The beginning of this story is much like the beginning of the movie "Brokeback Mountain." It starts with two kids under the age of twenty, Ennis and Jack Twist. They were scruffy ranch foke who had less then a high school education and to support themselves one summer they herded sheep up on Brokeback Mountain. They were two men who saw the world differently, but respected the opinions of one another. On the mountain they found comfort in one another and never were able to shake that feeling even after they got married and had kids. Over the years Jack would go see Ennis, but in the first trip Alma (Ennis's wife) discovered what kind of friend Jack really was to Ennis and eventually divorced him.
What are the differences found between the movie and story? I was pretty amazed how much dialogue came from this story to make this movie. But some of the stories were elaborated on and some were recreated almost exactly to the content of the story. Something i really enjoyed was the description given to each of the characters in the beginning when they were young boys, and again later in life as they filled out into men.
In one part of the story; Ennis says that Jack is not a restaurant man to Alma when Alma wanted to take him out to dinner for the first visit with Jack. But he doesn't know that, he doesn't know what kind of man Jack really is outside the mountain. I understand why they keep going back to the mountain, to look back in times that were lost and the best summer of their lives, but they are not living in reality. They are stuck in the past and Ennis is convinced they have no future together, because of demons from his past. Even though it was said that Jack died from a tire, Ennis still believed the demons striked again. What was it between them that made their bond so strong, a love that lasted decades with little personal interaction? Did Jack leave Ennis, did Ennis leave Jack, or if Jack would not have died would he have written again?
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The main difference I found between the movie and the book was the tone the writer or the director used. In the movie, the Hollywood glam is obviously seen in the inclusion of two hansome gentlemen to play the role of the two men. Also, the love/attraction between the two men seemed to be much more of an identity in the movie than it did in the book. Not to say that either men would have admitted to being homosexual in the movie (They actually stated the opposite in a discussion with one another saying “I’m not Queer”), but the glances at one another in their first meeting, when they are receiving their duties on Brokeback Mountain from the boss, were almost flirting. They both had interesting demeanors thoughout the movie, which hid this identity notion; however, in their actual actions, it seemed the characters in the book were much more based in a status quo perspective on homosexuality. The book on the other hand was graphic in some areas, however, the two men really seemed to come through more as just two men who fell in love with one another. To the other questions, I feel like their time and their company, in the short story, is what lead them to fall in love. They understood one another and liked the other’s view point, even if it was different. I think their relationship would have continued if Jack hadn’t died; however, to the question of who left who, I can only believe from the story, at least, that both of them wanted it, only to find it was not what they actually wanted.
ReplyDeleteI was actually very surprised about how similar the story and the movie were. I for one was not aware that most of the very important moments in the movie, pulled exact dialouge from the story. It was very interesting to see that adaption take place especially between a book, and a hollywood movie.
ReplyDeleteBut of course Hollywood is what it is, and tones things down in order for the audience. I found the movie to be much more subtle in moments between Ennis and Jack, in comparission to the book. I also found that the movie made Ennis to be the heterosexual man who falls in love with man, in comparission to Jack who inatiates the first homosexual encounter between the two, and is the gay one. I think that this tone and difference between the characters make the content somewhat tolerable for audiences, and toning it down.
Although Jack does intiate the encounters between the two in the story as well it really does portray them as two man as those who simply have a need of each other to two men who fall in love with each other over the years. It's a progression that the men go through. Although the content is explicate, it's very real and faces the attraction between the men head on.
I think the story is sad one, and one that I'm not sure we can answer all the questions too. I think that both men really did love each other but in the societies they lives in, despite fantasies of living together, it might not have happened. If jack hadn't died, I do not think that Ennis would have really realized that Jack was the only person he truly loved and ever could.
When it came to the short story I feel like it answered more about the relationships between Jack and Ennis, but I still felt unsure about what their relationship was with each other. In the end I believe that both of them had a deep connection to each other and that they wanted to spend more time together, but as it turns out the lack of spending time and the constant yearning for each other is what kept their relationship alive. In the end, I believe that Jack would have written Ennis back because he still yearned for him on some level and did not know how to fill that hole in his heart. I just feel bad for Jack and Ennis because their relationship seemed to ruin the rest of their lives and prevented them from becoming truly happy. I feel like this story is problematic because it sets up the lives of queer people as something that will ruin the other parts of your life because there is no way for you to ever be happy with the person you love.
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