The Ultimate Brokeback Forum

Author Topic: Ennis' and Jack's Relationship, II  (Read 700400 times)

Offline CellarDweller115

  • Faithful Friend
  • Administrator
  • Obsessed
  • ******
  • Posts: 330104
  • Official Diner "Recapper"!
Re: Ennis' and Jack's Relationship, II
« Reply #3450 on: August 29, 2022, 04:48:54 AM »
I believe this topic may have been discussed here.


There was always a level of excitement and anticipation for Jack & Ennis, because they they saw each other so infrequently.   If they were seeing each other daily, that would definitely decrease.  While it doesn't necessarily mean they would stop loving each other, but that excitement and anticipation was a part of their relationship.  If it were to disappear, it's possible it would cause their feelings to change somewhat, or perhaps make them think their feelings were changing.

Offline gattaca

  • Obsessed
  • *****
  • Posts: 3571
  • How do you hide when you are running from yourself
Re: Ennis' and Jack's Relationship, II
« Reply #3451 on: August 29, 2022, 06:32:07 AM »
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.

Offline frokes

  • Calm Under The Waves
  • Obsessed
  • *****
  • Posts: 1053
Re: Ennis' and Jack's Relationship, II
« Reply #3452 on: August 29, 2022, 12:29:39 PM »
Thanks for posting these questions, Chuck!

Well, the particular topic of the intensity makes me think of how many obstacles they faced. They are passionate despite their disagreements and things that got in the way. If the short story had been set closer to the 1990s or even the 2000s I would have hoped that the author had made them go to couples counseling. I imagine if they got to spend more time together they might have experienced that the passion lessened but maybe they also would have had the opportunity to communicate better because they got more time to be patient with each other.
An affair with the G train,” he smirked into the floor, his eyes filling with tears. - The Bellwether

"Jack felt D hard beneath his hand. He leaned his forehead against D’s again. “You feel it,” he whispered, barely breathed, not really a question." - Zero at the Bone

Offline royandronnie

  • Regards from my bit of the Mountain
  • Global Moderator
  • Obsessed
  • ******
  • Posts: 5668
  • They existed in our hearts, and always will.
Re: Ennis' and Jack's Relationship, II
« Reply #3453 on: August 29, 2022, 04:32:34 PM »
I don't think there's any question that the amount of work each had to do to get to their rendezvous, and how infrequently they saw each other, lent a lot to their passion. But it was always there, from the beginning. For Ennis to overcome his homophobia/self-hate meant there must have been a great passion. For Jack to stick around after years and years of separations and disappointment, ditto. I think that inevitably the physical passion would have been lessened if they saw each other often, but as long as they were completely stuck in that era, there would always have been a large element of "getting away with it" that would have fueled them. Remember that it was a sincere friendship first. If you're thinking of "passion" as "bond," that, I think would have remained, no matter what.
"…in the family homestead of his dead lover, the shirts they wore while cowboying together long before: shabby denim and weary cotton, wrapped in each other's arms." Like this. Always.

He either fears his fate too much
Or his deserts are small
Who dares not put it to the touch
To win or lose it all

Offline gattaca

  • Obsessed
  • *****
  • Posts: 3571
  • How do you hide when you are running from yourself
Re: Ennis' and Jack's Relationship, II
« Reply #3454 on: June 15, 2024, 05:33:26 AM »
Maybe this fits better here...  I'll post link it back to Ennis thread.  Related posting -> https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/index.php?topic=1412.msg3197382#msg3197382

Chuck, we don't have a thread for the "Character Analysis of Jack" so I'm posting this here since it is written by the same author that penned the Character analysis of Ennis.
"Re-watching “Brokeback Mountain” Character Analysis: Jack Twist" by  Farid-ul-Haq  on 24 Aug 2014.

"Brokeback Mountain is one of the best LGBT movies ever released. I remember immediately liking Jack Twist when I saw him for the first time, played amazingly by Jake Gyllenhaal. Compared to Ennis Del Mar he was more open about his attraction to men. I used to curse Ennis for not listening to Jack and agreeing to live with him. However, after re-watching the film I couldn’t help but notice that Jack Twist was quite a selfish character."

-> https://thegeekiary.com/re-watching-brokeback-mountain-character-analysis-jack-twist/16208

Offline İlkay

  • Getting Acquainted
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Re: Ennis' and Jack's Relationship, II
« Reply #3455 on: June 21, 2024, 11:04:18 PM »
Maybe this fits better here...  I'll post link it back to Ennis thread.  Related posting -> https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/index.php?topic=1412.msg3197382#msg3197382

Chuck, we don't have a thread for the "Character Analysis of Jack" so I'm posting this here since it is written by the same author that penned the Character analysis of Ennis.
"Re-watching “Brokeback Mountain” Character Analysis: Jack Twist" by  Farid-ul-Haq  on 24 Aug 2014.

"Brokeback Mountain is one of the best LGBT movies ever released. I remember immediately liking Jack Twist when I saw him for the first time, played amazingly by Jake Gyllenhaal. Compared to Ennis Del Mar he was more open about his attraction to men. I used to curse Ennis for not listening to Jack and agreeing to live with him. However, after re-watching the film I couldn’t help but notice that Jack Twist was quite a selfish character."

-> https://thegeekiary.com/re-watching-brokeback-mountain-character-analysis-jack-twist/16208

read Jack's character analysis and I totally agree. Jack was a man who wanted everything beautiful for himself, whereas Ennis was a closed box, he was mysterious and handsome, so he wanted it for himself, but Ennis was not an easy prey. I think Ennis seems to have felt that he was going to be caught in the middle when he set off with Jack, because Jack was never satisfied with what he had. If Ennis had left everything, I'm sure it would have taken 10 years. Then he could have said, "I don't want any more beans" because the passion in Jack comes before Ennis can fully achieve it, but there's something in the audience, like the women who come into Ennis' life, they say they can never replace Jack, but when it comes to Jack Randall, they say he's moving on, and they think it's fitting for Ennis to mourn Jack's death while wanting happiness for Jack. This movie is Ennis'. It's not Jack's story, so it's wrong to put too much meaning on Jack. I saw this movie 20 years ago and I was trapped by it for 5 months. Now, as a 38-year-old woman, I'm trapped by him from a different perspective. At that time I thought Jack was manipulative, now I recognize Ennis as a homophobic jacksuel who loves without any interest.