To my mind, Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee) is a landmark film, a film that utterly deconstructs the “cowboy” (hypermasculine, patriarchal, phallocentric) ideology, while also revealing how horribly destructive such normalizing ideologies as hypermasculinity, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and Christianity/Protestantism are to identity.
(As an aside, I just have to throw in here that in my view Brokeback Mountain not getting the Academy Award for “Best Picture” was one of the worst, if the not the worst, travesty in Academy Award history!)
Opening Moments Already Giving Us a Tragic Ennis
The opening moments of the film speak volumes about Ennis (Heath Ledger). The long shots (revealing the vast open spaces), the lack of virtually any human bodies but Ennis, the cowboy-hypermasculine motif already apparent (in terms of setting, dress, posturing, etc.), all point to (A) the solitary nature of Ennis (just as a signifier, the shots of Ennis alone in these vast open spaces speak to his isolated nature, e.g., alone in the world) and (B) the hypermasculine “masquerade” these men inhabit. Moreover, for Ennis in particular, to my mind the more tragic of the two because of his past and economic hardships and inability to negotiate his hypermasculinity, his isolation (and smallness, in literal terms and in terms of his spatial presence in these early shots in the frame) highlights the pain of his existence. (And then the way that he seems to somehow use his body to express his interior turmoil by almost — somehow — pull his body into itself, if that makes any sense, which, also, by the way, testifies to what a remarkable performance by Heath Ledger this performance is…what a tragic loss.) And then Ennis’s face blocked by the placement of his hat and head down also speaks to another related observation here: In that same provocative shot, Ennis is placed to the side of the frame and against the side of the trailer office, his washed out colors blending in with his surroundings, all of which speak to a man who attempts to hide from the world, blend in with his surroundings, to not be the center of attention. It is almost as if he wants to not be seen! Accentuating all of this is the silence that seems to permeate these opening moments, silence speaking to this feeling of isolation and solitude of Ennis. We especially see this when Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) pulls up and seems to want to engage with Ennis in talk, but Ennis, ever the anti-social being, tilts his head down in a pose that, again, emphasizes his desire to withdraw into himself in a mode of solitude and isolation and to keep people at a distance. Even when he goes inside the trailer office, Jack moves to the center of the frame and Ennis immediately slides to the side wall of the trailer park.
Even these first shots — shots that depict wide open, or empty, spaces — create a feeling of emptiness, aloneness.
Those opening images are followed by this shot of Ennis walking into a small, almost seemingly deserted town, the emptiness and desertion (and silence) of the town set against Ennis’s lone body already giving us a sense of Ennis himself, alone, isolated, solitary, living an empty existence.
Ennis is often shot seemingly withdrawing into himself, with postures like this one, where his head is tilted down — his hat hiding his face — his arms in pockets, his legs crossed, his body contoured in, all speaking to his lack of erectness, his lack of surety or desire to NOT make himself grandiose. The faded colors of his clothes almost blends him in with his surrounding, again, signifying his desire to not be seen.
Jack is already measuring Ennis though this interesting shot could also speak to Ennis’s lack of self-actualization, as mirror shots speak to a character’s splitness, suggesting already that Ennis is not whole. Interestingly, if we follow this logic through, Ennis is a mere “reflection” of a fully realized self, which, at least in one sense, Jack will change, giving Ennis at least some fulfillment in life, even if it comes at the expense of a “real” life and much suffering, which, in turn, of course, creates another kind of split self for Ennis. More on this later….
Upon entering J. Aguirre’s office, Ennis immediately moves to the side, making himself less conspicuous, while Jack takes up the center position, signaling his confidence and feeling of prominence.
Another “deserted” shot, this time speaking to not only Ennis but also Jack, as these two will carry a secret that in effect isolates themselves from the rest of the world.
Everything about this shot speaks to the “cowboy” motif in the film, the cowboy hats, the texture of the clothes, the washed out colors, the beer bottles, the bull skull and rope (and other “manly” paraphernalia on the wall), the (saloon) space itself.
Brokeback Mountain
When Ennis and Jack begin their sheep herding and camp tender work, Ang Lee makes a point to emphasize the natural beauty and sublimity of their environment. In addition, the film’s recurring score during these moments suggest a tenderness and lyrical quality to these moments. In my view, with these sublime nature moments and the music, Lee wants to emphasize that Jack and Ennis’ love and desire is “natural,” beautiful, harmonious, poetic, sublime. In terms of the “natural” part of this equation, nature here is coded as that which is non-ideological, where Jack and Ennis can be themselves free from the hypermasculine, patriarchal, heteronormative, Christian ideological norms that define them in society. In this way, nature allows them to slowly but surely free themselves from the ideological chains that determine their way of being. Once they free themselves from this preconditioned state of being, they can interact with joy and exuberance and a kind of freedom they can find no where else. That their love and desire for each other occurs in this element speaks to the naturalness of their feelings, and it does feel as if after that first encounter it is as if they shed all of their guardedness, all of the defenses they put up to guard against any perception of this most forbidden of desires.
Ang Lee’s emphasis on the sublimity of “Brokeback Mountain”/nature correlates to both the naturalness of homosexuality and the beautiful, sublime love of Ennis and Jack.
The Mating Dance
In the same way that nature symbolically represents the naturalness of their love and desire, Lee shows us how two people fall in love – the mating dance beginning with trivial, every day matters and conversations – no matter their gender. In the course of these everyday activities and experiences – some, like the bear encounter, not quite so “everyday” (!) – these two men bond and slowly but surely get closer to each other, culminating with enough trust for Ennis to finally open up to Jack, which, in turn, paves the way for further intimacy. Another point is important here: For the audience too, Lee needs to establish these men as typical, get us to relate to them, which, in turn, helps us better sympathize with what they are going through, a crucial, crucial thing for those spectators who have such a difficult time with same sex relationships, especially between men.
