Topic: The hate letter Ennis doesn't want us to see

[zigzo_pazoru]

I posted this letter on imdb.com and got very nice responses. I meant it in a way to be funny since I'd just come home all red-eyed from crying after a 2nd viewing and needed something to hide that from my mother who doesn't think I should spend so much money at the movie theater (I have a very low-paying job & I know how Ennis feels ^_~). On the drive home, despite trying to think of anything besides BBM so as to stop my tears, this letter came to my head (think of it as a letter to the editor of sorts). So here it is, I hope you enjoy! ^_^

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm aiming for a good round 5 more views of BBM before the Oscars, and though this has got to be one of my favorite movies of all time, I don't know how much more viewer frustration I can take. So I wrote a letter to whom it concerns. I wonder if he'll respond


Dear Ennis del Mar (a.k.a. complex character of fiction),

I have a bone to pick with you. Brokeback Mountain is the perfect title for your story because everytime I hear Jack say "it could be like this always" it makes me really wanna slap you hard on the jaw. Brokeback was only where it started, NOT where it needed to linger. You about fell apart the minute Jack drove out of your sight that first summer. Opportunity #1...GONE. Whoosh. Inside I'm rolling my eyes. Face up. It's your own damn fault, Ennis. You'll get no sympathy from me. And yet to know how you really feel even then makes me want to understand what it had to be like for a man in your boots. Sounds like emotional toture, really. I want you to do the right thing. But then there you are in your tuxedo... you go on to marry the woman you met before the man. Keep your promise to her, right? The woman you now know has nothing on the man. Don't break the engagement. Might as well be with someone if you can't be with him, right? Sure, you could pretend all you wanted. But you knew. I'd say that marriage should've never come to pass, seeing how it almost ruined your life & hers, but then again I couldn't deprive you of your daughters, the only beings to keep you company in your old age while you get pleasure from seeing Jack Twist in your dreams. Yes, Mr. Jack fu**in' Twist, who I doubt would have been tire-ironed to death if you'd been around to kick some ass. Drop kick the masses into acceptance! I mean come on, you served those bikers their own balls on a vintage Harley seat pad. Still, you know what I think? I think Jack was a saint to put up with your impressive mixture of homophobia vs. phobia of homophobia. In my eyes Randall had nothin' on you. Well, no, he did have one thing. He'd hole up with Jack if he asked. You lose. Game over. I'm a cold girl.

To your surprise you get a 2nd chance. You wait by your window for hours in your best shirt waiting for his truck to pull up. You're not sure what'll happen. You know he's still thinking of you and, secretly, you of him. You're more excited than you've been in years. What the hell's wrong with you? You couldn't wait to kiss him like that right out in the open but you can't cope with the idea of two men living together? Lucky for you the Motel has a back entrance (preference of champions) and Jack as the town stranger gets the room. "I don't care," he says to the owner, "long as the room don't smell like cat piss or beans. Done that already." He makes references to going away with you as you both inhale on cigarettes, deep in thought after "jouncing the bed." Opportunity #2...GONE. Whoosh. Of course it's not an option. "I'm stuck with the life I got." How characteristically pessimistic of you, Ennis! Realists should be the first to realize that failure ensues when you don't try. Just try. For him.

He drives an entire day to see you after your divorce. Ready and rarin' to pick out some curtains. Don't pay any attention to that white truck driving in the distance! Uh-oh, too late. Your worst fear. Someone's gonna see you...your daughters might tell their teachers... Opportunity #3...GONE. Whoosh. Going back & reliving your first summer year after year wasn't what Jack had in mind. But he did it. He did it for LONG ass time, wondering when you'd come to your senses. Because it meant 2 or 3 weeks out of 52 to spend with you, the real you, the Ennis who wasn't held back by society's conformity. Year after year you can see the relationship deteriorating, starting to go as stale as remnants inside week-old cans of those beans you so despised littering the campsite, the "brilliance" of your "infrequent couplings" marred only by the gloom of never having enough time, the long distance and months without word, your never being there and his unsuccessful attempts to change your mind eventually take their toll. Brokeback is just a place. Its power was never real. Reality was up to you the minute you stepped off that mountain. Tick-tock, time's running out on ya, Ennis. I still don't want to give you any sympathy (yes I do) but dammit, if Jack's done it for almost 20 years I guess I can give you some for the two-hour duration of this film.

