Topic: Subtle but Significant Difference in Story to Movie Texts

[Allan]

Here's one I've been aching over.  It's from the stand-off (it really is a lover's quarrel) in the last camp-out.  Annie's text gives is:

?You been a Mexico, Jack?? Mexico was the place. He?d heard. He was cutting fence now, trespassing in the shoot-em zone.
?Hell yes, I been. Where?s the fu**in' problem?? Braced for it all these years and here it came, late and unexpected.
?I got a say this to you one time, Jack, and I ain?t foolin. What I don?t know,? said Ennis, ?all them things I don?t know could get you killed if I should come to know them.?

The screenplay makes this elaboration:

Ennis: YOU been to Mexico, Jack?  I heard about what they got in Mexico for boys like you.
Jack: Well yes, I been to Mexico.  Is that a fu**in' problem?
Ennis: I got a say this to you one time Jack fu**in' Twist.  And I anint foolin'.  What I don?t know, all them things I don?t know could get you killed if I should come to know them.

To me, the dialog from the screenplay is the most painful.  In saying "I heard about what they got in Mexico for boys like you."  He is essentially calling Jack, his one friend and the love of his life, a "faggot" and, tacitly, establishing himself as the "alpha male" who only goes "down low" with Jack as a matter of convenience.  Worse, he uses "Jack fu**in' Twist," a term of endearment in the reunion scene, as a put-down in this one.  Finally there's the threat on Jack's life.  It's interesting that he doesn't say "don't do it," he just says, "don't let me find out about it."  You can only imagine the anger, pain, and fear of loss that Ennis is experiencing in this scene to make him say these things.

Jack's retort, "Measure the fu**in short leash you keep me on, then ask me about Mexico and then tell me you?ll kill me for needin it and not hardly never gettin it."  How ironic for him to use the term "short leash."  This from a man who really needed no leash at all, who wanted to be as close to Ennis as nature would allow... who would have been happy to be conjoined with Ennis at the hip.

[monicita]

Beautiful post, Allan!

 Poor Jack. And poor Ennis. How they must both be hurting inside. I love the courageous way Jack speaks out at this point. Because he just can't keep on reining himself in. There is something homophobic in Ennis, isn't there? I like the way you pointed that out in your post. Ennis's tragedy is the tragedy of a man who has been taught to hate "queers" (at a very early age, by his father) and realizes he loves one, maybe even is one of them himself. So what does he do? How does he react? He hates himself AND the one he loves, because he is not able to change what made him hate himself.

Incredible, the subtle way in which the movie shows us the workings of homophobia. Witness the rodeo clown scene, Jack's father in law, even his wife, Alma too, when she says "Jack Nasty". Actually the only two  clearly non homophobic people in the whole movie are Jack and Ennis's mother.

monicita

[tpe]

Beautiful post, Allan!

 Poor Jack. And poor Ennis. How they must both be hurting inside. I love the courageous way Jack speaks out at this point. Because he just can't keep on reining himself in. There is something homophobic in Ennis, isn't there? I like the way you pointed that out in your post. Ennis's tragedy is the tragedy of a man who has been taught to hate "queers" (at a very early age, by his father) and realizes he loves one, maybe even is one of them himself. So what does he do? How does he react? He hates himself AND the one he loves, because he is not able to change what made him hate himself.

Incredible, the subtle way in which the movie shows us the workings of homophobia. Witness the rodeo clown scene, Jack's father in law, even his wife, Alma too, when she says "Jack Nasty". Actually the only two  clearly non homophobic people in the whole movie are Jack and Ennis's mother.

monicita

monicita, your post is also pretty beautiful.

[Allan]

Actually the only two  clearly non homophobic people in the whole movie are Jack and Ennis's mother.

monicita

How about adding Alma Jr. to that list, Monicita.  There's no reason to think that she understands the complexities of her dad's relationship with Jack.  But never mind, her love for Ennis is unconditional.

[shieldmaid]

What a compelling and important topic--thanks for raising it.  I wanted to say, too, in somewhat of a tangent, that I really loved the way the screenplay transformed the end of this scene.  In the book (sorry, it's not with me at this moment), after Ennis sinks to his knees in grief over their quarrel/inevitable parting/tragic situation, and Jack leaps out of the truck, fearing that he has had a heart attack, Proulx says something like, "they managed to torque the situation back to where it had been before, as they always did."  In the movie, we see this heartbreakingly beautiful scene in which they cling to each other, faces crumpled in grief, reaffirming their love for the last time (sniff).  Ennis admits here, without words, that he cannot stand the thought of Jack loving someone else and holds onto him desperately--in my mind, almost erasing the homophobic implications of his earlier comments (I say *almost*, because I always wish he didn't say these hurtful things) with the power of his love.   :'(

[guajillo55]

To me, the dialog from the screenplay is the most painful.  In saying "I heard about what they got in Mexico for boys like you."  He is essentially calling Jack, his one friend and the love of his life, a "faggot" and, tacitly, establishing himself as the "alpha male" who only goes "down low" with Jack as a matter of convenience.  Worse, he uses "Jack f***in' Twist," a term of endearment in the reunion scene, as a put-down in this one.  Finally there's the threat on Jack's life.  It's interesting that he doesn't say "don't do it," he just says, "don't let me find out about it."  You can only imagine the anger, pain, and fear of loss that Ennis is experiencing in this scene to make him say these things.