In this wonderful shot, Jack yearningly gazes at Ennis’s fire/camp site in the distance, a classic trope point of view shot in romance movies, signifying that the character looking on (in this case Jack) is thinking about his love interest.
And here too we get Ennis thinking about Jack tending sheep in the distance.
Jack tends to Ennis’s wound, a tender and thoughtful gesture and, as we come to know, a romantic overture in the sense that Jack already cares about Ennis.
In a very important moment, Jack and Ennis share personal stories with each other, reflecting their willingness to expose painful and vulnerable memories, a very intimate and personal thing to do.
I love this exchange, not only in terms that speak to Ennis being able to open up to Jack in a way that he probably has never been able to do with anyone else in his life, but also just in the way they look at each other, a playful and joyful bonding that prefigures deeper physical and emotional connection.
“March off to Hell”
Does this mean that Ennis is a virgin? The deeper implication here is that Jack and Ennis have been brought up in deeply fundamentalist denominations (Methodism and Pentecostalism), where they have been conditioned to believe in their innately sinful natures, their homosexuality/bisexuality. They make light of this ingrained belief system in this moment but at least Ennis’s deeply felt shame stems at least in part from this indoctrination.
First (Aggressive) Sex
Ennis and Jack’s first sexual encounter is almost violent in nature, almost as if even in intimacy, they must keep their guard up, can’t be anything but hypermasculine, especially Ennis, who is especially guarded in keeping his gayness hidden and suppressed. That is, their first aggressive encounter is an incredibly complex moment because it speaks to a hypermasculine conditioning. If watched closely, this moment is all about Ennis coming to terms with his nature. It is almost as if we are seeing Ennis’s interior psychological struggle physically manifested: In this life changing moment for him, he is literally torn into two, between the hypermasculine conditioning that needs to resist what he wants to do and his natural desires seeking release from his tormented state of being. At first, he does resist but his natural inclinations and desires finally win out but, again, not easily, manifested in a way that I think of as a first step: He can only be intimate in the most non-intimate way possible, through a kind of hypermasculine sexual intimacy, what I think of as a kind of initial compromise for his fragile state of mind, yes, doing it but doing it with as little actual contact or emotional intimacy as possible, somehow him (in his mind) keeping his masculinity intact even while he knows (in societal terms that is) he is not!
Strikingly, their second night of sexual intimacy is much more tender, loving, almost as if as they have come to terms with their desire, they can now express themselves in a more intimate, emotional, tender way.
The Sheep Slaughtered by the Coyotes (Predators)
In a striking image, the morning after Ennis and Jack have consummated their relationship, Ennis finds that coyotes have slaughtered one of the sheep he was supposed to have been protecting. This moment and especially the image of the slaughtered sheep just resonates with so much meaning. First, Ennis’s feelings of guilt over the slaughtered sheep are written all over his face. Because he is lax in his duty to watch over the sheep, one is preyed on by coyotes. His guilt is hyper-accentuated because of why he was lax, due to spending the night with Jack. Of course, his ostensible guilt is magnified enormously by his guilt over having sex with Jack, having sex with a man, all of those ideological oppressive norms (e.g., religious, heteronormative, hypermasculine) weighing heavily on Ennis in this symptomatic moment. I’ve also always associated this image of the slaughtered and devoured sheep with that horrible image of the castrated man (Earl) that Ennis is forced to view, the suggestion seeming to be that because of this door that Ennis has walked through he is the sheep/Earl that will be devoured by the hypermasculine predators constantly lying in wait for him, not unlike how the “wolves” metaphor is used in many narratives (e.g., Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Shining, etc.).
This image of the slaughtered sheep almost suggests “castration,” which is what Ennis feels since he has done the ultimate act of non-(hyper) masculinity, engage in gay sex.
As the clouds and thunder hover about him, Ennis feels the overwhelming weight of ideological norms that tell him what he has done is abnormal and that he too will be “slaughtered” for it.
“You Know I Ain’t Queer”
A little later, Ennis makes it clear to Jack that he isn’t “queer” and that their sexual relationship is a “one time thing,” a declaration that both reconciles in Ennis’s mind his straying from heteronormativity and allows him to bracket this moment in time as an exception to his normative (heterosexual, hypermasculine) state of being.
Interestingly, Jack must conform to this ruse, as a way to give Ennis what he wants, a way out of his hypermasculine, heteronormative bind, if only for a moment in time.
First, I just love this shot, another sublime shot by Lee and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto. Second, I think one could say that this image of them consummates so to speak both their symbolic attachment to the natural wonders of their setting and, as they verbally and courageously enact their relationship, the sublimity of their being for doing so.
Aguirre Watching Them
This shot of Aquirre (Randy Quaid) spying on Jack and Ennis allegorically speaks to how homosexuality (LBGTQ-ness) in general is regulated in society, via regulatory bodies, e.g., yes, individuals but also ideologies such as religions and hypermasculinity and patriarchy and heteronormativity. What is also so extremely painful here is that, as I suggest above, we do get a kind of window on a world where these two men are free and what that would look like, which makes the fact that they can’t have this possibility even on “Brokeback Mountain”/nature — even in this space, the possibility looms of being seen by others — all the more tragic, punctuating what Ennis tells Jack later, that Jack’s dream of them being together is just that, a dream.
Chilean Sheep
The symbolism here is just too perfect, the mixing of the implicitly coded “American” sheep with Chilean/Other sheep suggesting in general a contamination” of the “pure” with the Other, or, in the ideological terms of the film, homosexuality “contaminating” the “purity” of heteronormativity, Christianity/Protestantism, and especially — because the “contaminating” Others are “cowboys” — patriarchy, phallocentrism, and hypermasculinity, though, interestingly, with that long shot of all of the sheep and how they all look the same, we get the follow through or deconstructive element of this metaphor, where these “pure” ideologies are seen for what they are, purely arbitrary constructs that are ultimately meaningless.