Here she comes, cute little blonde with sweet eyes and perky demeanor. Crimeny, stop letting little waitress girls come on to you and break their hearts. It's a vicious cycle of lies you could've never started. You're not an old man yet. Don't be set in your ways. The *real* frustrating thing? Had 1963 been 1993, you wouldn't be the focus of such a sad movie that's making everyone think so hard. There probably would be a ranch somewhere right now with two guys raising cattle...one a bull-rider..."in more ways than one" he says out loud with a little smile and that electric gleam in his eye. His special power over you you'd never admit... all he knows is you really wanted that life with him there.

Cassie wants to dance... you tell her politely you're with a man. And then apologize like one, giving a little nod towards the blue-eyed chatty-happy bloke with the mustache sitting next to you. Watch her stomp off, possibly disgusted, definitely pride-hurt, plans thwarted, but you know you did the right thing. She'll get over it. And by three a.m. you'll be one of the two men sawing logs in that comfortable bed next to the open window with a clear view of the full moon that started it all. Very unlike that thin unforgiving cat-piss tent and far better than your future shithole empty trailer.

But you go ahead. Go on and try to get sympathy from me, you bastard. (You'll get it by the barrelfuls.) I wish I knew how to quit you, you and your sad movie. All of us knowing in the end you couldn't fix it and seeing you having to stand it for a long, long time, your decisions haunting us for days--no, MONTHS afterward. Can I dig my spurs into your back now?

Frustratingly yours,
Loyal BBM Moviegoer #6,726,579

[scruffy]

Hi Zigzo.  Thanks for posting that very interesting take on Ennis.  If it was my first time watching the movie I would have agreed with the letter.  After more viewings I have come to be much more sympathetic with Ennis.

That letter expresses the frustration we all feel.  It’s easy to fault Ennis in this day and age but doing so would mean we have to blind ourselves to the world in which Ennis lived.  You see, Ennis grew up in a world of conformity.  It was a time before the sexual revolution.  It was a time where children were disciplined with a strap in school and a belt at home.  Ennis may not have been educated in the traditional sense but he knew the severe punishments for being different and disobedient.  Ennis grew up in a world where people of colour sat at the back of the bus.  He grew up in a world where African Americans did not question the establishment.  To do so often meant severe beatings or death.

I do not believe it is a coincidence that Jack and Ennis meet in the summer of 1963.  For that was the year America was waking up to new possibilities.  It was the year of  Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington.  It was also the summer the African American community was finally given Federal protection to vote, eat in public, shop and to be educated on equal terms.  But there was much bloodshed to acquire those rights and it must be noted that the same rights have not been extended to include sexual orientation to this day.  Notice that the cast of Brokeback Mountain, including extras, is entirely white – another one of Ang Lee’s hidden symbols of conformity.  The story’s timeline brings parallels between civil rights and gay rights into focus.

Ennis knew what many of us do not want to imagine.  To live with Jack in the world he knew would be no different that pouring honey over himself and walking into a den of bears.  Ennis believed that living with Jack would mean certain death and he may not have been far from the truth.  A little more than a decade after we leave Ennis in his Wyoming trailer a young man who was studying in a Wyoming university believed he could be open with his sexuality.  He worked hard to improve the status of gays and lesbians in his community.  But most of all, he lived and loved.  His name was Matthew Sheppard.

The reality of it all is Ennis’ story is not uncommon.  It is not to say Ennis’ decisions are right or wrong. It simply highlights the dilemma faced by gays and lesbians to this day.  We often fault people that do not make a stand.  We criticize people for not adhering to their beliefs -- but remember this.   Much like America in Ennis’ time, homosexuality in many countries around the world today is punishable with beatings followed by lengthy jail sentences.  That is if the law gets to you before the townsfolk.  Before you judge Ennis ask yourself if you are willing to go to another country and be a martyr for gay rights.  Ask yourself if you would kiss your lover in a small town redneck bar to prove a point to people that obviously wouldn’t be enlightened.

I now realize how brave the founders of the civil and gay rights movements truly were.  I look back to the first Gay Pride Parade (1980) in my hometown when 10 brave souls walked Davie Street to the boos and hisses of onlookers.  I applaud those brave men but at the same time I will never condemn Ennis.

