I agree with the closet image, wholeheartedly. But the other one, the river: I was very much put off by some of the other arguments brought to bear in the article, concerning the river image of "free" homosexuality versus "boring" family life.
I quote:
"In fact, generally, the movie is cruel to family. It seems to think family is a bourgeois delusion; Ennis's poor daughter ends up in a gaudy Trans Am owned by her fiance, a harbinger of roughneck disaster to come. Jack's boy is simply forgotten about; his ultimate pain -- and it will be considerable -- is not commented upon.
The movie also misses the deepest joy of family, which is that sense of connection to the great wheel of life. Giving birth to, educating and loving a kid are among the profound joys of human existence. "Brokeback Mountain" cannot begin to imagine such a thing; that reality simply is not on its radar, and if you looked at the story from another vantage -- the children's -- it would be a different tale altogether: about greedy, selfish, undisciplined homosexuals who took out a contract in the heterosexual world, and abandoned it. They weren't true men; they failed at the man's one sacred duty on Earth, which is to provide"
True, one might argue that Ennis is not a very good father, and Jack is willing to leave his family for Ennis, at the drop of a hat. But in some subtle way the author of the article makes it look as if that were mainly to do with their being gay. By the way: I'm convinced that family often enough is more a burden than a blessing. And that there are many lifestyles out there, just as important and valuable. So, maybe I just can't stand the way she sneaks in family values through the back door, here.
monicita
Yes. powerful stuff. And thanks for the pointer about BBM symbols. I was just following the which scene do you hate the most thread and came upon the scene where Ennis peels the potato instead of looking at Ennis naked. There's a great symbol for you: objects substituted for desire/love/lust. He has to look at the potato because he can't allow himself to look at Ennis...
monicita
They weren't true men; they failed at the man's one sacred duty on Earth, which is to provide"
I, mostly, like Mr. Hunter's essay (it is an essay, not a review). But what I mostly like is that it was there... that the film continues to make deep impressions, that there will be more and more
They weren't true men; they failed at the man's one sacred duty on Earth, which is to provide"
I must take umbrage at the above. Me thinks that you have pushed civilization back to the stone age. It has taken men a long time to get out of the mindset that all women should be kept in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant....or they are not true women?
Excellent post Allan. And I agree with all of it - but especially like what I quoted above.
In my country we have a saying: Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika, daig pa ang malangsang isda.
In my country we have a saying: Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika, daig pa ang malangsang isda.
Say what???? :-X
monicita
I think the river scenes in BBM suggest something more like the Pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus:FRAGMENT 12On those who step in the same river, different and different waters flow . . .[/b]
(quoted in Arius Didymus, )
This is the most famous passage in Heraclitus. This curious riddle implies two things: 1.) that the world is in constant change (different and different waters flow); 2.) the world is one unified whole (the river) which is constant yet contains this perpetual change.*[/i]
Ennis’ and Jack’s fates are different but ineluctable. One and the same irreversible (and downhill) stream carries them there.
_________________________________________
*[http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/HERAC.HTM]
Hades Rocks. And so does your analogy ;D
As for the river... oh, yes. But it's not just the river... it's the mountains... the sky... the hail... the snow... and the moon.
"above the fruited plain"
Is this a reference to Jack and Ennis sexuality?
I'm disappointed that no one picked up on my Reply #21 to this topic quoting Annie Proulx at length from People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water (Wyoming Stories).Sept, we may not reply but many of us read your most pithy posts.
The quote really is worth a slow, medtative, read. I have a hunch its what the "fixed mass" of natural backround in Ennis and Jack's life on Brokeback contributes to their tragedy.
2. The Closet.
It's when the movie moves upstairs at Jack's parents' house that "Brokeback Mountain" achieves its true power and universality. The subject then becomes not homosexuality but closets, which Lee presents, again literally -- that's a real closet there -- and metaphorically. Ennis is alone in the room, but he feels a presence and looks into the closet where he's metaphorically lived the most meaningful and happiest days of the life. He ducks in as if prostrating himself before an altar, drops to his knees and, hidden way in the back, finds Jack's shirt, smeared with blood from a fight they'd had; and within Jack's shirt is his own shirt, with his blood from the fight.
There is a magnificent review in the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006020102477_2.html
In it, the reviewer argues convincingly for two symbols: the River and the Closet.
1. The River of Homosexuality.
Homosexuality in "Brokeback Mountain" is always associated with a river: It's a great torrent of nature, which cannot be controlled and which provides sustenance, nurture, satisfaction, joy. The happiest image in the film, and the most poignant, is Ennis and Jack, off by their lonesome, pulling off their clothes and leaping off a cliff into the placid, welcoming waters below. Realistically, it's a river; metaphorically, it's the great river of homosexuality, and safe and free immersion in it is utterly joyful to them. Indeed, most of the two men's squabbling and (mostly off-camera) lovemaking takes place next to a river. It's glimpsed in many of the backgrounds, usually a turmoil of frothing white water to signify the rush and power of their love and lust for each other. Sometimes it's calming, it's always there for them, and they suffer at their imposed distance from it.
Contrast that with the imagery of family and hearth. These venues are expressions of the impoverishment of the heterosexual family lifestyle. Ennis lives in a shabby apartment where he is regularly assailed by his doughy, clueless wife (Oscar-nominated Michelle Williams). His children squall and make demands that he cannot satisfy; his wife clings and resents; we are pressed to identify with him and feel the pain he feels and the yearning he aches with as he lurches out to the "purity" of the river.
The same is true for Jack. His family is equally dysfunctional, fronted by a bully and braggart of a father-in-law who sells farm equipment in Texas. His wife, Lurlene (Anne Hathaway), is first glimpsed as an impossibly pretty young rodeo rider, but after the marriage she ages gracelessly into a chain-smoking harridan with big blond hair and bad teeth.
My question: do you agree with these symbols? I think the reviewer's arguments are magnificent. Do they really mean anything in the movie?