Friday, February 18, 2011
The Metaphorical & Party City
Intentional Details
jack losing his hat bullriding, lureen losing her hat racing. Ennis being hugged from behind by Jack with his hands in a diagonal on ennis's chest in the beginning of Brokeback and then later when they have grown older, Ennis coming up behind Jack. It shows a change in who has i guess the "power" in the relationship. *
one of my favorite details is funny and not as descrete as other clever details. when alma and ennis are have sex and he turns her over, I laughed a little and then felt terrible for alma. The obvious cause of this position, an inuendo to gay sex.
another scene that i found wonderful was when ennis dropped the kids off at the grocery store and his daughter broke nearly all of the jars. That encounter with the manager was needed and added another dimension to seeing her with him as the new husband. Whoa i just had a thought i think she was cheating on ennis with him because she was taking on extra shifts (like when she ran out on ennis and he was like, any of you need a push?).
*questionable.. anyone have something to say about whether they have changed or not?
Age
Another thing I really liked was how Jack finally "grew up" and stood up to his father-in-law. His wife was also very happy about that I think she was glad to see a change in Jack, but I think that was an effect of Enis being busy and him being angry because he had to wait for a long time.
Music
The use of music is something that's been really interesting to me. Every lanscape shot comes with the quiet acoustic guitar and pedal steel in that picking pattern that sometimes resolves on a disonant or augmented note, which can induce the feeling of a potential issue arising, that when all seems perfect, something could go wrong, or just not as planned. It's a note that surprises the listener, it's not an expected note, not as cliched. One example of this I found interesting after they have sex and ennis is riding away, i think. I don't have netflix i can't check, but the music is very fitting.
As the movie goes on, the music becomes more full and more paramount with the addition of a string section in the same theme. The more emotional the scene, the stronger the strings.
the bands that play during the dances sing songs that evoke some interesting emotion. When ennis is at the bar and the cassie puts on "sweet melissa" by the allman brothers, i was expecting her to have some big role in that scene, and then they start dancing. Of course cassie is no melissa, that's jack. Ennis will be "running home to" (song lyrics) jack.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Eternal Love
Ang Lee used setting to enforce this feeling: Brokeback Mountain. At one point when Ennis tells Jack that he won't be able to see him until November; Jack is standing in front of the mountains. It was at this point that I realized that Jack represented stability. If we look at Ennis and his life up until this point in the movie, the audience will notice that he has been through a lot. His wife divorced him, he doesn't have a good paying job, he feels like people know he's gay, and he isn't much of a talker. The odds are against him, he hasn't been able to conform and hide his sexuality as well as Jack has. Jack on the other hand, aside from the fact that he misses Ennis, hasn't had any real problems. And so, it bothered me that Jack constantly suggested that he and Ennis leave their families and move in together, and even after Ennis says no, he still hopes. These hopes are what help their love still lives on.
Relationships
Lastly, Lee's use of music is very expressive, especially Jack confidently driving to "King of the Road" and then returning with the melancholy accompaniment of "A Love that will Never grow old." Later in Mexico, "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps," is heard while Jack debates about whether he should sleep with the male prostitute, but ultimately gives in. The asynchrounous sound during J. and Ennis's final fight, was really good, with the music at the end punctuating the sad, tragic seperation of the two.
Ennis the Menace
Although Brokeback Mountain is a very well made movie in the second half Lee runs out of material and starts making things up about Ennis. He strays a little too far from what Proulx originally intended the character to be like. After Ennis and Alma’s fight at Thanksgiving in the original story it says “He didn’t try to see his girls for a long time…”. In Lee’s adaptation he keeps in contact with his daughters and sees them occasionally, whereas Proulx makes him into a father that will leave his kids and wait for them to find him. Lee changes the character a little too dramatically and makes it almost hard to believe it is the same person. Although people can change over time generally they do not change everything about themselves.
Where I start to have even more trouble with the changes and liberties that Lee has taken with the story is around the time that Ennis meets Cassie the waitress. If Proulx’s had wanted Ennis to meet a waitress, she would have had him meet a waitress. I’m sure that it wasn’t that she couldn’t think of it, she just didn’t feel it was a necessary thing to happen. Although it is clear that Ennis and Cassie the waitress are not destined to be together, it is still a little disconcerting to see him with a woman that the audience assumes he is pretending to be infatuated with. Lee takes Ennis from the cowboy with a secret love affair and wife and children to the cowboy who dates a seemingly random waitress in platform sandals.