[*Froggy*]

Thankx for posting..and Welcome

x Froggy

[malaysian79]

Deep and well-thought-out.

Had the story taken place in Asia, the worst Jack and Ennis would probably have experienced was being ostracized. No beating, no tire iron to the back.

[cybernaut]

Such a mean letter. 

Believe it or not girl, there are still a lot of guys unable to reconcile for who they are. Just because spoilt little girls always get what they want doesn't mean that guys have it the same way. While you may go on with your girlie ways, try that on a guy and see how much verbal and mental abuse he has to cope even now, then you come back and tell me if Ennis and Jack isn't frightened with the perceptions of then society places so much on guys.  :'(

[Cowboy Cody]

Such a mean letter. 

Believe it or not girl, there are still a lot of guys unable to reconcile for who they are. Just because spoilt little girls always get what they want doesn't mean that guys have it the same way. While you may go on with your girlie ways, try that on a guy and see how much verbal and mental abuse he has to cope even now, then you come back and tell me if Ennis and Jack isn't frightened with the perceptions of then society places so much on guys.  :'(

Cyber, I agree.  :'(

[kcristob]

I think the letter is hilarious.  Thanks for the laugh!

[JerBear418720]

Hi Zigzo.  Thanks for posting that very interesting take on Ennis.  If it was my first time watching the movie I would have agreed with the letter.  After more viewings I have come to be much more sympathetic with Ennis.

That letter expresses the frustration we all feel.  It’s easy to fault Ennis in this day and age but doing so would mean we have to blind ourselves to the world in which Ennis lived.  You see, Ennis grew up in a world of conformity.  It was a time before the sexual revolution.  It was a time where children were disciplined with a strap in school and a belt at home.  Ennis may not have been educated in the traditional sense but he knew the severe punishments for being different and disobedient.  Ennis grew up in a world where people of colour sat at the back of the bus.  He grew up in a world where African Americans did not question the establishment.  To do so often meant severe beatings or death.

I do not believe it is a coincidence that Jack and Ennis meet in the summer of 1963.  For that was the year America was waking up to new possibilities.  It was the year of  Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington.  It was also the summer the African American community was finally given Federal protection to vote, eat in public, shop and to be educated on equal terms.  But there was much bloodshed to acquire those rights and it must be noted that the same rights have not been extended to include sexual orientation to this day.  Notice that the cast of Brokeback Mountain, including extras, is entirely white – another one of Ang Lee’s hidden symbols of conformity.  The story’s timeline brings parallels between civil rights and gay rights into focus.

Ennis knew what many of us do not want to imagine.  To live with Jack in the world he knew would be no different that pouring honey over himself and walking into a den of bears.  Ennis believed that living with Jack would mean certain death and he may not have been far from the truth.  A little more than a decade after we leave Ennis in his Wyoming trailer a young man who was studying in a Wyoming university believed he could be open with his sexuality.  He worked hard to improve the status of gays and lesbians in his community.  But most of all, he lived and loved.  His name was Matthew Sheppard.

The reality of it all is Ennis’ story is not uncommon.  It is not to say Ennis’ decisions are right or wrong. It simply highlights the dilemma faced by gays and lesbians to this day.  We often fault people that do not make a stand.  We criticize people for not adhering to their beliefs -- but remember this.   Much like America in Ennis’ time, homosexuality in many countries around the world today is punishable with beatings followed by lengthy jail sentences.  That is if the law gets to you before the townsfolk.  Before you judge Ennis ask yourself if you are willing to go to another country and be a martyr for gay rights.  Ask yourself if you would kiss your lover in a small town redneck bar to prove a point to people that obviously wouldn’t be enlightened.

I now realize how brave the founders of the civil and gay rights movements truly were.  I look back to the first Gay Pride Parade (1980) in my hometown when 10 brave souls walked Davie Street to the boos and hisses of onlookers.  I applaud those brave men but at the same time I will never condemn Ennis.

Scruff, thanks for this fascinating and insightful post.

JB  :D

[erica loves jack]

dang. that's good.

i like your language and smooth attitude. makes me think.

[greenfrog]

Great post Scruffy. Very true.

[erica loves jack]

i see where both sides are coming from.

