Brokeback Mountain Forum @ ennisjack.com
The Movie & Story => Characters, Quotes & Scenes => Topic started by: chowhound on Apr 18, 2010, 02:30 PM
-
There are a couple of curious connections between Brokeback Mountain and the recently released movie with Colin Firth A Single Man, though I'm not suggesting any direct influence. One of these connections is that their chronologies overlap.
In A Single Man Jim, George's partner of sixteen years, has been killed in a car accident some time in 1962. Jack and Ennis first meet in 1963 and their affair will last for almost twenty years until Jack is killed, either in an accident or by a tire iron, leaving Ennis, like George, alone.
George and his partner Jim, unlike Jack and Ennis, have set up house together. This domestic arrangement started sometime in the fifties. Yet, although it is the nominally straight-laced fifties, their domestic arrangement draws very few adverse comments from their neighbours - indeed, the neighbours appear cordial and friendly. George, of course, is a professional - he's a college professor - and the two of them have made their home in the suburbs of Los Angeles which was no doubt decidedly more liberal than other parts of the country.
Their counterpart in Brokeback Mountain is not so much Jack and Ennis but Earl and Rich. Like George and Jim, it looks as though Earl and Rich have lived together for a long while, were known by their neighbours as a gay couple and, as such, could be the butt of sly jokes but nothing more. So what happened? What suddenly unleashed that murderous rage against them? Anyway, here is how the situation is described in the short story which the screenplay follows very closely:
"There were these two old guys ranched together down home, Earl and Rich -Dad would pass a remark when he seen them. They was a joke even though they was pretty tough old birds. I was what, nine years old and they found Earl dead in a irrigation ditch. They'd took a tire iron to him, spurred him up, drug him around by his dick until it pulled off, just bloody pulp. What the tire iron done looked like pieces a burned tomatoes all over him, nose tore down from skiddin on gravel."
So what happened? What changed more or less amused tolerance into murderous rage? Are we supposed to imagine that Earl and Rich did something - though it's hard to imagine anything they could have done or said that would have provoked such violence against one of them at least. Or are we to see Ear'ls murder as an indication that, no matter how placid society's surface may seem, as far as gays at least are concerned, murderous hate can at any time and unprovoked, just explode?
-
chowhound, interesting that you found the connection between the two movies.
My guess is due to the geographic difference where the two couples lived - one in LA and the other in Wyoming. I have no answer as to what provoked the violence against Earl and Rich. All I can think of is homophobia. Even now just homophobia could provoke hate crime just like you said no matter when and where.
-
chowhound, interesting that you found the connection between the two movies.
My guess is due to the geographic difference where the two couples lived - one in LA and the other in Wyoming. I have no answer as to what provoked the violence against Earl and Rich. All I can think of is homophobia. Even now just homophobia could provoke hate crime just like you said no matter when and where.
Yup. Anything can be the trigger that lights the fuse in an irrational mind. It's not the specific triggers that sparks the explosion, but the fumes of hateful vapors already swirling in the minds of the fearful. An innocent man can be walking by, having a beer, saying hello, anything, and be the victim of violence. Even in urban centers, in the middle of gay friendly neighborhoods, there are violent incidents.
The movie sounds interesting, and reminds me of the gay couples that I read about, and posted a while back. These were successful professionals living together for decades, not just in Hollywood, but also in small town Pacific Northwest. Granted, the laid back culture up here is still a far cry from the homophobic rural Wyoming. Even now, in the 21st century, and is not so small town. Remember Matthew Shepard. :(
Earl and Rich did nothing to deserve violence. The violence that perpetrated on the young Ennis is proof enough that his old man was just an ugly bully that would be jailed today. Even a decade later, Ennis was still fearful, stilling thinking the old f@#% was about to come through the door with a tire iron in the Motel Siesta. That's hard core intimidation and child abuse. There is no excuse for such behavior. ^*)
-
I agree with you lance. Ennis was so emotionally traumatized and scarred when he was a child and probably heard so much hatred also from his dad and others besides the hideous crime that was committed upon Earl. Some times it amazes me that Ennis had the courage to even love Jack the way he did. To me his love was even stronger than the hate and fear that had been ingrained in him as a child and probably young adult. The more I watch Ennis, I realize it took a lot of guts for him to allow himself to be with Jack for even just those few times a year.
-
That’s why I’m callin’ – is ta’ see whut happened . . . . Ennis Del Mar
Annie is real good at settin’ up situations and giving us just the right amount of limited details to allow the imagination to flourish, yet not enough to restrict the possibilities. We don’t really know much about Earl n’ Rich, except what you’ve noted. But it’s enough to know that little Ennis knew about them, probably for several years, or at least had a picture of them and their life in his young mind, if even only from his dad’s viscous comments and remarks. They were real people to him. So when his dad takes him to see Earl’s mutilated body it’s very real, brutally real. Not like when you see something on the news or even when you drive by the scene of an auto accident, and the events seem distant and unrelated.
Whut happened?
