Brokeback Mountain Movie Analysis
The 2005 movie Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, is a screen adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story of the same name. The movie is about the two American cowboys, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, work as two shepherds for a rancher, Joe Aguirre, in Wyoming. They fall in love with each other. Although Ennis gets married to a sweet girl, Alma, and Jack marries a beautiful tipster, Lureen, the two men keep up their illicit love affair for more than 20 years. After reading the story and watching the movie, people can recognize some certain scenes in the film, which are expressed differently in the book: the characters’ personalities, the ways the filmmaker uses cinematic languages and the Western symbolizes to express the two men’s struggling
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with their natural feelings and society’s oppressive view of same-sex love, and how they expand and adds to both Jack and Ennis’s personal relationships. Firstly, the film depicts the personalities of the two men are different from the original story. Two main characters are presented as tough and rude guys denoting their masculinity in the story while, in the movie, Ennis is a guy of few words. For example, when Ennis sees a bear in the forest. In the story, when the bear appears, Jack and Ennis are together while, in the movie, Ennis is alone and fears, and Jack appears, rescues Ennis and chases the bear away. In the movie, Jack is a man who is outgoing and proactive in their relationship while Ennis is an introvert man. The filmmaker utilizes that cinematic languages to make the two characters closer to the viewer. They let the viewer understand the lives of people who have to cover their same-sex love from the society. The differences between the original story and the movie tell how Ennis and Jack struggle with their feelings for each other. Ennis and Jack know that the feelings they have for each other are unusual. They are angry and suffer from their situation. For example, the filmmaker uses the Western symbolizes as the sheep, which Ennis and Jack look after to stress the concept of their mixed feelings and the dilemma about their homosexuality. They try to cover their feelings, but their love is deep as the large of the sheep which they look after on the mountain. They cannot hide their feelings and their relationship begins. The moment their relationship starts, the amount of the sheep are killed by a wolf. The cinematographer uses the image of a wolf that attacks their sheep to pass the message that the danger, which they have to face when they start their love relationship, come. However, they think that Brokeback mountain keeps their relationship safe from the society. In the story, they do not return to the mountain, but in the movie, they do get back to Brokeback mountain in the summer. That is also the last summer they are together before Jack dies. The cinematographers create that detail to let the two characters have the opportunity to live happily despite it is just a short time. More than that, the film changes some details in Ennis and Jack’s personal relationship.
The differences from Proulx's story are some scenes that describe Jack and Ennis as two real men. Reading the book first, people can easily recognize that Proulx focuses on the growth of Ennis and Jack's relationship and the events between them both, not individual as what the movie does. First, Ennis’ relationship with a girlfriend, Cassie, after he divorces his first wife is further developed in the movie than the original story. For example, in the film, Lee develops Ennis’s life following the divorce by introducing Cassie. At first, Ennis is unwilling, but finally, after flirting and dancing, he dates her. Cassie meets Ennis's daughter. And the relationship ends when they stop communicating with her and Cassie dates a different man. Second, the viewer also sees Jack challenge his father-in-law at a Thanksgiving party. For example, in a depiction of a family scene in which his son does not listen to his wife and his father-in-law agrees with that, he shows his support to his wife’s wishes. He does the opposite things to his father-in-law and helps his wife discipline his son. Thus, the filmmaker focuses on some details into their personal relationships to show how they cover their homosexuality and that makes them more real and closer to the real
life. Furthermore, the differences between the original story and the movie also tell the way the society has a point of view about homosexuality. At the end, Jack is killed by some people who discover that he is gay. After Jack’s death, Ennis travels to Jack’s parents house to attempt to retrieve Jack's ashes to carry them to Brokeback Mountain. The house where Jack grew up, is totally whitewashed. Jack’s father sits almost motionless. The cinema languages as the house and the silence of the father represents the society's denial of Jack’s true self. And, the heart-wrenching scenes emphasizing Ennis in the closet takes place. The scenes in which Jack's mother invites Ennis to visit Jack's old room. In the small corner of Jack’s closet, Ennis finds out two shirts — his own and Jack's, from their summer on Brokeback Mountain. The two shirts both have bloodstains. In the movie, Ennis considers that his shirt is lost on the mountain while in the story. Proulx notes, "It was his own plaid shirt, lost, he’d thought, long ago in some damn laundry..." (Proulx 52). In the movie, Ennis is filmed standing inside Jack’s closet, grieving Jack, holding their shirts and crying soundlessly. The death of Jack and the grief of Ennis represent the rejection of society about the same-sex love and it causes misery for them both.