By the way, I should note a kind of contrary metaphor here. Sheep in general represent conformity and passivity (e.g., representing ideological controls and conditioning), so, in this context, Ennis and Jack could be seen as “sheep” initially but in their break from ideological norms, they also break from the conformity of patriarchal, hypermasculine, heteronormative, and religious norms.
I doubt that it is an accident that Lee chose a foreign Other reference, so perfect for this self/Other examination. In this shot, as I say above, all the sheep look the same, speaking to the arbitrary nature of Otherness in general.
Ennis’s Agitation and Violent Outburst
This moment speaks to Ennis thinking that this is the last moment he can be his authentic self ever again, just a shattering sense of self. Jack will go back to being Jack, seeking out hook-ups with other men where he can, but Ennis must squarely go back in the closet and live his life as a lie. In this way, he has to resurrect his outer shell of hypermasculinity. To be tender and loving and affectionate with Jack at this point is too much for him; as he is about to re-enter the real world of hypermasculinity and heteronormativity, and to his ineluctable marriage to Alma, he must begin to re-enact those barriers around his heart and mind, to put his desire and emotions back in the box of his repressed state of being once again. Aggression does that, distances himself from Jack, as well as let him transfer loving emotions into negative emotions and vent his interior rage at this loss of self.
Compounding this fundamental element is just the fact that Ennis has fallen in love with Jack, found his “soul mate.” In this context too, Ennis must harden his heart. Here again, the best way to do that is to lash out at Jack’s attempt to be playful, turning a potential heart break into a different kind of pain, a physical pain and a numbing over the feeling of loss with anger and aggression.
This point of view shot of Jack’s doubles as Jack’s concern for his companion and yet again Ennis beginning the process of returning himself to his state of solitude and aloneness and distance, where he can isolate himself from the world and his taboo desire.
Because he is forced to return to the “real” world, he returns to his state of rage and violence, a response to his suppressed state, which, being a violence to the self, generates violent emotions. He overcompensates by lashing out at the source of his pain, the love of his life Jack.
Ennis’s Class Status Adding to His Feelings of Emasculation
Jack seems relatively happy and healthy in his “lie,” in part because he accepts his gayness and stridently works toward fulfilling his desire, but also because his financial security gives him at least some sense of self-worth at home, especially considering that apparently he isn’t just living on his wife’s money but is one of their best “salesman.” In other words, Jack has a relatively intact sense of masculinity, because he doesn’t have that shattering sense of shame that is attached to his homosexuality but also because he has the alternative means of feeling good about himself, his sense of himself as a good provider to his family. Contrarily, Ennis is the exact opposite in every way, his constant self-emasculation due to the shame he feels and the constant anxiety of being discovered. Moreover, due to his “failure” of being what society demands of a man, a good provider to his family, he feels emasculated doubly over. We especially get this in the scene where Alma tells him that she would have more of his kids if he could “support ’em.”
The other element here is that living a life of poverty and the grinding hardship of body breaking labor creates a feeling of misery in itself. For Ennis, who is already miserable because of not being able to be who he is, this can only compound his state of misery and suffering.
Of all the times when she has to say this, she says it when they are being intimate, a crushing, emasculating moment for Ennis.
The REAL American Icon???
I just love that shot of Ennis set against the fourth of July fireworks, the quintessential American holiday. To my mind, this image of Ennis set against the fireworks exploding behind him and Alma set at distance from him, looking terrified of this enraged Ennis, invokes a couple of readings, including a tantalizing possible inversion:
If one were to cut out these images of Ennis set against the firework display – take this image out of context – I would argue that one would read this image positively, as associating Ennis with America, with what it stands for, especially as he seems to be signified as a “cowboy,” which of course registers all sorts or American ideologies, e.g., rugged individualism, an all American (hyper) masculinity, manifest destiny, extraordinary courage and heroism, and so on. Of course, that Ennis is gay or bisexual undercuts his embodiment of being a “cowboy,” which then, in turn, makes the meaning of this image of Ennis set against the fireworks not what it seems, creating a complex blend of signifiers.
That is, that’s what this film subverts, all of that, and it does so in this one culminating moment: It isn’t this historical “cowboy” that is the quintessential essence of what it means to be “American,” it is Ennis, the wholly dysfunctional Other! In other words, it is Otherness that defines the “norm” of what it means to be “American,” and, really, if we think about it, it isn’t just that Ennis is gay and dysfunctional, it is also his positive virtues such as the fortitude to live life as a closeted gay man and the courage to overcome a childhood of ingraining in him so much self-hate and self-loathing, but against all odds still pursue a relationship with Jack. That is what it means to be “American”: So many of us are Other in so many ways, which means we too must struggle against so much adversity set against us by so many indoctrinating ideologies.
In terms of Ennis being dysfunctional, Alma’s look of fear of Ennis’s rage and her distance from him speaks to another complex element in this moment and image. Ennis’s rage becomes a marker of something deep inside of him, his inability to determine himself and live his life according to how he wants to, his inexorable self-hatred and shame at what he is and his anger at feeling this way about himself, the pent up anger at having to project a lie to the world and keep suppressing his emotions, all of his emotions, his anger and fear, yes, but also his desire to love and be tender and sensitive. He also must live with his ever festering anger at a father who forced him to feel this fear and his self-loathing and shame. All of this translates into a bundle of repressed rage, unleashed when his control mechanisms crumble, as they are in this moment. When he rages, he is someone Alma does not recognize, someone Alma fears.
In this way, too, the film recognizes that Ennis’s dysfunctional state of repressed rage – released in this moment – is also quintessentially American, in that via its ideological norms (in this case, heteronormativity, hypermasculinity, phallocentrism, though it could be other norms such as religious beliefs, class status, gender norms, and so on), such modes of dysfunctional being — and the negative emotions (rage, resentment, etc.) that often accompanies such a state of being — are all too common. And I should also note here that this image of the hypermasculine “cowboy” is oppressive in general, as most men are subjected to trying to fulfill this (manly) image, to the detriment of their authentic self.