Really insightful stuff, Allan, thanks. And about that "fear" of Ennis's: there are so many levels to his fear I don't think he could rise above them. One of the fears, as you say, is losing Jack, but even that fear is multifaceted. He fears losing Jack for all the obvious reasons: because he loves him and would miss him . . . because Jack would find another man to replace him . . . One reason that occurred to me the second time I saw the movie is that he fears losing Jack because he knows Jack is the only man he will -- or can -- ever love. He's too repressed, too much in denial about his sexuality to seek another man were he to lose Jack. And with no man in his life he would indeed be "nowhere" and "nothing" because he is only "somewhere" and "someone" when he's with a man, a man by the name of Jack Twist.

[francis.shim]

Here's one I've been aching over.  It's from the stand-off (it really is a lover's quarrel) in the last camp-out.  Annie's text gives is:

?You been a Mexico, Jack?? Mexico was the place. He?d heard. He was cutting fence now, trespassing in the shoot-em zone.
?Hell yes, I been. Where?s the f***in' problem?? Braced for it all these years and here it came, late and unexpected.
?I got a say this to you one time, Jack, and I ain?t foolin. What I don?t know,? said Ennis, ?all them things I don?t know could get you killed if I should come to know them.?

The screenplay makes this elaboration:

Ennis: YOU been to Mexico, Jack?  I heard about what they got in Mexico for boys like you.
Jack: Well yes, I been to Mexico.  Is that a f***in' problem?
Ennis: I got a say this to you one time Jack f***in' Twist.  And I anint foolin'.  What I don?t know, all them things I don?t know could get you killed if I should come to know them.

To me, the dialog from the screenplay is the most painful.  In saying "I heard about what they got in Mexico for boys like you."  He is essentially calling Jack, his one friend and the love of his life, a "faggot" and, tacitly, establishing himself as the "alpha male" who only goes "down low" with Jack as a matter of convenience.  Worse, he uses "Jack f***in' Twist," a term of endearment in the reunion scene, as a put-down in this one.  Finally there's the threat on Jack's life.  It's interesting that he doesn't say "don't do it," he just says, "don't let me find out about it."  You can only imagine the anger, pain, and fear of loss that Ennis is experiencing in this scene to make him say these things.

Jack's retort, "Measure the f***in short leash you keep me on, then ask me about Mexico and then tell me you?ll kill me for needin it and not hardly never gettin it."  How ironic for him to use the term "short leash."  This from a man who really needed no leash at all, who wanted to be as close to Ennis as nature would allow... who would have been happy to be conjoined with Ennis at the hip.

Very insightful, Allan... it was heartbreaking and the words were really harsh... please let me continue this...

As much as the two threw words that attempt to establish control and to assign blame to each other... as much as those words started to hit below the belt, to try and emasculate both of them.... as much as those words were thrown in anger and pain... I got the feeling that at this juncture that Jack and Ennis WANTED to hate each other so that they could STOP loving each other.  Whether in the oriiginal short story or in the movie, I thought that the tension and the gist of that feeling was still imparted despite the differences.  I think the differences were really made for the diffence in the medium being used to communicate to the audience (paper versus celluloid):

As a reader of the short story we are privy to Ennis' thoughts

    "... Mexico was the place. He?d heard. He was cutting fence now, trespassing in the shoot-em zone."...

Ennis did not *say* this part in the short story... he thought this.  I suspect that in order to translate this critical thought into the movie's dialogue without changing Ennis' character they probably had to shorten the line... since Ennis', of few words, is shouting this in the heat of anger.

    "... I heard about what they got in Mexico for boys like you..."

I thought was perfect... since it is clear that Ennis is both worried and sickened by the fact that Jack would be "cutting fence now, trespassing in the shoot-em zone.".  It also provided a fine cue-in for Jack's reply while staying in character:

  "W/Hell yes, I been. Where's the f***in' problem?"

and it made the comment "... Braced for it all these years and here it came, late and unexpected." less necessary for the audience.  This was an argument... in the movie it has to move quick and heated to be convincing.  The "alpha-male" threat is probably incidental to the aspects of the physical relationship, but it does not make the pain and anguish any less or more self-evident in the movie.  An overall heated argument like that is supposed to be threatening and hurtful...