Brokeback Time
Intrusion
Lee uses syntagmatic connotation between 00:34:00 and 00:34:26 through an abrupt cut from one scene into the next, putting the two scenes back to back to clarify their significant differences in POV, lighting, and frame; taking us from an intimate setting between Jack and Ennis where no one sees them, to an unknown encroachment of their intimacy. In the tent scene (00:34:00 – 00:34:13) Lee chooses to close up on Ennis and Jack’s faces, giving us closed form so we aren’t focused on what’s around them, and then further puts our focus on their closeness and intimate interactions with a shallow focus, gently blurring out the world around them. The use of warm colored light from the fire, and shadows from the darkness also emphasizes the connection between them and how personal and private it is.The next scene (00:34:14 – 00:34:26) Jack and Ennis are behave affectionately and may feel alone, however Joe Aguirre discretely intrudes on their secret. Lee achieves this sense of violation with an open form so we are aware of the space around them, and even more dramatically with the shift from a narrative perspective to the 1st person point of view of Joe Aguirre through the binoculars. I think that Lee actually amplifies the invasion of intimacy (with the 1st person point of view and syntagmatic connotation of these two separate scenes) that Proulx implies through narrative: “They believed themselves invisible, not knowing Joe Aguirre had watched them through his 10x42 binoculars for ten minutes one day waiting until they buttoned up their jeans, waiting until Ennis rode back to the sheep, before bringing up the message” (76).
From Christina
Use of Lighting
Lastly, the way Jack and Ennis denied "I'm no queer. Me neither" was quite different from what I had pictured. I originally thought that they were angrily denying their affair in the story, trying to regain their manliness of sorts. But in the movie, the tone is sad, as if they realize that they might be gay, yet societal norms force them to say these words. But I welcomed the change from my imagination.
Melina: Montage
The use of colors is also an interesting interpretation on the director's behalf. The colors portrayed in Ennis' home in the middle of the desert (yellow, brown, beige) depicts a lack of life presented in the lifestyle. The colors presented in Brokeback Mountain depict the excitement and passion both characters experienced such as the blazing fire behind the shadows of the two embracing inside the tent--essentially the best quality of life; the joy of living. Likewise, Jack is found in dark places with similar monotonic colors (black, gray, dark green) when he goes out to the bars. Colors is also used to show the economical difference between the rich and the poor. Both Jack and Ennis where bland colors such as black, or beige, or faded jean, while Jack's girlfriend where's bright red. The message is also present in the room where Jack's wife is holding the baby, the colors of the room are bright and vivid.
Sounds also play a crucial role when portraying different emotions; they work as codes and indexes. Such as the scene where Ennis is found holding his daughters while they cry functions as a code or index to illustrate the emotion of stress. Ennis is tired of his life and stressed about maintaining his family. The simultaneous cries along with his facial expression clearly show the intended emotions.
Contrasting Montages
Okay then
I was really interested by the shot where Jack sees Enis in the mirror, ONCE AGAIN.Trying to figure this out, I thought about the direction that Jack was going; away from Enis. While we see Jack driving away, we again don't know if Jack is looking, but we still see Enis in the mirror. When you look at someone in the distance as you're moving away, it usually signifies that you will be thinking about them in the near future.
After this shot, Ennis goes behind a wall to cry and punch the wall. I feel like this was coming eventually because I saw their relationship grow as time went on. Especially because you notice time passing with the landscaping shots and quick events that happen, such as Ennis getting married.
Another interesting thing, is when Ennis gets married and he is going to have sex with his wife. After kissing her, he turns her around just like he did Jack when they were having their affair. On the other hand, when Jack has sex with Anne Hathaway in the backseat of car, and it has no resemblance to the time where Jack and Enis had sex.