In addition to what I convey above, I think it is crucial for both Ennis and Jack to have these moments where – ideologically (normatively) speaking – they can fulfill their sense of their phallic masculinity selves (of course Jack’s moment is when he stands up to his father-in-law). That is, the film needs to keep that hypermasculine “norm” in place if it is going to maintain its subversive edge. Sad to say, if the film let these two fully slip from the “norm” of phallic masculinity, then hypermasculine men could more easily dismiss these two characters as not really being manly.
I just love this provocative and striking image! The physical distance between Ennis and his family signifies the “emotional” and psychological “distance” from them, a distance that he will never be able to bridge.
Jack and Ennis’s First Reunion
Despite the danger, Jack and Ennis are “helpless” to control their feelings and desires, they are so hungry for each other. In this way, we can see not only their intense desire and love for each other but also just how much they suppress during their times apart (and in this case they come together after thinking they’ll never see each other again!). In effect, Ang Lee is registering their very selfs in this moment, because it isn’t just their desires and feelings that they are suppressing but their very selfs, all of which erupts in a cascade of intensity that I suspect few can fully comprehend.
Ennis’s intense feelings for Jack is betrayed by his anxious desire to see him again, his anxiousness translated via his chain smoking and drinking and his inability to still himself.
Jack and Ennis’s first reunion is marked by its intensity, Jack and Ennis seeming ready to devour each other they are so hungry for each other, though as their fires are quenched a bit, we also see their tender affection for each other, where we really begin to see that this relationship isn’t just about fulfilling desire but love as well.
The intensity of Jack and Ennis’s desire and love for each other especially comes through in this moment, when, despite the very real danger of exposure, they embrace and show their affection. This danger is especially realized as Alma does indeed see them, though this moment speaks to another crucial point as well. When a society forbids gay love/desire, it isn’t just gay people who suffer, those who live the lie with them also suffer, as we see in this latter shot of Alma and other shots of Alma where we can see her very real distress at what she knows, that her whole marriage is a lie.
Jack’s Desired Fantasy Life and The Reality of Rich and Earl
A thread that begins on Brokeback Mountain and continues when Jack conveys his desired fantasy life to Ennis and then gets echoed at the end by Jack’s father is an under girding alternative desire by the spectator as well, this desire to create a scenario where Jack and Ennis can be together always and have a life together, free from the hate and persecution and fear from a society that won’t let them have this idyllic life. The reality that keeps them from even trying is perhaps the core center of this film, the story of the murder and castration of Earl. The deeper implication of Earl’s death is that the trauma of his brutal murder – and concomitant shame such a revelation brings – keeps Ennis from not only acting on such a dream but allowing himself to even see it as a dream, which, in turn, is what tears Ennis apart, the desire to fulfill his desire and the pushing back of this conditioned trauma that society has instilled in Ennis. And that’s why Jack is both a source of relief and an inadvertent source of shattering pain, because Jack activates this ripping-in-two of his psyche.
This desired fantasy life of Jack’s is extremely painful for both Jack and Ennis and us the spectators, because it is what they should be able to have, what we want them to have, but at a time when such a life would probably cost them a life of constant ordeal and perhaps cost them their lives, such a dream is impossible.
As Ennis begins his story of Rich and Earl, Lee shoots him in a way that emphasizes the darkness around him, his face half in shadows and the darkness around him so omnipresent that it feels as if he is engulfed in it.
Like children growing up in fundamentalist religions (documented so well in the great documentary For the Bible Tells Me So), gay children growing up in hypermasculine (often going hand-in-hand with fundamentalist religion) environments face a wholly demoralizing upbringing where they are told from day one that homosexuality is an “abomination,” “shameful,” “sinful,” “disgusting,” and even worse. I say “even worse” because I can only imagine what those men who killed those neighbors that Ennis relates said about them before they murdered them. This kind of conditioning in gay men (and women though I suspect it is worse for men—because of the added hypermasculine fear of homosexuality)—can only ingrain a sense of extremely low self-worth in gay men, a feeling of self-hatred, shame, self-disgust, denial, an overall shattering of self, which amounts to a violence of self, as we see with Ennis. Just thinking of poor Ennis seeing that mutilated (castrated) neighbor at such a young age, what an impact that must have had on him, him living with the thought that his natural desires are subject to such brutal atrocities, the trauma of such an experience must have been devastating to his young psyche.
I don’t know if there is a better symbol for what these heterosexist, patriarchal, phallocentric, hypermasculine ideologies do to men who dare to transgress against the norms of these ideologies. Earl is not just beaten and tortured to death, he is castrated, the hypermasculine men targeting not just his body but specifically his penis, equating the penis to manhood. The deeper implications of targeting the penis are disturbingly profound: Phallic men see this reproductive organ that is meant for creation as representing ideologies (patriarchy, hypermasculinity, phallocentrism) that are inherently (self) destructive, which we see with this act of hate and violence against Earl, not to mention Ennis’s father beginning the process of instilling in Ennis the shame and self-hate that will be an act of violence to the self. Moreover, by literally castrating Earl, these patriarchal, phallocentric, hypermasculine men also reveal another deeper truth, that Earl was a threat to their very way of being. That is, since the penis represents these ideologies, men who don’t adhere to these ideologies in effect reveal theses ideologies to be purely arbitrary and meaningless. That, in turn, then becomes a threat to the very identity of such phallic men, a threat that must be negated in some fashion, which of course is what happens to Earl, where the overdetermined violence reveals the hysteria attached to this act of hate and panic, the need to not just eliminate Earl but to negate his very sex as well.
Adding to the trauma of this memory is that Ennis’s father not only takes his sons (e.g., Ennis) to see this atrocity but he in fact may have — probably did or would have — participated in this atrocity, further internalizing in Ennis that superego voice of his father telling him what he would do to Ennis if he chose a gay life, a deeply oppressive way of being for any LBGTQ individual.
Here we get spelled out Ennis’s way of approaching his homosexual desires, “standing it,” suppressing it.