In conclusion, Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, tells the story of the two American Cowboys who deal with the issue of homosexuality. The move is a screen adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story of the same name. Seeing the movie first before reading the book makes people comprehend more about the character’s individual lives, which the book does not focus much on. Through the cinematic languages as the house and Jack’ father’s silence, the Western symbolizes as the sheep and the wolf, and some differences between the book and the movie as the personalities of the two men and Ennis’s thought about his lost shirt, the filmmaker lets the viewers understand more about the miserable lives of people who have to hide their same-sex love from the society. More importantly, Brokeback Mountain is one of the impressive Hollywood movies describes realistically the lives of people who has the same-sex love, and depicts the suffering that they go through when society does not accept their true selves.
with their natural feelings and society’s oppressive view of same-sex love, and how they expand and adds to both Jack and Ennis’s personal relationships. Firstly, the film depicts the personalities of the two men are different from the original story. Two main characters are presented as tough and rude guys denoting their masculinity in the story while, in the movie, Ennis is a guy of few words. For example, when Ennis sees a bear in the forest. In the story, when the bear appears, Jack and Ennis are together while, in the movie, Ennis is alone and fears, and Jack appears, rescues Ennis and chases the bear away. In the movie, Jack is a man who is outgoing and proactive in their relationship while Ennis is an introvert man. The filmmaker utilizes that cinematic languages to make the two characters closer to the viewer. They let the viewer understand the lives of people who have to cover their same-sex love from the society. The differences between the original story and the movie tell how Ennis and Jack struggle with their feelings for each other. Ennis and Jack know that the feelings they have for each other are unusual. They are angry and suffer from their situation. For example, the filmmaker uses the Western symbolizes as the sheep, which Ennis and Jack look after to stress the concept of their mixed feelings and the dilemma about their homosexuality. They try to cover their feelings, but their love is deep as the large of the sheep which they look after on the mountain. They cannot hide their feelings and their relationship begins. The moment their relationship starts, the amount of the sheep are killed by a wolf. The cinematographer uses the image of a wolf that attacks their sheep to pass the message that the danger, which they have to face when they start their love relationship, come. However, they think that Brokeback mountain keeps their relationship safe from the society. In the story, they do not return to the mountain, but in the movie, they do get back to Brokeback mountain in the summer. That is also the last summer they are together before Jack dies. The cinematographers create that detail to let the two characters have the opportunity to live happily despite it is just a short time. More than that, the film changes some details in Ennis and Jack’s personal relationship.
The differences from Proulx's story are some scenes that describe Jack and Ennis as two real men. Reading the book first, people can easily recognize that Proulx focuses on the growth of Ennis and Jack's relationship and the events between them both, not individual as what the movie does. First, Ennis’ relationship with a girlfriend, Cassie, after he divorces his first wife is further developed in the movie than the original story. For example, in the film, Lee develops Ennis’s life following the divorce by introducing Cassie. At first, Ennis is unwilling, but finally, after flirting and dancing, he dates her. Cassie meets Ennis's daughter. And the relationship ends when they stop communicating with her and Cassie dates a different man. Second, the viewer also sees Jack challenge his father-in-law at a Thanksgiving party. For example, in a depiction of a family scene in which his son does not listen to his wife and his father-in-law agrees with that, he shows his support to his wife’s wishes. He does the opposite things to his father-in-law and helps his wife discipline his son. Thus, the filmmaker focuses on some details into their personal relationships to show how they cover their homosexuality and that makes them more real and closer to the real
life. Furthermore, the differences between the original story and the movie also tell the way the society has a point of view about homosexuality. At the end, Jack is killed by some people who discover that he is gay. After Jack’s death, Ennis travels to Jack’s parents house to attempt to retrieve Jack's ashes to carry them to Brokeback Mountain. The house where Jack grew up, is totally whitewashed. Jack’s father sits almost motionless. The cinema languages as the house and the silence of the father represents the society's denial of Jack’s true self. And, the heart-wrenching scenes emphasizing Ennis in the closet takes place. The scenes in which Jack's mother invites Ennis to visit Jack's old room. In the small corner of Jack’s closet, Ennis finds out two shirts — his own and Jack's, from their summer on Brokeback Mountain. The two shirts both have bloodstains. In the movie, Ennis considers that his shirt is lost on the mountain while in the story. Proulx notes, "It was his own plaid shirt, lost, he’d thought, long ago in some damn laundry..." (Proulx 52). In the movie, Ennis is filmed standing inside Jack’s closet, grieving Jack, holding their shirts and crying soundlessly. The death of Jack and the grief of Ennis represent the rejection of society about the same-sex love and it causes misery for them both.
In conclusion, Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, tells the story of the two American Cowboys who deal with the issue of homosexuality. The move is a screen adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story of the same name. Seeing the movie first before reading the book makes people comprehend more about the character’s individual lives, which the book does not focus much on. Through the cinematic languages as the house and Jack’ father’s silence, the Western symbolizes as the sheep and the wolf, and some differences between the book and the movie as the personalities of the two men and Ennis’s thought about his lost shirt, the filmmaker lets the viewers understand more about the miserable lives of people who have to hide their same-sex love from the society. More importantly, Brokeback Mountain is one of the impressive Hollywood movies describes realistically the lives of people who has the same-sex love, and depicts the suffering that they go through when society does not accept their true selves.