The movie will get more interesting as it goes on in my opinion. Hopefully we see why these things are so different,
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Hit the Road Jack
In the segment of movie we watched today Lee shows a lot of Ennis and Alma’s life together which I think was an important thing to see, but perhaps didn’t quite have the effect he was looking for. I kept thinking about how Jack was going to come back and at that point I really didn’t want him to. I found myself becoming more and more attached to Alma and feeling sorry for her a lot of the time. What we see is a woman who is very in love with her husband, and a man who loves his wife, but loves another man more. Lee uses montage to show select scenes from their life together. Initially it seems to be that all they do is go sledding and watch movies at the drive-in, but later on we see that they have hard times too, their babies cry and pull out strategically placed bottle of peanuts. One of the most vivid descriptions in the original story is of the room where Alma gives birth and I think that with all of the scenes that are added, some of them could have been left on the cutting room floor so that one could be included. It would have been impossible to recreate the feeling that the reader gets in a film, but Lee could have at least tried.
As Naomi brought up there is an interesting parallel between Jack and Ennis’s fight and Ennis and Alma’s playful frolicking in the snow. When Jack and Ennis are fighting it seems playful at first but becomes more violent as they let out their frustration at having to leave each other. When Ennis and Alma are wrestling it is purely playful. It lacks the sense of danger and of passion that Jack and Ennis’s fight has. As an audience there is nothing that feels unsafe about it. We know that Alma isn’t going to fall and hit her head and die, and we are positive that Ennis isn’t going to punch her.
Liking Alma isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it means that when Jack comes back later, or momentarily depending on what Lee decides to shrink or expand, it will be hard to watch Alma discover her husband’s secret affair. In the original story although the reader feels a little bad for Alma, it is really a joyous occasion because Jack and Ennis are finally reunited, but in the movie after making Alma into a character that the audience (or maybe just one audience member) likes, it will be much more bittersweet.
Foreshadowing ("like two skins")
As Jack and Ennis roll in the grass I wasn’t sure if the scene was at all sexual. They appear to be laughing at first but as the fight continues it seems less playful. This scene can be paralleled to previous sex scenes (especially the first one) because of the roughness of it. After Ennis’ nose begins to bleed Jack holds the back of hiss neck and looks worried as if he wants to kiss him, however all he does is allow Ennis to bleed on his sleeve. I think the relationship between this scene and the sex scenes is a deliberate choice on Ang Lee’s part. It is effective because it shows that there is a physicality to their relationship which is more than sexual (there is a lot of eye contact, which shows intimacy) but at the same time they don’t know how to talk about it. To me it seemed like the anger in this scene came from all of the things Jack and Ennis can’t say to each other. This is the last close moment Jack and Ennis have together before they go back down the mountain so in some way it is like a goodbye, but like the rest of their relationship it ends with many things left unsaid, and many desires unfulfilled.
This scene is important to the end of the story when Ennis finds his shirt inside Jack’s “like skins”. Rather than have a flashback at the end Lee chose to have this scene be one that the audience sees, which I can only assume means that we are expected to remember it at the end. (Also, once they reach the bottom of the mountain Ennis mentions that he lost his shirt, when we know that Jack actually took it)
I also think that this scene is interesting when compared to Ennis and Alma wrestling in the snow (maybe someone else wants to talk about that?)
Yes, to briefly mention the two mirror scenes, I do think these are important. I think the second one reaffirms the assumption that Jack is interested in Ennis and looking at him through his side mirror, and not just innocently shaving in the first scene because he is mournfully looking at Ennis for one more//one last glance. This also makes Jack's feelings much more apparent to the watcher, characterizing him early on as the more emotional one in the relationship. This position is reaffirmed later when he is playfully lassoing Ennis, and every time they go to cuddle, kiss, or have sex, Jack is always the one to caress Ennis' cheek or look more impassioned. Even when not with Ennis Jack is the one to be dominated (when with his future wife, she even made the first move) or act the most flirty (like when he is at the bar).
Ennis is much more aggressive and has internalized the anti-gay sentiment popular in America in the 1960s. He is always the first to say that he "ain't queer." When he was provoked to face the bikers, he was given a sense of power because he was shot from the point of view of the biker on the ground looking up at him. He is not emotional and is shot in shadow when he cry//punches the side of the barn when he and Jack separate (it is also windy, I don't know if that symbolizes anything, but I think it's important to note).