In one of two metaphors, Ennis likens his homosexual desire to a wild bronc, something he must tame, control, stay on top of, not let loose.
In the second bronc metaphor, this deeply tragic line speaks to Ennis’s belief that he has no control of his life. On a bronc, with “reins,” he can control the horse, make it go in the direction he chooses. But without “reins,” he has no control over the horse and must let it take him where it will or get bucked off. In this context, like the horse, ideologies (patriarchy, hypermasculinity, phallocentrism, heteronormativity, Christianity) determine his direction, his self, even whether he lives or dies.
I love this moment. Even though Ennis has rejected Jack’s dream, he still can’t help but comfort the wounded and suffering Ennis. One complaint I have heard from people about this film is that Jack and Ennis never actually vocalize their love for each other — perhaps a bridge too far for these hypermasculine men — but, for me, we get this expression of love from these two men in many such tender and loving moments such as this one.
“King of the Road”
What makes this sequence even more painful is Lee’s choice of “King of the Road,” a song that projects Jack’s exuberance in this moment, his feeling that finally his dream is going to come true.
Jack again tragically reaches for his long sought after dream to be with Ennis but Ennis again dashes Jack’s dream with his obstinate “reality,” not only in terms of his ever churning fear of discovery and death but also because of his instilled obligation to his daughters.
By contrast, Lee gives us this love song, a song that speaks to two individuals who can actually live out their lives together, a painful inversion of Jack and Ennis’s situation, to the extreme distress of Jack.
Jack must soothe his pain through the comfort of Mexican prostitutes, Ang Lee visually and symbolically emphasizing this dark place that Jack enters, Jack getting swallowed up by the darkness at the end of the alley.
Thanksgiving Sequence
In this key sequence we especially see how this film is all about deconstructing stereotypical signifiers of hypermasculinity and patriarchy. In Jack’s case, Lureen’s father L.D. establishes his view of Jack – L.D. seems to instinctively sense something Other about Jack – by constantly emasculating him, e.g., not so subtly telling Jack – and Lureen – that he has little respect for him. The deeper implication here is how the film consciously sets these hypermasculine, patriarchal stereotypes up so as to purposely interrogate them, deconstruct them, highlight them as the arbitrary signifiers that they are. We get this with L.D. saying that a boy needs to watch football to be a man, which, in the context of this film’s deconstruction of hypermasculinity in general, we instantly interrogate and see as part of the ideological conditioning of boys-to-men, e.g., that boys don’t just innately become men but must go through various rituals, traditions, and trials to earn their masculinity, in the case of Jack’s son, watch football. In the case of Jack, who, again, is not seen as manly in the eyes of L.D. and Lureen herself, he must also earn his manhood, especially as he has already come to be seen as Other. This Otherness in him and how L. D. constantly degrades him causes Lureen to be ashamed of her husband, manliness being a key barometer of worth for men. In this moment, Jack takes back what was lost, re-instilling his position as “man of the house,” exerting his authority over his father-in-law, who, up until this moment had been the phallic male in even his (Jack’s) own household. Jack cutting the turkey at the end of this sequence becomes enormously symbolic in this regard, symbolic of his alpha male role in this moment, despite his Otherness, a potent deconstruction of the typical gay (unmanly) man stereotype.
Similarly, as I suggested above, it is crucial for both Ennis and Jack to have these moments where – ideologically (normatively) speaking – they can fulfill their sense of their phallic masculinity selves (as I say above, Ennis’s moment is when he stands up to the bikers). In this sense, by keeping these two in that hypermasculine territory, Lee is able to maintain the film’s subversive edge. Sad to say, if the film let these two fully slip from the “norm” of phallic masculinity, then hypermasculine men could more easily dismiss these two characters as not really being manly!
By calling Jack “Rodeo,” L.D. already degrades Jack (as he always has done), by mocking his one claim to manhood, his “rodeo” days. By taking over the carving duties (in Jack’s household), L.D. is in effect displacing Jack altogether of his phallic status.
L. D. turns the TV back on, blatantly going against Jack’s will, a hugely humiliating act, an emasculation of Jack. The deeper implications of this humiliating act are that L.D. believes that since Jack is already Other, he can degrade him — and should degrade him — as much as he likes, to both reinforce his own sense of masculinity (phallic men need Others to degrade — or worse — as a way to affirm their hypermasculinity) and “punish” Jack for being Other.
L.D.’s words are probably not just about his belief in how boys become men (e.g., watch such “manly” fare as football) but probably a not so subtle dig that unlike his father, he is going to make sure that Jack’s son becomes a “man.”
I love how Jack also sees this as a sign of respect for his wife Lureen, standing up for her as well as for himself.
Jack exerts his will over his overbearing father-in-law, signaling that he can be both Other and empowered, not letting the dominant social order (represented here by Lureen’s father L.D.) degrade (Other) him.
Alma’s Disclosure, Ennis’s Rage
As I suggest above, one of the crucial points this film makes is that these horribly oppressive phallocentric, hypermasculine, patriarchal ideologies don’t just oppress Ennis and Jack, but these ideologies oppress their loved ones as well, especially poor Alma. In effect, loved ones such as Alma are also victims of LGBTQ people who are forced to live a lie. In this context, then, Alma has had to live with the knowledge that not only did Ennis “cheat” on her with Jack (and perhaps the concurrent feelings attached to a heterosexual cheated-on mate who can’t but help to take it even more personally, because they feel that it was something lacking in themselves that drove their mate into the arms of a same sex lover) but that Ennis may very well have never truly loved her, was never truly invested in their relationship. And I’m sure this gnawed at Alma for the rest of her life, the growing understanding of a life wasted on a man who was never wholly there for her, the fact that she too had lived a lie. In this sense, then, I’m sure this moment had to happen for Alma, to let her cathartically release her own pent up angst, which, unfortunately, could only come out in a hateful, angry way, the only way she could translate her own hurt. In terms of Ennis’s reaction, there is so much written into this moment, certainly fear of what the consequences would be if his secret were found out (not just the threat to his life but the loss of all he holds dear), but, as I’ve conveyed above, there is some shame here as well. Often, when damaged people are cornered and forced to face the source of their pain – their conditioned sense of shame – they transfer that pain into anger and lash out.
