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).