his hand when first arriving in the movie THEN AGAIN the bag looks almost the same when he leaves Jacks parents home.  I wonder if this was intentional? If so why?

Offline RossInIllinois

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2007, 10:55:40 pm »
OMG How funny I never saw that "other" thread  ;D

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2012, 07:11:32 pm »
The paper bag strikes me as an almost biblical reference. In the beginning stories of the Redeemer, Jesus, he was born in a manger, which is a place where animals eat
 (to eat=manger). And then on his last evening on earth, he took bread and presented it to his disciples and said, "Here is my body, which is broken for you."

In the same way, Ennis arrived at Brokeback Mountain with a couple of shirts in a paper bag. At the end of the movie, he was leaving Lightning Flat, with the two shirts, consecrated with blood, in a paper bag.
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Offline Mandy21

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2012, 07:34:10 am »
Wow, Lee, that is some deep Biblical analogy there.  Impressive!

And here, I always thought it was just cause Ennis couldn't afford a proper suitcase to carry his clothes/gear around at the beginning. ;D  And then in the second instance, he arrived expecting to take away nothing but some additional insight into his friend, so the bag had to be given to him by Jack's mom.  What else could she have offered him from that sparse house?  In other words, I never saw it as anything but practical.  But I kinda dig your metaphysical take on it.
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2012, 09:26:38 am »
At the end of the movie, he was leaving Lightning Flat, with the two shirts, consecrated with blood, in a paper bag.

The paper bag as Holy Grail.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2012, 10:34:26 am »
Just a little over six years ago, I was leaving the museum in Casper, Wyoming, after hearing Annie Proulx speak for the first time. My new friends and I were on our way to eat at the Wonder Bar, but we had a little time to spend before dinner. We decided to go over to the library next door which was having a sale of old books in its basement. I bought a raggedy paperback of The Virginian and a Life Magazine from the '60s and another book, and EDelMar bought a stack of books, one about the general store in Lysite whose owner he knew. He put the books in the cab of The Truck and then we walked down the sidewalk towards the bar. He paused as he was about to dispose of the paper bag the books had been wrapped in into a trash container and then gave it to me. "Would you keep this for me?" he said. "I like the way it rustles." I accepted the bag reverently and stowed it in my own car along with my purchases. Later, I gave it back to him.
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Offline CellarDweller

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2012, 10:56:41 am »

The paper bag in the beginning of the film held what was important to him, his extra change of clothes.   At the end of the film, it held extra clothes that represented his relationship with Jack, which by then had become the most imporant thing to him.


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Offline Monika

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2012, 11:14:18 am »

For me the paper bag represent a circular movement. In the beginning, all Ennis has is a paper bag with clothes. And inspite of everything, that´s all he is really left with in the end too. In the end, Ennis hasn´t really evolved much since we first see him, paper bag in hand, jump down from that semi-trailer - he is still in Wyoming, still working 24/7 and is still afraid of his own shadow.

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Offline Sason

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2012, 11:35:36 am »
The paper bags are also a bookend, containing the whole movie.

The first one at the very beginning of the film, the last one in the next-to-last scene.

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Offline RossInIllinois

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Re: I Never Paid Attention to "The Paper Bag"
« Reply #9 on: December 24, 2013, 11:06:59 pm »
The paper bag in the beginning of the film held what was important to him, his extra change of clothes.   At the end of the film, it held extra clothes that represented his relationship with Jack, which by then had become the most imporant thing to him.

Yes Indeed!