4. Do you think their love would get less intense if they weren't separated for most of their lives? Why or why not?
I'll sleep on this more. I'd like to also see what others posts.
a) First thing that surfaced in my thoughts is the film's tagline: "Love is a Force of Nature" followed by "absence makes the heart grow fonder".
One one hand, elements of Jack and Ennis's love such as passion, were
amplified by time / distance. It was important to both Jack and Ennis to keep their "fishing trips" planned after they realized the grueling, painful separation when they first descended from Brokeback that first year. We saw that first hand both in Jack driving away (in the mirror), and then Ennis knelt in the alley, pounding the wall in gut-wrenching pain.
We hear yet more passion when Jack's angry with Ennis in their "I wish I knew how to quit you..." scene. Specifically, the elements about "being together these 20 years..." and Jack "needin' somethin' I don't hardly never get..." This is Jack's expression his partial love, partial anger, partial plea to Ennis to change, partial regret they had not done more to be together, and partial hope to continue and clear love for Ennis as he collapses into Jack's arms.
On the flip side, when I reflect upon when Jack and Ennis were "up on Brokeback" we glimpse what a longer, closer proximity would bring. Playful wrestling, etc.. - a closer comradery. Maybe they would have "gotten together" more often. Why? Sometimes, just seeing the person you really love every day or more often than "every 4 fucking years" is as important as being with them. Sometimes, though, that has to be "be enough" and in their circumstances, that was certainly the case.
V.