[welshwitch]

The ancients believed the greatest wisdom was expressed in the phrase"Know thyself". Before we comment on Ennis, we need to know ourselves and what we might do if we were in a position where what we did might lead to our deaths. Jack was open about what he was and look where that got him. Ennis wasn't, and look how he ended up. Which would you rather be? how would you rahter end? Knowing myslef I guess I'd end up alone in the trailer.

[Patriot1]

The ancients believed the greatest wisdom was expressed in the phrase"Know thyself". Before we comment on Ennis, we need to know ourselves and what we might do if we were in a position where what we did might lead to our deaths. Jack was open about what he was and look where that got him. Ennis wasn't, and look how he ended up. Which would you rather be? how would you rahter end? Knowing myslef I guess I'd end up alone in the trailer.

OMG!  That would be incredibly sad. There were other options for the boys. They could have moved off to a big city and be left alone and could have lived together.  They could have moved off to a more liberal state and lived together and be left alone. And many many more options.

It was Ennis who said, "If you can't fix it you have to stand it." but it was Ennis who never tried to fix it.

[greenfrog]

The ancients believed the greatest wisdom was expressed in the phrase"Know thyself". Before we comment on Ennis, we need to know ourselves and what we might do if we were in a position where what we did might lead to our deaths. Jack was open about what he was and look where that got him. Ennis wasn't, and look how he ended up. Which would you rather be? how would you rahter end? Knowing myslef I guess I'd end up alone in the trailer.

OMG!  That would be incredibly sad. There were other options for the boys. They could have moved off to a big city and be left alone and could have lived together.  They could have moved off to a more liberal state and lived together and be left alone. And many many more options.

It was Ennis who said, "If you can't fix it you have to stand it." but it was Ennis who never tried to fix it.

While it is true that they could very well have left and moved to the city, I think, with them, it was more of a case of "they don't want to leave / or can't leave". Farming was their lives and just about all they knew. Even if the moved to the city, they probably wouldn't know what to do with themselves.  :\'(  :\'(  :\'(

[Patriot1]

The ancients believed the greatest wisdom was expressed in the phrase"Know thyself". Before we comment on Ennis, we need to know ourselves and what we might do if we were in a position where what we did might lead to our deaths. Jack was open about what he was and look where that got him. Ennis wasn't, and look how he ended up. Which would you rather be? how would you rahter end? Knowing myslef I guess I'd end up alone in the trailer.

OMG!  That would be incredibly sad. There were other options for the boys. They could have moved off to a big city and be left alone and could have lived together.  They could have moved off to a more liberal state and lived together and be left alone. And many many more options.

It was Ennis who said, "If you can't fix it you have to stand it." but it was Ennis who never tried to fix it.

While it is true that they could very well have left and moved to the city, I think, with them, it was more of a case of "they don't want to leave / or can't leave". Farming was their lives and just about all they knew. Even if the moved to the city, they probably wouldn't know what to do with themselves.  :'(  :'(  :'(

I am going to disagree with you greenfrog and here is why.  Ennis worked for the county on a road crew. He could have done that anywhere. He could also have gotten a job as a ditchdigger or common laborer. It is also possible they both could have gotten jobs on a farm or on a horse ranch or maybe a race track. They were both qualified for that.  If you love someone and want to get away from a bad situation there is always a way to do it.

[greenfrog]

True . . . I don't know what to think. All in all, they probably could have got away, but they didnt.  :\'(  :\'(  :\'(

I think Ennis only stayed because of his daughters. He loved them too much to leave them.

[erica loves jack]

True . . . I don't know what to think. All in all, they probably could have got away, but they didnt.  :\'(  :\'(  :\'(

I think Ennis only stayed because of his daughters. He loved them too much to leave them.

I think if he had only been more confident in himself he would have left with Jack. Of course, he would need to get in touch with himself and figure all of his confusion out first..... but after that. And I agree about him not wanting to leave the girls... but I think his love for Jack would have been stronger than him just sticking around for them, as awful as that may seem. He could drive up there and see them.

[greenfrog]

True . . . I don't know what to think. All in all, they probably could have got away, but they didnt.  :\'(  :\'(  :\'(

I think Ennis only stayed because of his daughters. He loved them too much to leave them.