... these two guys so totally in love with each other, but in order to survive in the enviroment they found themselves in, they were supposed to hate each other... they were supposed to hate each others guts...

... but they didn't... and it only made Jack's plaintive cry: "I wish I could quit you"

all the more reflective about how he and also Ennis just could not fix this and just could not stand this.  It was a heart-wrenching moment, both the short story and the movie, I thought both ways did it justice despite the differences.

I hope I didn't write too much.... I tend to ramble a bit.

Frank

[monicita]

Actually the only two  clearly non homophobic people in the whole movie are Jack and Ennis's mother.

monicita

How about adding Alma Jr. to that list, Monicita.  There's no reason to think that she understands the complexities of her dad's relationship with Jack.  But never mind, her love for Ennis is unconditional.

Allan, you're right. I'd been thinking about that. So true. We should add her to the list.

monicita

[Allan]

I hope I didn't write too much.... I tend to ramble a bit.

Frank

This isn't rambling.  It's all quite germane.  I want to go to the next level.  At the end of the confrontation, Ennis colapses (in the movie it is, of course, into Jack's arms)  Annie tells us:

"Jesus," said Jack. "Ennis?" But before he was out of the truck, trying to guess if it was a heart attack or the overflow of an incendiary rage, Ennis was back on his feet, and somehow, as a coat hanger is straightened to open a locked car and then bent again to its original shape, they torqued things almost to where they had been, for what they'd said was no news. Nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved.

"As a coat hanger is straightened to open a locked car and then bent again to its original shape" is a false analogy.  Ever try to re-bend a hanger that has been straightened back into its original shape?  I have.  You can try to twist it back together, but it never really looks, or works the same.  I think that's the point.  The relationship has undergone a change. "Nothing ended."  True.  The love they share is like a hoop of steel that cinches them together.  It is unalterable.  But, "nothing resolved" is true, too.  Now their inflexibility, their unwillingness to compromise their views of exactly the direction their relationship should take (or should have taken), has altered the Ennis/Jack equation.  "Torqued things almost to where they had been."  Almost indeed.  I've already written somewhere in some forum "While their love will never grow old, the damage has been done.  Jack knows that a real home with Ennis, the "little cow-and-calf operation" of his dreams will never happen.  Ennis knows that he runs the risk of losing Jack."

We know what Ennis does from this point.  We must, unfortunately, consider Jack's actions.  Maybe the loneliness of his separation from Ennis gets to the point that he really can't stand it... Maybe he decides to try setting up "housekeeping" with Randall Malone.  Here's what my crystal ball tells me:  The Twist/Malone marriage has about the chance of survival that Jack's marriage to Lureen had.  I'd give it a month... before Jack had to write a (figurative) little postcard to Ennis that says "Friend, a week in November freezing my ass off with you is worth a month in the sunshine with anybody else."  It's that unalterable hoop of steel.  No one, and nothing else has a chance at getting to the hearts of these men, their love is enduring. It's the actualization of that love that, sadly, that causes that space between belief and reality that Ennis is gazing into at the end of this story.


Allan

[monicita]

Yes, I give it to you, these men love each other, and they would probably have kept on meeting (even though, maybe, less frequently) over the years. But it seems such a cruel thing to me, to deny Jack the possibility of finding love with somebody else. Maybe it is because I believe that you can love more than one person. Why shouldn't he have loved Ennis and begun a new love with somebody else. At least, that is what I would have wished for him: Ennis was incapable of it, he could only love Jack, but Jack, he wanted a fulfilled life, at last.

monicita

[francis.shim]

["While their love will never grow old, the damage has been done.  Jack knows that a real home with Ennis, the "little cow-and-calf operation" of his dreams will never happen.  Ennis knows that he runs the risk of losing Jack."

We know what Ennis does from this point.  We must, unfortunately, consider Jack's actions.  Maybe the loneliness of his separation from Ennis gets to the point that he really can't stand it... Maybe he decides to try setting up "housekeeping" with Randall Malone.  Here's what my crystal ball tells me:  The Twist/Malone marriage has about the chance of survival that Jack's marriage to Lureen had.  I'd give it a month... before Jack had to write a (figurative) little postcard to Ennis that says "Friend, a week in November freezing my ass off with you is worth a month in the sunshine with anybody else."  It's that unalterable hoop of steel.  No one, and nothing else has a chance at getting to the hearts of these men, their love is enduring. It's the actualization of that love that, sadly, that causes that space between belief and reality that Ennis is gazing into at the end of this story.