Brokeback LMAOuntain
Molly, February 16th
Amanda: Character Development and Subtext
Even though Brokeback Mountain is a long movie, there is barely any speaking, it's all about facial expressions and body language, particularly surrounding Jack and Ennis' relationship. Even though its mostly between them (because the story revolves around them), the people around them communicate through body language and facial expressions (more so than words) and Lee accentuates this through close ups and constant switching back and forth within "conversations". For example, when Jack comes back to ask Mr. Aguire for work, and he just says something along the lines of, "You and gives Jack a look, and Jack understands. Similarly with how Anne Hathaway and Jake's interaction in the bar.
Jake Gyllenhaal is clearly the more developed version of Jack Twist. In the scenes we watched in class today I noticed Jake decided to maintain that gentleness described in the short story but took it to the next level. Because of the freedom of time in films, Lee decided to take advantage of that to show more of Jack's life away from Ennis. And from these scenes the audience was able to analyze both Ennis and Jack and how they are dealing with the real world. The part when I started to think about Jack differently was after he was so brave and kissed Ennis, when he was the one holding Ennis and comforting him. This surprised me, because from the short story I always imagined Jack to be the less masculine one, but Lee makes it seem less like masculinity and more like ability to embrace their forbidden passion or allow themselves to be in love. Also when Jack and Ennis part, Lee chose to show Ennis hysterically crying hidden from everyone, meanwhile, one of the next scenes is Jack buying another guy a drink at the bar, unsure of himself.
Ennis meanwhile, is also perceived differently, and makes his subtext very clear. Through his facial expressions we can see how torn he is between what's right and what isn't. Also his interactions with his children are portrayed much differently in the film than in the story, he seems to be more of a happy father in the movie. Also because of the camera shot, and the enclosed spaces like the place where he cries and the tent, Lee really guides us through Ennis's self discovery or how he is dealing with the problems he faces in his life. I also think the costume choices stand out, specifically with the cowboy hats, but I also thought it was interesting that Ennis was wearing like long, printed jammies because I never expected his character to do that. I think it's also interesting to watch his relationship with Alma (/Michele Williams, Heath Ledger's real wife) and how he is looking for Jack through her, like through sex or through talking.
Focusing:
Camera Focus:
What ties into that is Lee's decisions of when and what to focus on. For example, in the beginning of the movie, we see Ennis naked in the background, but its hazy because the focus is on Jack, fully clothed. While after they have sex, Jack is now completely naked next to the screen, is in the center of the shot and completely focused. Similarly, in the first scene when Jack is shaving he is looking in the mirror of his car but we're not sure why Ennis is in focus, but then in one of the scenes we watched today, as Jack is driving away, again Ennis is focused in the mirror. Lee enjoys doing a lot of foreshadowing with focusing, and little moments, that not the entire audience would pick up. Another camera focusing thing which I thought was interesting, was when Jack and Ennis were play fighting and then they kiss, Ennis takes off his hat and covers their faces. I don't know what that symbolizes but it is also in the center of the shot, and was clearly in focus.
Scene Change:
What I noticed today that was interesting was Lee always cuts off in the middle of the sex scenes, and then takes us to the next day or the next week, or even the next nine months in Jack's case. But I thought it was interesting that the only sex scene that ended was the first one, and then each one is cut off. That might be because there are only specific moments we need to be aware of like Ennis turning Alma over, or Jack getting together with his wife.
Also, I just wanted to touch on the first kiss between Jack and Ennis because it reminded me of Christina's comment when we were debating weather it was a one shot deal, or if Jack and Ennis were really in love. I think it was at that first kiss (because when they first had sex they never kissed) that solidified their love, rather than their lust. The first sexual encounter may have been anamalistic and they may not have meant 'love' by it, but when they finally kissed I do believe they fell in love (or realized they were falling in love, gave into their feelings, ect).
Joe
The sex scene was kind of random. I felt it coming once I saw Enis sleeping outside in the cold, shivering. It was important that it was random because it was the beginning of their relationship.