And the lashing out at the stranger is him needing to exert his masculinity after being emasculated by Alma, though here too, I think Ennis is just a bundle of angst and suppressed rage at feelings he can’t even comprehend, again, his inability to be an authentic self. Alma’s ambush triggers not just his shame and fear but it triggers all that he keeps a lid on, what I convey above, the unfairness of his life, all the pain he feels for not being his authentic self, and with the rage from his shame and fear exploding to the surface, all of this comes exploding to the surface as well, Ennis just needing someone to cathartically release it on!
Alma triggers Jack’s shame and fear — not just fear of facing Earl-like persecution but fear of being shamed for what he has been conditioned to believe is a deeply anti-masculine way of being — which, in turn, gets transferred into rage, as it always does for poor Ennis.
Jack tries to pick a fight, a way for him to cathartically purge his feelings of shame and perhaps even exercise his psychological pain by trading it for physical pain.
Back to Brokeback Mountain
This long montage is reminiscent to those earlier shots of Jack and Ennis on Brokeback Mountain. Here again, and perhaps more so than before (since now Jack and Ennis are more than just a fling), Lee gives us the idyllic version of Ennis and Jack where, again, they can be their “natural” (or “nature”) selfs, where we get this one window of Jack and Ennis at peace in the world, living the life they should be able to live all the time, e.g., Jack’s dream. Whenever I watch this sequence, the pain of how unfair it is that Jack and Ennis can’t have this life all the time seems more acute to me, perhaps because it doesn’t feel like an escape for them but rather a getaway moment, not the end-all-be-all moment of a relationship, which, in turn, makes their having to leave each other when it is over all the more painful.
Ennis’s Revealed Internal Torment
For me, one of the most painful moments in the film is this one, when Ennis reveals the depth of his oppressed state of being, e.g., he literally feels people know his secret and are staring at him. In this way, we can see just how successful hypermasculine, patriarchal, heteronormative, Christian ideologies are, in the sense that these ideologies have instilled in Ennis (and many LBGTQ people like him) — literally internalized in him — a self-regulating enforcement mechanism where other people or institutions are not even necessary to keep Ennis in line, his own interior shame and fear will do it for them.
In effect, in addition to how this moment spells out how Ennis is a victim of a monstrous ideology instilling an unhealthy paranoia in him, this moment also spells out how he lives his life, attempting to create a “mask” that must constantly fool others from seeing who he really is, which explains why he acts so withdrawn, keeps people at a distance, attempts to overcompensate by exaggerating a hypermasculine (laconic, unemotional) persona.
Brokeback Mountain Again
As I said previously, one complaint that I’ve heard from people after watching this film is that Jack and Ennis never vocalize their love for each other, which is true, but, to my mind, we get their expression of love in other ways, which, for me, especially comes through in this sequence. Jack verbalizes his torment at not being with Ennis, and then we get this last shot of the tent set alone in this vast landscape. One could perhaps read this last striking shot in negative terms, signifying their isolation from the rest of the world; the shot feels like it emphasizes a kind of loneliness, so that reading does work. However, coming on the heels of the previous shot of them so peacefully and lovingly together in the tent, and with a feeling of peacefulness and tranquility of this shot itself, at least for me, I read this shot positively. In short, set amidst the sublimity of this beautiful landscape, Lee is making them a part of it, signifying, again, how their relationship is sublime as well, sublime because of just how pure their love is for each other.
“I wish I knew how to quit you”
Had Ennis never met Jack, then probably he would have gone on with his plan to marry Alma, have kids, get a steady job and live if not a happy life at least a contented life (or at least not an anguished life!), free of his released homosexual/bisexual desires. Jack opens a yawning door for him, exposing him to desires that he himself probably wasn’t even fully aware of he had suppressed them so deeply. In that release, unlike Jack, who can embrace his gay self, the best Ennis can do is allow himself a split existence, freeing his true self for their times at “Brokeback Mountain,” but then going back to his lie of a life in the “real” world. In this way, Ennis can not truly “be” (“nowhere,” “nothin’”), in the sense that in the “real” world, he can’t be who he is and as long as Jack/Brokeback Mountain exists for him, he can only “be” in those brief moments on “Brokeback Mountain,” leaving him in a continual state of indeterminacy, a VERY sad state of being indeed.
In effect, Jack is confronting the fact that their very relationship is a fantasy, in the sense that because they can only consummate it in an escapist space — instead of the real world — their relationship isn’t real. I think the stress here is also one presented to us the audience, telling us to put our own relationship into this scenario, attempting to see and feel just how tormenting and wrong that would be.
In this sequence we get Jack and Ennis’s torment, a really heinous inversion of what should be a deeply fulfilling experience. In Jack’s case, as he has communicated before, his torment is the constant yearning he has for Ennis, relating just how deep his love is for Ennis. In this line, we see Jack’s desire to quit that which gives him constant pain, which in itself is a testament to the depth of his love for Ennis, since despite this constant and gnawing pain, he continues to see Ennis.
Ennis’s pain is deeper. Unlike Jack, who can both find some solace with other men and at least somewhat cheerfully live a lie with his family, Ennis can only live the lie of his life, meaning that he cannot start a new life with a new woman and cannot find any escapes with any other men; he only lives in the fantasy world of “Brokeback Mountain,” and thus the only time he is “real” is when he is with Jack on “Brokeback Mountain,” the rest of the time he is just going through the motions of life. As I say above, had Ennis never met Jack, he might have gone on to “be” more real in the world, but because of this door that was opened for Ennis, he is now in essence nonexistent, or “nowhere,” “nothin’,” at least at this point. See more below….
