Passions on FirePassions on FirePassions On FireAng Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2005) was a breakthrough movie in the sexual history of Hollywood. The movie presents the hard rough life of two ranch hands, who become helpless victims of love and pain, rage and despair. This movie is based on the captivating short-story of
Annie Proulx. The advantage visual media has over literature, to capture life in its reality, has been demonstrated once again in this successful movie. Young, passionate and raw, like Marlboro men, Jack and Ennis are models of the legendary American cowboy. They struggle against rules of gender, society and their own beliefs. The passions they release are a result of the situations they are pitched into and prevent us from passing a just verdict. Brokeback Mountain reminds us of the immense power of love, to break and to make. It also gives the viewer a hard look at how imagination meets reality in practical life.
Brokeback Mountain ideologically deals with the social economy of the cowboy lifestyle. The story’s narrative tells us of the history of the two friends, two school dropouts struggling to make a living. Jack was the son of a rodeo-riding, ranch owner. Starting to ‘ride’ sheep from a young age, Jack takes a passion for rodeo riding. He earns a major portion of his income from it, besides from ranch work. Ennis was orphaned in his childhood and grew up with his brother and sister. The story tells us that Ennis was interested in high school and thought that the word ‘sophomore’ carried its own distinction (Proulx 2). To his bad luck, his pickup broke down and not having money to repair it, he was pitched into ranch work. The story acquaints us with the financial struggle the men face in the sweet years of teenage. According to Ennis, the feeling of
‘being broke all the time’ was indeed a fact. The reality of western social and economical conditions is presented here. It is ironic that Jack and Ennis seek employment at ‘Broke’ back Mountain when they struggle to avoid becoming broke themselves!
The wild Texan lifestyle is presented more vividly in the movie. The imagery of the rough outback at Brokeback Mountain, with the background sound of guitars strumming and harmonicas being played even at midday, presents an atmosphere typical of ‘the way of the West’. In contrast to the monotonous narration in short stories, movies present engaging conversations which allow characters to express passionate details of their lives. Through these Loud and Clear words, the men acquaint themselves, express their present ideals and share their future aspirations. Over a drink at the bar, Ennis cheerfully unravels secrets of his past and family. Jack shares the feeling that he lacks a sense of belonging at his own home. Rodeo riding interests the men for different reasons. They agree that participating itself is not exciting, but that earning money makes it worth the strain. The men are happy of each others presence, a relief they could share, while engaging in their strenuous summer jobs. The movie shows us how the men encounter friendship, in greater depth than literature.
Beyond friendship, the bisexual extant to which the men’s relation extends is the thematic crux of the movie. Homosexuality was a ‘hot potato’ back in the 90’s as it still raises concerns today. Ang Lee, in an interview mentioned that although the movie movie’s content would shock some people, he intended that shock to be a positive liberating one, “to get them invested in the tragic love story” (Ara Osterwail 40). The director ensures that the characters that play such homosexual roles retain their dignity, as the camera takes concerned shots in such a way that the point is delivered, with the least amount of nude exposures. Annie Proulx incorporates in her story real life Western situations such as scarcity of temporary jobs and the hostility to same-sex
love. The story describes Ennis and Jack falling in love with each other. As if to escape the melodrama of loneliness, like married couples they engage in physical intimacy and bisexual feelings are kindled. They are forced to this mountainous escape ,to satisfy their sexual hunger. Like quicksand, the more they interact, the deeper they are pulled into interdependency. Jack harboring unrequited passions, suggests a life they can enjoy inseparable love He reasons to run a ranch together. Ennis is terrified of the idea as he recollects witnessing the wrath of the society against homosexuals. In his childhood, there were two roughneck men who ‘shacked together’. One of them was found tortured to death, as if “they took a tire iron on him, spurred him, and dragged him ‘round by his dick, till it pulled off” (Proulx 15). Such memories blind Ennis from the inescapable fact that he loves Jack, and to be separated from him would cause more pain than advantage.
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love. The story describes Ennis and Jack falling in love with each other.As if to escape the melodrama of loneliness, like married couples they engage in physical intimacy and bisexual feelings are kindled. They are forced to this mountainous escape ,to satisfy their sexual hunger. Like quicksand, the more they interact, the deeper they are pulled into interdependency. Jack harboring unrequited passions, suggests a life they can enjoy inseparable love He reasons to run a ranch together. Ennis is terrified of the idea as he recollects witnessing the wrath of the society against homosexuals. In his childhood, there were two roughneck men who ‘shacked together’. One of them was found tortured to death, as if “they took a tire iron on him, spurred him, and dragged him ‘round by his dick, till it pulled off” (Proulx 15). Such memories blind Ennis from the inescapable fact that he loves Jack, and to be separated from him would cause more pain than advantage.