Pacing and Composition
Lee also favors the wilderness shots. Most shots of the characters except the most intimate ones have them against a backdrop of some kind of mountain range or forest. The natural beauty of these shots is obvious, but this movie is a tragic character study, not a nature show. These shots constantly remind us of the isolation from society and what is "civilized" that the characters are experiencing. One other shot that stands out to me is right after Jack and Ennis have been drinking, and are standing overlooking the sheep as the mountain looms behind them. It isn't explained that this mountain is Brokeback itself, but it matches the description found in the story. It "boils with demonic energy," and informs even a completely uninformed watcher that some danger is in store, and that the mountain will play a vital role in it. As a subtle, not overt, form of visual foreshadowing, the shot of the mountain adds visceral tension and trepidation to the story, and to a lesser extent, the wilderness shots throughout the next part of the movie do the same.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
That shot and the montage
Additionally, I liked how Ang Lee uses this whole montage of sheep and herding as a form of montage as a use of the passing of time. While taking care of sheep might be the most boring task ever, Lee's open shots of the beautiful Wyoming landscape (actually Albertan!) make the herding a grand task in this majestic country.
Finally, I liked the contrast Lee put between Jack and Ennis- Jack's black cowboy hat and jeans, constantly toting a bottle of whiskey, and very talkative, while Ennis is quiet and reserved, wearing a beige coat, and holding a mug. These contrasts are what attract both men to each other.
Re: Comments vs. Posts
Note that it is possible (and preferable) for you to make your own posts, not just to add your thoughts as a comment.
Use comments to comment on individual posts, to react to the ideas of your classmates.
That said, there are some great posts listed under the "comments" for this assignment (from Amanda, Sophie, Melina). Make sure you read'em.
As you read others' posts, look for ways that they could communicate their observations more effectively and/or specifically. Do you have follow-up comments? Can you help them out with an example they didn't mention? By the same token, look to see what others are doing well-- can you steal a page from their playbook on your next post? How can sharing our work with each other help us to sharpen our ideas and analysis?
From Molly
When introduced to their boss, we are able to notice the quietness that both of them possess. However, when their boss has to answer a phone call you can almost feel the tension in the air. As we join Jack and Ennis on their journey to Brokeback, we see Ennis caring for a baby lamb up the mountain while Jack wrestles with a full grown sheep, but then picking out the thorns it has, both subtly displaying their quiet sense of tenderness. A more obvious choice that Ang Lee makes is Jack's clear eye contact, but he also chooses to make Ennis' voice tighter and lower, his mouth always seems gripped and shut tight, always wanting to say more than he can.
Ang Lee successfully transfers the excess use of commas into a clear sense of habitual action that does not carry the montage, love connotations, but simply a transition and explanation of a few days in a mere few minutes.
As the weeks progress on Brokeback we are reminded of the exponential growth in Jack and Ennis' comfort level. There are two scenes where Ennis begins to remove his clothes, and Jack seems to pay no attention to it at all, and the image of the blurred background as Ennis is naked signifies the blurred image Jack has of Ennis. It is unclear or not to him if he should focus this image and take a chance to exist with him. As the habitual actions continue on, we are constantly taken back to images of the mountain and reminded of just how isolated these men are. Even after the first sex scene, Ennis wakes up and fixes his belt, as he is able to note that he did actually have sex with Jack. The quick cut to the image of the tent after the sex scene contrasts the primal, rough, scene with the secret, deserted, camp ground that we begin to truly understand is Brokeback Mountain.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Distance
Between 0:11:17 – 0:11:34 we see Jack at nighttime looking down at a campsite with a fire (we assume Ennis is there), and less than two minutes later, and in a notably similar way, we see Ennis looking up the mountain at Jack herding sheep (0:13:10 – 0:13:28). In both of these moments Ang Lee chooses to do close ups of their face giving the frame a closed form, and then immediately cuts to a long shot of what they are looking at with a dramatic angle of elevation giving the frame an open form (making us aware of what’s around them, especially because of the previous closed form; further emphasizing the vast space separating them), and then back to a close up of them catching their reactions to the distance. Lee’s choices connote the physical distance that is often between Jack and Ennis, and although with different techniques he successfully achieves and recreates this effect the way that Annie Proulx did. In her story Proulx uses imagery to allude to the expansive distance separating Ennis and Jack: “During the day Ennis looked across a great gulf and sometimes saw Jack, a small dot moving across a high meadow, as an insect moves across a tablecloth; Jack, in his dark camp, saw Ennis as night fire, a red spark on the huge black mass of mountain” (Pg. 74).