In such a powerful moment, the carefully controlled and emotionally suppressed Ennis breaks down, his breakdown in itself testifying to the intensity of his existential suffering. Jack’s loving comforting also speaks to his enduring love for Ennis. Just such a profound moment in the film.
A Strange Flashback or Is It an Insert?
I’m not entirely sure what to make of this…flashback? It seems attached to Jack’s point of view at the end of the sequence so probably it is a flashback. However, it may also be an insert by Lee, which would make this moment even more interesting. If it is a flashback, it would seem to be Jack thinking back to their original moment on the real Brokeback Mountain (I’ve always read their latter nature excursions as not actually happening on Brokeback Mountain, them just calling these escapes to nature “Brokeback Mountain”), perhaps a thinking back to innocent times, when he could be contented living in the moment or hoping for a viable future with Ennis, though that the shot ends with Ennis leaving, perhaps it is just Jack thinking about how their relationship is based on Jack watching Ennis leave him again. More interesting is if this is an insert by Lee. If it is an insert, all of the above could still apply, though, since this is the last time that Jack and Ennis are together before Jack’s death, this moment is Lee’s commentary on the promise of Jack and Ennis in those touching early moments together, ending in unnecessary pain and suffering.
Another moment that expresses their love for each other, this one revealing just how tender and loving and nurturing Ennis could be, which, in itself is a tragedy, that Ennis couldn’t express himself in this healthy way, even to Alma.
So much love in Jack’s eyes!
From a moment of innocence to a moment of pain as Ennis’s leaving (and not coming back) is part of an excruciating and constant state of suffering for Jack. If this is Jack’s flashback — or even it it’s not — this may be a monumental change in Jack, from knowing that Ennis will come back — and perhaps eventually stay with Jack — to knowing that this is his reality, that he will always be seeing Ennis leave him. And since this is the last time they will be together, this separation moment is all the more painful for us. Interesting to note too that apparently Jack does move on from Ennis, according to Jack’s father anyway, so perhaps this look by Jack above is him finally giving up on their relationship.
A Spurned Cassie and an Alone Ennis
As I suggest above, the Cassie thread I think is important because it punctuates Ennis’s “nothin’, nowhere” sentiment, where he seems to not care whether he develops a relationship with Cassie or not, the suggestion being that he only cares for Jack and can’t care for anyone else, or perhaps that because he always fears exposure (especially considering his traumatic experience with Alma’s revelation), he can only keep everyone else at a distance, making a close relationship impossible.
This is yet another shot that punctuates Ennis’s aloneness.
Ennis is confronted by his inability to romantically “love,” at least anyone other than Jack. This ending shot to this sequence kind of reiterates what he said moments previously, that he is “nothin’, nowhere.”
Jack’s Death
Due to his extreme traumatizing past (e.g., his father exposing him to the hate filled, violent image of the brutally murdered gay man Earl) and due to the conditioning that comes with being a “cowboy” (e.g., that a hypermasculine self is actualized at least in part through actually condoned and even expected acts of violence, especially against Others), Ennis essentially suffers from PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder). We see this when he talks about his paranoia of people staring at him, as if they know what he is, and we see this with his over-the-top bursts of rage. And we see his PTSD in this scene, when his mind immediately goes to this image of Jack being violently killed because of his homosexuality. In this way, we see a man tragically suffering from the constant expectation of the violence that comes from being Other, a really tormented way of being. (Note: Like that previous seeming flashback I discuss above, these images of Jack being murdered are uncertain: Is this Ennis’s paranoia working overtime? Is it Ennis seeing through Lureen’s story to the truth of Jack’s death? Or is it even Lee inserting what really happened to Jack?)
I think it is unclear whether this beating to death of Jack really happened — another insert by Lee??? — or whether this is Ennis’s imagination working overtime, though either way it speaks to a truth, a truth we had already gotten from the beating to death of Earl, that phallocentric, patriarchal, hypermasculine ideologies are not just destructive to identity formations (e.g., creating a violence to the self scenario) but just hatefully destructive period.
Visiting Jack’s Parents
This moment when Ennis visits Jack’s parents gives us a fuller picture of Jack. To me, it was clear that both parents knew about Jack’s homosexuality/bisexuality, the mother apparently being more sympathetic to Jack’s sexual orientation unlike the seeming intolerance of the father. In this way, like Ennis’s father, Jack’s father represents the “superegos” of society (all of those oppressive ideologies) that instill in the Jacks and Ennises of the world that little voice in their head that they cannot be who they are. But more than that, the moment filled in some gaps, revealing Jack’s stripped down upbringing; the house itself and the interior space is just so bare, austere, colorless, speaking to the lack of emotion, love, nurturing in this household; and Jack’s room is so claustrophobically tiny and enclosing, emphasizing how oppressive his existence was growing up. Such signifiers explain Jack’s penchant for dreaming and his need for an “escape” from an oppressive existence (e.g. Jack had a harder time coping with his sacrificed lifestyle than Ennis). Interestingly, the only color in the home is Jack’s bloodied denim shirt in the closet that covers Ennis’ own bloodied shirt from their first summer on Brokeback Mountain, a signifier that adds a poignant ingredient here: In his differentness (Otherness), Jack was a vibrant (colorful) light in this deadened space of his oppressive (lifeless) parents and their oppressive (lifeless) ideologies. Another thought occurs to me: Put in the context of this household, the blood could also be a signifier of the violence done to him, beginning in this space.
The stripped down, austere, colorless space and parents speak to the lack of emotion and nurturing and life in Jack’s upbringing.
Jack’s bedroom is also drained of any life but it is also small and claustrophobic, hyper-accentuating the feeling of living a suffocating, oppressive (fundamentalist Christian) existence.