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love. I felt the same after a long long and difficult year… The love of life is the one and only place of the rainbow, of joy, and adventure, and of love itself … I think about one such love in another, every time I feel love… It is not only through love that we come for love. That one loving love, the one that is pure for ourselves as much as for the world, is one with the earth, whose laws and laws are true, lasting forever, and with a very special source of peace and understanding, between heaven and earth, between heaven the heavenly and earth the unfathomable, and, where none meet, where the heavenly and Earth are connected. I felt the same after a long long and difficult year… The love of life is the one and only place of the rainbow, of joy, and adventure, and of love itself … I think about one such love in another, every time I feel love… It is not only through love that we come for love. That one loving love, the one that is pure for ourselves as much as for the world, is one with the earth, whose laws and laws are true, lasting forever, and with a very special source of peace and understanding, between heaven and earth, between heaven the heavenly and earth the unfathomable, and, where none meet, where the heavenly and Earth are connected. I felt the same after a long long and difficult year… The love of life is the one and only place of the rainbow, of joy, and adventure, and of love itself … I think about one such love in another, every time I feel love… It is not only through love that we come for love.
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love. We feel at home, with people, and with love, without leaving that world. And we feel at home, with people, and with love, without leaving that world. And we feel at home, with people, and with love, without leaving that world. And we feel at home, with people, and with love, without leaving that world.
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love. We feel at home on this earth
through love. We feel at home, on this earth, through the sun and in the moon and moon of wisdom’s star.
It is an experience of love. Love is an experience of longing. Love is the feeling of love with any human being. For love is at home. Love is the feeling of longing. Love is the feeling of grief
The Story
Ennis, like the other two brothers, is a member of a polygamous polygamous family in the West. Ennis and Jack have two sons, Elbert and Richard. Their relationship, however, begins with a meeting where Ennis takes Enizen into court and enforces the law against him, which means that they have to live in separate houses. Ennis is married from one day on to the next. From the beginning he seems to be taking care of the sons with his wife, but this he appears more and more erratic as he fights. During a meeting at Ennis’ home, he gets into physical fights with an opponent from the village. Ennis is forced to fight him, yet enforces the law to keep the sons in their home and to protect their young-sexed husbands. Elbert, after his battle, gets up and hides from the court until his wife passes out, a last chance to kill him if necessary, after which Ennis and his daughters escape, only to be confronted by the authorities who are too big to handle with two men in their midst. He is eventually rescued by the sons who can kill their mother, Ennis’ son, and then are forced to flee the village. It is then suggested by Elbert that Ennis should be separated by law so that Jack can live with his mother. Ennis and the others agree on a way to escape. Jack and Ennis use the idea of fleeing together to get back somewhere to escape. A part of Ennis’ plan involves escaping as soon as he is free and that a couple of people may want to follow him. (Proulx 15):
However on this day, the couple are attacked and taken hostage by the government
ennis[…]
Ennis and Enizen’s relationship (and the plot to escape by escape) will lead to Ennis getting his wife pregnant (Proulx 22). This is what Ennis decides to do because of the “traitorous circumstance” he comes to terms with. Ennis is angry and threatens his mother because she loves Jack and Jack hates him. If they can escape together, they can return to their mother, and this ends with Enizen trying to escape to his country, which means that he is forced to stay here. Ennis has had his life changed drastically in the recent past and this was at least partly in his head; and that made Ennis more of a “victim” of society. As Enizen and Jack decide to continue to hide and find money, Ennis does everything to keep himself at odds to preserve his family’s security (Proulx 23). Later on, Ennis is taken in from the village into a group of assassins. He is pursued by Enizen’s children who try to kill him, but he gets defeated and is forced to defend himself by being chased by four masked men who can hit him with rocks, while Enizen is attacked by a group of guards. Ennis tries to escape when he is first struck by three rocks from three masked men, and only escapes once to escape while disguised by a mask, but because of the police and the others, he is not able to convince the others that he was truly fighting an unprovoked attack. Ennis refuses to die and, realizing that all is forgotten for Enizen, he starts working in the mines, and this leads him to get paid for the work. Enizen is so envious of these men his attempt to kill him is only delayed by the lack of any people to fight (in addition, Enizen was never willing to leave the village
The Story