The physical distance connoted in both these also suggests and emphasizes the figurative distance between Jack and Ennis (in regards to their relationship). Both this literal and figurative distance heighten the intimacy seen later on (at 0:27:06 – 0:28:49) through contrast, in how far apart they are initially to how close they become (both physically and emotionally). Not only does it have impact on later scenes but it also serves as foreshadowing for the hardships to come and the even greater distances and spans of time that will separate them later on in the story.
Imagery
Post
Not only that, but I like the time it takes to get up to Brokeback. It seems to elude to the magic of the mountain, and indicate nothing will ever be the same once they make the same trip down.
(new thought)
Although I agree with Henry about certain things in his post, I want to respectfully disagree about the "(implied) homosexual experience" connecting to his experience riding rodeo. On the contrary, I think one of the things Lee does to make each character 'manly'. Making Jack and Ennis manly and not having any stereotypical homosexual qualities makes the transition all the more dramatic, as well as the fact that they have to keep is a secret more exciting, because no one really knows. The gruff, manly demeanor of the characters is presented even as they have sex in the tent. I wrote down 'manly sex' when I saw the scene (which I guess is a weird thing to write...) because they were very rough and almost anamalistic. However, I do not think the act came from a place of animal lust, but rather a place of passion and desire.
Little did Ennis and Jack know that it was VALENTINES DAY
BBM Post 1
One thing that I brought up was the length differences between the short story and the movie: the story is about 10 pages, while the movie is more than two hours. I then remember Naomi talking about some of the scenes that they added, and Jenny told us that about 20 minutes into the movie we get the back story that the short story started with (basically everything before that point was added).
I really liked one of the added scenes--the one where we see Ennis in Jack's side mirror, and then we see Jack looking in the mirror to shave. To someone that knows nothing about the movie or the story, this seems completely innocent, but to someone who knows the story, (I see) this scene as a bit of plot/character development, because it shows (me) Jack's interest in Ennis. Another added/elaborated on scene in the movie that I like is the scene when they are learning about their future jobs. I think the use of focus is done very well, as is the mis-en-scene, because it showed Ennis as a more quiet person by having him on the far left, leaning/hunched against the wall, and Jack was usually the focus.
Looking back on the movie clip now, I realize that/see the scene where Ennis takes the rag from Jack to clean himself as not only a characterization of his personality (because he is not used to having others do for him/wants to do things himself) but also his affection for Jack (he is being quiet so I don't really know why, possibly because he is embarrassed he got hurt, or doesn't want Jack to touch him or care for him because he likes Jack). Also, it seems that the only times Ennis talks to Jack he is telling him some major or important story about his family or life. He is a very quiet person, so I don't think staying outside with a bunch of sheep in silence would really phase him, so I do think it means a lot that he talks to Jack, especially about important things.
I think of the story in short story form as more of a montage because it is so short, and the actions seem very abridged. The movie, however, is pretty lackadaisical. There are a lot of panned shots of sheep, many view of the expansive southern skies and fields, mountains, and breaks of them relaxing separately or doing things slowly (like cooking). That all adds to the feel of the time, I think, because it draws everything out much more than it is done in the story. It also gives us the feeling of unending days, undefined time, and "puts" us there with the characters.
Even though the story is the same, I like how the use of focus and other tools gives me the film Ennis' drawn out mumbly-drawl-feel that the short story's brevity couldn't always give me.
Brokeback Schedule, from 2/14 until the paper is due:
Valentine's Day Homework (to complete by midnight, please)
The "barely did your homework" version:
Sign up as a contributor to the blog, if you haven't. COMMENT ON CHOICES you saw Lee and the cast/crew of BM making, both in terms of film technique and storytelling.
The "did a respectable job" version:
Do the above, but also consider: What EFFECT would you describe as a result of those choices?
The "really nicely done" version:
Do all of the above, but also begin to discuss what we saw today in comparison/contrast to Proulx's short story. Where did Lee use a similar choice? Where did Proulx and Lee use different choices to achieve similar effects? How does each use techniques specific to his/her medium to tell the same story? Does it SEEM like the same story? (p.s. -- starting to think this way will help you with the upcoming paper).
The "hallelujah, this is why we have a blog" version:
Do the above, and read the comments of your classmates. Comment on/agree with/disagree with/support or add nuance to their arguments/observations...ALWAYS RESPECTFULLY.