Sorry Allan,

I got caught up in other stuff and missed your post.

I am interested in what you mean by "actualization", especially in your last line.  Could you paraphrase?

Peace,
Frank

[Allan]

 "actualization"

Nothing fancy, Frank... I just meant Ennis' inability to fully integrate his love for Jack, and more especially Jack's love for him, into his life.

I watched the SAG awards last night.  I was so saddened by the little performance the boys put on.  I know they're young (Jake 26 and Heath 27), and I understand that they must be overwhelmed by the attention that they, and the film have gotten, but I'm just afraid that their little 45 second caper may cause serious damage to their careers.  And, when you're playing to the same-sex community, you need to be mighty careful.  The same-sex community can be... ummm... unforgiving. (Look how skillfully I avoided using "gay" as a label!)

[francis.shim]

 "actualization"

Nothing fancy, Frank... I just meant Ennis' inability to fully integrate his love for Jack, and more especially Jack's love for him, into his life.

I watched the SAG awards last night.  I was so saddened by the little performance the boys put on.  I know they're young (Jake 26 and Heath 27), and I understand that they must be overwhelmed by the attention that they, and the film have gotten, but I'm just afraid that their little 45 second caper may cause serious damage to their careers.  And, when you're playing to the same-sex community, you need to be mighty careful.  The same-sex community can be... ummm... unforgiving. (Look how skillfully I avoided using "gay" as a label!)

Okay, thanks... I thought so, I just didn't understand fully.

With regards to the boys' little hiccup... yes, I know... I am just praying... 'cuz that's all I can do now! ugh.

It is prophetic though, that their behaviour in some ways reflect some of the subject matters in the movie... the pressure of homophobia and its cconsequences on our behaviour.

Peace,
Frank

[BBBOY]

I love the discussion of this scene from both the story and the movie and would like to put in my two cents about. In the story Jack has been leading an active bisexual which eventually became gay life since he went to Texas. Think of the motel scene in the story.

Ennis says, "I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy except I sure wrung it out a hunderd times thinkin about you." Ennis has been (I'm not sure what I'm allowed to say in the forum) j...ing.ff dreaming of Jack. " "Shit no," said Jack who had been riding more than bulls, not rolling his own." Jack doesn't need to do that because he's experiencing a different kind of release. It makes the sadness of their last time together so intense. Ennis can't give into his fears and Jack can't let go of the one man he truly loves. In their personal frustrations they lash out at each other only to have their overwhelming love for each other pull them back together. "Nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved." They couldn't end their relationship, they couldn't take it to a higher level, their postions unchanged, but their love intact. The way it would always be. Maybe that's what Ennis would swear to holding the shirts.

Just my thoughts.  Thanks

[francis.shim]

I love the discussion of this scene from both the story and the movie and would like to put in my two cents about. In the story Jack has been leading an active bisexual which eventually became gay life since he went to Texas. Think of the motel scene in the story.

Ennis says, "I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy except I sure wrung it out a hunderd times thinkin about you." Ennis has been (I'm not sure what I'm allowed to say in the forum) j...ing.ff dreaming of Jack. " "Shit no," said Jack who had been riding more than bulls, not rolling his own." Jack doesn't need to do that because he's experiencing a different kind of release. It makes the sadness of their last time together so intense. Ennis can't give into his fears and Jack can't let go of the one man he truly loves. In their personal frustrations they lash out at each other only to have their overwhelming love for each other pull them back together. "Nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved." They couldn't end their relationship, they couldn't take it to a higher level, their postions unchanged, but their love intact. The way it would always be. Maybe that's what Ennis would swear to holding the shirts.

Just my thoughts.  Thanks

Interesting... you are saying that when Ennis said "Jack, I swear...", that he promised to resolve or resolved all those doubts that he had throughout the relationship.

You might be interested in this thread:

        http://www.ennisjack.com/index.php?topic=242.0

It is precisely about that last line.

Peace,
Frank

[BBBOY]

No, I think I'm saying perhaps Ennis was swearing to the love he had for Jack, unchanged and unchangeable. As it was it always would be.

Thanks for responding Frank

[monicita]

Somehow, the idea of unchangeable love doesn't appeal to me. Love changes, as everything else changes. What I do believe (and also believe Ennis came to believe) is, that his love was undieing. It might change, yes, certainly, as he changed, getting older (and hopefully wiser and more loving), but it would never die. You can see all that in the new way he treated his daughte in the last scene of the movie: already, love has been changing him, making him a better father.
And in the story? Maybe there, Ennis does not seem to change as much. He keeps on dreaming, but his life feels as if it were over, consisting only of dreams of Jack. Probably why they changed the ending, to make it more open, less hopeless.

monicita