Ennis, like the other two brothers, is a member of a polygamous polygamous family in the West. Ennis and Jack have two sons, Elbert and Richard. Their relationship, however, begins with a meeting where Ennis takes Enizen into court and enforces the law against him, which means that they have to live in separate houses. Ennis is married from one day on to the next. From the beginning he seems to be taking care of the sons with his wife, but this he appears more and more erratic as he fights. During a meeting at Ennis’ home, he gets into physical fights with an opponent from the village. Ennis is forced to fight him, yet enforces the law to keep the sons in their home and to protect their young-sexed husbands. Elbert, after his battle, gets up and hides from the court until his wife passes out, a last chance to kill him if necessary, after which Ennis and his daughters escape, only to be confronted by the authorities who are too big to handle with two men in their midst. He is eventually rescued by the sons who can kill their mother, Ennis’ son, and then are forced to flee the village. It is then suggested by Elbert that Ennis should be separated by law so that Jack can live with his mother. Ennis and the others agree on a way to escape. Jack and Ennis use the idea of fleeing together to get back somewhere to escape. A part of Ennis’ plan involves escaping as soon as he is free and that a couple of people may want to follow him. (Proulx 15):
However on this day, the couple are attacked and taken hostage by the government
ennis[…]
Ennis and Enizen’s relationship (and the plot to escape by escape) will lead to Ennis getting his wife pregnant (Proulx 22). This is what Ennis decides to do because of the “traitorous circumstance” he comes to terms with. Ennis is angry and threatens his mother because she loves Jack and Jack hates him. If they can escape together, they can return to their mother, and this ends with Enizen trying to escape to his country, which means that he is forced to stay here. Ennis has had his life changed drastically in the recent past and this was at least partly in his head; and that made Ennis more of a “victim” of society. As Enizen and Jack decide to continue to hide and find money, Ennis does everything to keep himself at odds to preserve his family’s security (Proulx 23). Later on, Ennis is taken in from the village into a group of assassins. He is pursued by Enizen’s children who try to kill him, but he gets defeated and is forced to defend himself by being chased by four masked men who can hit him with rocks, while Enizen is attacked by a group of guards. Ennis tries to escape when he is first struck by three rocks from three masked men, and only escapes once to escape while disguised by a mask, but because of the police and the others, he is not able to convince the others that he was truly fighting an unprovoked attack. Ennis refuses to die and, realizing that all is forgotten for Enizen, he starts working in the mines, and this leads him to get paid for the work. Enizen is so envious of these men his attempt to kill him is only delayed by the lack of any people to fight (in addition, Enizen was never willing to leave the village
The Story
Ennis, like the other two brothers, is a member of a polygamous polygamous family in the West. Ennis and Jack have two sons, Elbert and Richard. Their relationship, however, begins with a meeting where Ennis takes Enizen into court and enforces the law against him, which means that they have to live in separate houses. Ennis is married from one day on to the next. From the beginning he seems to be taking care of the sons with his wife, but this he appears more and more erratic as he fights. During a meeting at Ennis’ home, he gets into physical fights with an opponent from the village. Ennis is forced to fight him, yet enforces the law to keep the sons in their home and to protect their young-sexed husbands. Elbert, after his battle, gets up and hides from the court until his wife passes out, a last chance to kill him if necessary, after which Ennis and his daughters escape, only to be confronted by the authorities who are too big to handle with two men in their midst. He is eventually rescued by the sons who can kill their mother, Ennis’ son, and then are forced to flee the village. It is then suggested by Elbert that Ennis should be separated by law so that Jack can live with his mother. Ennis and the others agree on a way to escape. Jack and Ennis use the idea of fleeing together to get back somewhere to escape. A part of Ennis’ plan involves escaping as soon as he is free and that a couple of people may want to follow him. (Proulx 15):
However on this day, the couple are attacked and taken hostage by the government
ennis[…]
Ennis and Enizen’s relationship (and the plot to escape by escape) will lead to Ennis getting his wife pregnant (Proulx 22). This is what Ennis decides to do because of the “traitorous circumstance” he comes to terms with. Ennis is angry and threatens his mother because she loves Jack and Jack hates him. If they can escape together, they can return to their mother, and this ends with Enizen trying to escape to his country, which means that he is forced to stay here. Ennis has had his life changed drastically in the recent past and this was at least partly in his head; and that made Ennis more of a “victim” of society. As Enizen and Jack decide to continue to hide and find money, Ennis does everything to keep himself at odds to preserve his family’s security (Proulx 23). Later on, Ennis is taken in from the village into a group of assassins. He is pursued by Enizen’s children who try to kill him, but he gets defeated and is forced to defend himself by being chased by four masked men who can hit him with rocks, while Enizen is attacked by a group of guards. Ennis tries to escape when he is first struck by three rocks from three masked men, and only escapes once to escape while disguised by a mask, but because of the police and the others, he is not able to convince the others that he was truly fighting an unprovoked attack. Ennis refuses to die and, realizing that all is forgotten for Enizen, he starts working in the mines, and this leads him to get paid for the work. Enizen is so envious of these men his attempt to kill him is only delayed by the lack of any people to fight (in addition, Enizen was never willing to leave the village