Perhaps I exaggerate too much the lack of love in Jack’s life. This moment is striking, in the sense that Jack’s mother reacts with understanding when Ennis reveals the shirts, her looks and words suggesting sympathy and compassion for Ennis’s need to have some part of Jack for himself, a sign that she did love her son and perhaps even accepted him for what he was, perhaps even loved him unconditionally. (That would make this space more about patriarchy, hypermasculinity, phallocentricism, fundamentalist Christian ideologies, embodied by the father. In this context, the mother can be seen as an oppressed victim of these ideologies as well.) Her last words to Ennis — to “come back and see us again” — is less a literal invitation than a loving acceptance of Ennis as Jack’s companion. She knows that Ennis is Jack’s true loved one and she is embracing him in that way, a last gesture of love for her son.
The Closet Metaphor:
In the two ending sequences, we get two closets, two deeply symbolic closets. In Lee’s vision, the closet motif represents Jack and Ennis’s “hidden love” and the “pain” that comes with such a state of being, all embodied by the two shirts. In a sense, Lee uses this closet metaphor in a way that is a cliché, but he also turns this cliché into something quite profound, reflects the origin and why of this closet metaphor, the way that our intolerant ideologies force natural ways of being into hiding, a signifier of not only that which is forced to be hidden, but in its darkness and claustrophobic smallness, a signifier of oppression in general. In another sense, Lee kind of subverts the negative connotations of “closet” as well, in the sense that while the “closet” metaphor still signifies oppression, it also signifies a sacred space where Ennis and Jack can keep their cherished memories of at least moments where they could be free of the lie of their lives, e.g., be their “selfs” with the love of their lives.
I absolutely love this moment, the hidden (in the closet) shirts signifying a last deeply loving gesture by Jack, secretly stealing Ennis’s shirt and putting it with his, in a kind of symbolic embrace. The coupling of blood in this shot above could perhaps signify a lasting symbol of the violence that was done to them (not letting them be together), though for me, in the context of this particular moment, it signifies life not death or pain, a kind of signification of their union, one that even in death, will be forever. 
This whole sequence brings me to tears every time I watch it, Ennis not just embracing Jack and his memories of them together, but, for me, it is Ennis embracing this deeply moving gesture by Jack, his desire to somehow create a symbol of their love, a symbol of them being together always.
Ennis’s Complex Closet: A Breakthrough for Ennis?
Ennis strikingly uses the “nothin'” signifier again, signifying that his life is “nothin’,” which probably rings even more true now that he has lost his true love and the one way he could express his true nature, Jack. Having said that….
Though Ennis seems to initiate this sequence by still accepting his “nothin'” existence, this shift to opening up his life more to his daughter Alma and investing himself in her wedding and future, seems to suggest that perhaps Ennis isn’t entirely a lost cause. One could surmise that this change in him stems from his loss of Jack. Freud theorized that when a loved one dies, we internalize them into our self. Keeping that in mind, one could perhaps make the case that a number of factors have changed Ennis. In thinking that Jack died a violent death, this may not have deepened Ennis’s fear but instead exorcised it, Ennis taking stock of Jack ultimately living his life the way he wanted to live it, relatively speaking (e.g., of course he too had to make compromises along the way), to the point were he never gave up on his dream, displacing Ennis for another man. Add in that Jack’s mother almost seems to accept Ennis and Ennis and Jack’s love, and perhaps that too influenced Ennis’s view of his gayness. Finding the shirts also perhaps had a profound effect on Ennis, Ennis seeing the depth of Jack’s love for him, a message of love that could only make the memory of their time together not a painful one but a memory that brings joy and happiness to Ennis’s heart, a way in itself out of his desire to distance himself from the world, a heart that is open to investing in other loving relationships. All of this is informed by Ennis perhaps internalizing part of Jack into his being, a way for him to live his life in a way that is at least closer to a lifestyle that Jack would approve of, becoming more a part of Alma’s life being a good start. Interesting to note here that by saying that “they can find another cowboy,” Ennis is kind of symbolically divorcing himself from the protective coating of a masculinity masquerade created to keep people at a distance. Most striking is Lee’s use of the Brokeback Mountain theme music associated with Ennis and Jack’s time on Brokeback Mountain, perhaps a punctuating of all of this: In the same way that he could be himself with Jack, perhaps he is beginning the process of being himself with others, a tender, loving, sensitive Ennis.
In a powerful final bit of symbolism, Ennis inverts the shirts to now have his shirt on the outside and Jack’s shirt on the inside, a very interesting choice on Ennis’s part. In seeing what Jack did, putting Ennis’s shirt on the inside, it was in effect Jack saying that he was going to have to be the nurturer of their relationship. I suspect that this was not lost on Ennis. By inverting the shirts, Ennis is in effect saying that he knows that he has be the nurturer now, the one to keep the memory of their love alive. As I say above, in this way, Lee is subverting the notion of the “closet” as oppressive, since Ennis is now making it a space for his shrine to Jack and himself, a loving and sacred space for Ennis, even if it also still represents where Ennis is at, still in the closet. That’s the sad part of this ending, that with the loss of Jack, Ennis goes squarely back into the closet, living his life in past memories of his shared experiences with Jack. That doesn’t negate what I say above — that Ennis seems to finally come out of his shell of keeping loved ones at a distance, e.g., he seems to finally be ready to invest himself in his daughter’s life, not to mention that perhaps he has come to terms with his gay identity — but it does seem to suggest that when it comes to his gay identity, it will forever remain a hidden thing.
Another emotional moment (for both Ennis and us the spectator!), a teary-eyed Ennis hearkening to his at times contentious relationship with Jack, though here, remembering those part of Jack’s character that most aggravated Ennis, Ennis says this “Jack, I swear….” as a term of endearment, which perhaps reinforces that the rage and anger inside of him has dissipated as well.
The film’s final denouement, the image of “Brokeback Mountain,” suggesting both a link to the shirts — their intimate times together are of course intricately linked to this transportive space — and perhaps a way out of this “closet” bind, opening the closet to transport himself to an imaginary place of “freedom” where he can still vicariously live out the rest of his life on “Brokeback Mountain”…with Jack.