I think if he had only been more confident in himself he would have left with Jack. Of course, he would need to get in touch with himself and figure all of his confusion out first..... but after that. And I agree about him not wanting to leave the girls... but I think his love for Jack would have been stronger than him just sticking around for them, as awful as that may seem. He could drive up there and see them.

As the song puts it . . .

Quizás, quizás, quizás.

[welshwitch]

One of the big questions raised by the movie, and an unanswerable one, id what exactly made Ennis so stubbornly resistant to considering changing his life. Sure, he had his girls, but they were growing up and would eventually be independent, and as Patriot ! says there are unskilled jobs everywhere, even on the outskirts of cities. Ennis is a horse guy as well as a stockman ( and Jack's a salesman if he's anything after marrying Lureen) - I don't think it's a question of Ennis being tied to Riverton by his children or by his inability to find work elsewhere. It's all to do with his psychological make-up, which is the real puzzle.

[erica loves jack]

Yes, I definitely agree that it was inner issues in Ennis that caused the majority of his tournament. And to think if only Jack was closer by, he could have talked to him and made him feel better, more normal, at peace with himself inside. It's so frustrating how Ennis is such a harda**. But then I remember all of what he has been through and how much he has locked inside of himself. I'm sure I would have some of those internal flaws if I had his life.

[tpe]

One of the big questions raised by the movie, and an unanswerable one, id what exactly made Ennis so stubbornly resistant to considering changing his life. Sure, he had his girls, but they were growing up and would eventually be independent, and as Patriot ! says there are unskilled jobs everywhere, even on the outskirts of cities. Ennis is a horse guy as well as a stockman ( and Jack's a salesman if he's anything after marrying Lureen) - I don't think it's a question of Ennis being tied to Riverton by his children or by his inability to find work elsewhere. It's all to do with his psychological make-up, which is the real puzzle.

And his love for Jack is a sort of key to the enigma.  It is as if Ennis is paralyzed by love...

[greenfrog]

Yes, I definitely agree that it was inner issues in Ennis that caused the majority of his tournament. And to think if only Jack was closer by, he could have talked to him and made him feel better, more normal, at peace with himself inside. It's so frustrating how Ennis is such a harda**. But then I remember all of what he has been through and how much he has locked inside of himself. I'm sure I would have some of those internal flaws if I had his life.

Sounds like Ennis to a tee. I think Ennis he and Jack had been able to spend more time together, he would have eventually come around to himself and lived his life with Jack.

[welshwitch]

You could say that he's only himself when he's with Jack - when you're with the one you love, you often feel a more intense version of your normal everyday self. Had he had more time to expereicne this, insted of a few days or a week scattered through the year, it may have been possible for him to come to terms with the alternative version of himself.

[greenfrog]

You could say that he's only himself when he's with Jack - when you're with the one you love, you often feel a more intense version of your normal everyday self. Had he had more time to expereicne this, insted of a few days or a week scattered through the year, it may have been possible for him to come to terms with the alternative version of himself.

Great post Welshwitch. Ennis and Jack had so many opportunities to work things out, but it never happened.  :\'(

[greenfrog]

Yes, I definitely agree that it was inner issues in Ennis that caused the majority of his tournament. And to think if only Jack was closer by, he could have talked to him and made him feel better, more normal, at peace with himself inside. It's so frustrating how Ennis is such a harda**. But then I remember all of what he has been through and how much he has locked inside of himself. I'm sure I would have some of those internal flaws if I had his life.

Makes you want to just shake some sense into him.  :\'( :\'(  :\'(

[Audrey twist]

  ^f^deep words

[aintfoolin]

Unfortunatly Ennis's fears were indeed caused by what he saw and heard as a child. Trying to understand this tormented, complex charcter at times can lead one to frustration, and we can also greatly sympathize with the plight of gay men everywhere who are subjected to hurt and harm by individuals who have no morality in any aspect of their lives. But I don't agree  that anyone is being hateful or meanspirited here, I respectfully disagree with you on this . We are just trying to explore the complicated mindset and peel back some of the  complex layers of this  character.  To try to get beneath his skin for a moment or two. I agree with you that he is a product of his enviroment. It is what molded him into someone who seems to be unable to accept that someone (Jack) can offer him unconditional love in a closed minded society. Peace and love. Thanx.