Nuthin’ IMHO. His father didn’t see Earl an’ Rich as human beings, they were just recreational sport, “we can shoot an elk” - “we can castrate Earl”. I think this is what’s needed for much hate crime to happen, the victims need to be dehumanized by the perpetrators. I’m no sociologist but it seems that racism, homophobia, etc. relies upon this and primarily this. Yeah, it helps if some accusation can be trumped up, rape, child molestation, etc. but the bottom line is to see your victim as inhuman, alien, totally unlike you.
I think you hit upon exactly what Annie was trying to convey regarding homophobia, “anytime, anyplace, unprovoked hate” and the fear this hate can perpetuate.
-
That’s why I’m callin’ – is ta’ see whut happened . . . . Ennis Del Mar
Annie is real good at settin’ up situations and giving us just the right amount of limited details to allow the imagination to flourish, yet not enough to restrict the possibilities. We don’t really know much about Earl n’ Rich, except what you’ve noted. But it’s enough to know that little Ennis knew about them, probably for several years, or at least had a picture of them and their life in his young mind, if even only from his dad’s viscous comments and remarks. They were real people to him. So when his dad takes him to see Earl’s mutilated body it’s very real, brutally real. Not like when you see something on the news or even when you drive by the scene of an auto accident, and the events seem distant and unrelated.
Whut happened?
Nuthin’ IMHO. His father didn’t see Earl an’ Rich as human beings, they were just recreational sport, “we can shoot an elk” - “we can castrate Earl”. I think this is what’s needed for much hate crime to happen, the victims need to be dehumanized by the perpetrators. I’m no sociologist but it seems that racism, homophobia, etc. relies upon this and primarily this. Yeah, it helps if some accusation can be trumped up, rape, child molestation, etc. but the bottom line is to see your victim as inhuman, alien, totally unlike you.
I think you hit upon exactly what Annie was trying to convey regarding homophobia, “anytime, anyplace, unprovoked hate” and the fear this hate can perpetuate.
O0 Jackster.
The unique brand of Annie Proulx is indeed the fine line that straddle between reality and imagination. Too much focus and it limits the imagination.
The modern theory on the nature of evil is the lack of empathy with others, with victims, as you pointed out here.
It is the irrational, "no reason" nature of violent hatred, that makes children growing up as Ennis did, try to find "reasons" to justify what their parents do. As children view their parents as someone who would do no wrong, who would only hurt with good reasons, the irrational violence turn Ennis's fear into a deep seated homophobia that destroyed his chance for happiness.
As the famous line in one of my favorite movie says, "It's not your fault."
Hint: Robin Williams telling Matt Damon during therapy.
-
....the victims need to be dehumanized by the perpetrators. I’m no sociologist but it seems that racism, homophobia, etc. relies upon this and primarily this.
Hi, Jackster - I bolded "primarily" because I do agree with you but also note that the use of that word would then only cover most cases, and so, not all. Similarly, I do agree with Lance's post referring to a lack of empathy for the victim, again, covering most cases.
But I just wanted to say that I believe there would be savagery where (and I find this even more grotesque) the victim is not dehumanized but, rather, the predator, from their own twisted nature, understands and revels in the humanity of their prey and somehow derives, more enduring satisfaction.
I think Ennis' father might have fallen into this less frequent category, because he went back to gloat, and to (IMO) puff up his own alleged toughness before his two young sons. He knew Earl was a person, and he may well even have festered for years at the thought of someone defying "the rules" and not paying the price. This isn't the "What is the nature of evil?" thread, but I do think it is relevant to consider the various depths of loathesomeness that can infect a soul or mind. And going back to display the person, who was known to be a human being may well show a different, if infrequent, form of hate crime.
This subject has troubled me, even to think about it, and I prefer not to. But.....poor young Ennis! OMG, what a freak for a father! And the questions that can't be explored: Why Earl and not Rich? And what happened to Rich? And how many people knew? And how long did Ennis' father know Earl?
Am not a sociologist either, but am just saying there can be more to a hate crime than dehumanization or lack of empathy. There could be a vendetta, or some seeking of personal power, and so on. These less frequent events would ratify the humanity of the victim, all the more, to satisfy some inner need. And maybe the murder of Earl, primarily based on homophobia, might yet have had other layers of personal sickness involved.
-
Tony – You bring up some very valid, if frightening, points here. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine the extent, depth, or desire of savagery felt by some. And this certainly could be the case here. Annie is so adept at weaving her stories to convey precisely the point she wants to make I made the assumption that if she had wanted us to “see” additional, more gruesome aspects of this event, from either the viewpoint of the perpetrator or the victim, she would have devised a way for those to be brought into the story. To me it seems that what we learn (the traumatization of a child) was enough to set the stage for the development of the adult Ennis and then his eventual personal triumph over this, “Jack, I swear”. JMHO.
:c)
-
chowhound, interesting that you found the connection between the two movies.
My guess is due to the geographic difference where the two couples lived - one in LA and the other in Wyoming. I have no answer as to what provoked the violence against Earl and Rich. All I can think of is homophobia. Even now just homophobia could provoke hate crime just like you said no matter when and where.
Violence on gays can of course also happen in the big cities, and homophobia is certainly at the root of most of these. But I agree that a culture of diveristy and tolerance is more likely in the bigger and more liberal population centers. Hate may be fostered anywhere, but it thrives under certain conditions much better.
-
I wonder when a single man will be out on DVD I'd love to see it