Brokeback Mountain Forum @ ennisjack.com
The Movie & Story => Characters, Quotes & Scenes => Topic started by: sam on Mar 11, 2006, 09:47 AM
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Has anyone thought of how all the small and "by-themselves" seemingly insignificant "CONTRASTS" in the film all come together and work on our emotions, and our perception of the story/film as a whole? (I call them: "contrasts" for lack of a better word...)
Examples:
Extrovert--Introvert
Rich--Poor
Heavenly Blues--Earthy Browns
Brunette--Blonde
Texas--Wyoming
Luxurious Fabric--Plain Straw
Thanksgiving Host--Invited Guest
Only Child--A Brother and Sister
Parents Alive--Parents Passed Away
Rodeo (Society) Queen--Plain Jane
Easy Flowin', Outgoin' Chatterbox--Strong Tight-Lipped Silent Type
New--Used
Owned--Rented
Mustached--Clean Shaven
a Travellin'--Stayin' put
Knowing--Doubting
Bad Aim--Perfect Shot
Bottom--Top
Drivin'--Walkin'
Courageous--Timid
Own Boss--Hired Hand
Shiny and New--Old, Weathered and Battered
In the tent--By the campfire
Up with the sheep--Down at the camp
Do-Don't
Shirt on the Outside--Shirt on the Inside
Schooled--Unschooled
Harmonica "Noise"--Peaceful Silence
Forgiving--Sorry
These are by far, just a few. I'm sure y'all can think of others...
Makes you think, don't they?
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Yes. it's so, it's the yin/yang topic. It's the search of the other one's difference in order to allow to complete oneself.
Very amazing.
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Nothing in this film is by chanse and it just continues to amaze me
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Nothing in this film is by chanse and it just continues to amaze me
Annie wrote an amazing short story!
I bow to her and Diana and Larry.
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One of the better reviews posted somewhere here (God knows where !) mentioned the contrast mountains / plains. In higher altitudes, Ennis and Jack were emotionally and essentially on a completely different level. The rest of society was on a lower, flatter level.
Stephan
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Bottom--Top
These are just a few. I'm sure you can think of others...
Makes you think, don't they?
Sam, there is only one juxtaposition I would quibble with: The bottom-top one. Of course, in the first tent scene it is very clear. But on their second night it is no longer so clear who is bottom and who is top, don't you think?
Mona
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Bottom--Top
These are just a few. I'm sure you can think of others...
Makes you think, don't they?
Sam, there is only one juxtaposition I would quibble with: The bottom-top one. Of course, in the first tent scene it is very clear. But on their second night it is no longer so clear who is bottom and who is top, don't you think?
Mona
yes, of course you are right Mona! (...i was only thinking of that first tent scene when i listed those two things...)
but, if you look more closely, a few, but certainly not all of what is listed is per se "static" or rigidly a "given"...
(if i remember correctly, Jack does wear a "brown" once or twice, and ennis, a "blue" --->does this signify: intertwining? ;)
these are just meant as "global" contrasts...
i guess that my main point is just to show that the "eye for detail" in contrasts in this film is amazing...so much to see, to wonder about, to think about...ponder over, contemplate! :-*
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wonderful thread
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Just thought you had some ideas of BBM...and here comes something else.
Amazing piece of art. BBM - the best picture of our hearts. Thanks for this thread.
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:)
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i guess that my main point is just to show that the "eye for detail" in contrasts in this film is amazing...so much to see, to wonder about, to think about...ponder over, contemplate! :-*
It feels like NOTHING is there without a reason...and I love it, it's like Harry Potter, it's all got something to do with something else and you can spend a lifetime discovering it
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What a wonderful thread.
As for the contrasts -- BBM is almost Latinate in its use of antithesis. Lucan, Seneca, and Virgil himself could do no better...
Perhaps I am seeing too much! :)
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Black hat - White hat
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Black hat - White hat
Good one! I (subconsciously?) missed that!
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Electric - manual carving knife
Really thought Jack should have had the electric
- Nancy
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Body clothed with feet naked in the water, or body naked with feet in boots in the water ;D
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Driving an old truck - Walking
Driving an old truck - Driving a new truck
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Ennis-----2 girls
Jack------1 boy
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Jack----Open for love
Ennis----Denial of love
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Body clothed with feet naked in the water, or body naked with feet in boots in the water ;D
Excellent! I never thought of that one. Staring me in the face and I totally missed it. I wondered about that scene of Jack washing the shirts. Now it makes complete sense. Thanks. ;)
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Sam, there is only one juxtaposition I would quibble with: The bottom-top one. Of course, in the first tent scene it is very clear. But on their second night it is no longer so clear who is bottom and who is top, don't you think?
Mona
You know I have thought of this quite often. People want so much to label types. For me I am not a "type". I have found pleasure and passion in the versatile. The give and take, making love, being made love to. I think of 2 young men alone on a mountain, open and curious. In their 1963 innocence there are no rules, no boundaries. I see them exploring each other in a purity that most of us will never know. That is the power old Brokeback had on them. They could make their own world and that is what they did. As older, more wiser(?) men they conflict with what they now know. Jack sees it harder then Ennis. "So what we got now is Brokeback Mountain. Everything built on that. (That pure innocent love.) Everything built on that. It's all we got, boy, f**ken all, so I hope you know that if you don't never know the rest." Well now I've worked myself up into a good old cry. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
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Body clothed with feet naked in the water, or body naked with feet in boots in the water ;D
Excellent! I never thought of that one. Staring me in the face and I totally missed it. I wondered about that scene of Jack washing the shirts. Now it makes complete sense. Thanks. ;)
I didn't see that one either - or a lot of the others mentioned. This is fascinating, do you think some of it may have been done by the film makers subconsciously? Could they really have planned all that??
Contrasts I've noticed ...
Ennis "I'll stick with beans", Jack "Well, I won't"
Translation (to me) Ennis will choose to suffer, living within the "rules" imposed on him from outside; Jack refuses to settle and will always push at the boundaries, he's going to try to make a life that fits him. Whether he's successful or not, he's always trying.
The last two images we have of Jack, both images of him watching Ennis leave ..
After the hug in the flash back of their first summer, he watches Ennis ride away with tenderness and contentment in his eyes; that cuts right back to after their final confrontation and Jack watching Ennis drive away, this time the look in his eyes is sad, frustrated, resigned.
More vs. Less:
Ennis becomes MORE of what he already was (repressed, shut down, quiet); Jack becomes LESS of what he was, less soft, less trusting, less open, he toughens up over the years.
and I don't know if this is a really a contrast, or just "different", but one wife is divorced; one is widowed.
Did those make sense?
And people wonder how I can see this film so many times - there is ALWAYS something new I'm learning that I have to go back and see for myself (again!). ;)
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Did those make sense?
And people wonder how I can see this film so many times - there is ALWAYS something new I'm learning that I have to go back and see for myself (again!). ;)
Great post. Thanks, MississaugaRed and welcome too. They make perfect sense. Yes this movie is one worth watching several times and I keep learning something new. A lot of them I learn from this forum as well.
I think it also has to a lot of do with Jack and Ennis's personality which influence what they do and say. They are the opposite but complementary to each other.
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And perhaps the most wonderful contrast for us on this site:
pre BBM/ post BBM
The contrasts aren't limited to the movie alone.