I don't indulge too much in films for reasons unknown. but when I do, I watch them very closely - often become too critical or too involved in them. I haven't taken advantage of the Film Archive here at Yale, neither the popular films collection that they have at the library. I primarily decided to watch films to make use of the facility from Yale. And amongst the three movies I borrowed last, I saw only one - Brokeback Mountain. And apart from having my own thoughts, I did read about the reflections of film critics and its critical reception at large online. But there were a lot of things that surfaced through the film for me.
[I don't like the act of describing stories or things, rather getting to my theoretical discussion, but in the recent past, I have realized that descriptions themselves are political and hence descriptions embed within them half your theoretical perspective, hence I will have to undergo some of that laborious process of description]
As most know, Brokeback Mountain talks about the journey of two men with their sexual lives. Ennis and Jack first meet while on the summer job (grazing sheep) on the Brokeback Mountain. They are responsible not only for the sheep count (who are prey to wild animals as well as getting lost in the wilderness), but also their own selves. While one takes care of the sheep during the day time, the other readies meals for the two for the evening. Getting bored eventually, they exchange their sole two activities - the 'domestic' and the 'professional'.
The most arresting scenes of the film are the wide landscapes within which the lives of Ennis and Jack are lost - rather floating, when the loneliness brings them together one night in a reluctant sexual encounter. Initially hesitant, Ennis succumbs to his desires and falls out for Jack's acceptance. The loneliness of Brokeback soon becomes a landscape of play. The two men find within each other a part companion which makes them complete. The relationship heals the uncommunicated sentiments of Ennis while satisfying Jack's need for a partner to share life with. Ironically, it is the silence that eventually transforms into an unspoken friendship sealed by a sexual bond. The words that are so hard to utter and express, that are never told to each other only find expression through carnal experiences.
Both Ennis and Jack are eventually separated at the end of the summer. Each of them gets married and have kids - their environments still remain lone - depicted in the physical as well as psychological landscapes of their lives. While both their lives have progressed, they have kept in touch through the mail. And when after a long time, a communication is made, both the bodies once again seek to complete themselves through a physical unison.
Such occasional meetings become outlets for a life that is "incomplete" without the other. The transgressions from the moral codes of life make them assert their human-ness. Their encounters with each other help them find themselves, take them through turmoils of an unexplained life. Both spend large chunks of their life alone, only to erupt and melt into each other occasionally. For Jack, the uncontrollable cravings of his body over such long spans forces him to go to meet men from Mexico border.
Ennis's wife has found out about his bisexuality in much advance, and she makes way for a divorce, making him absolutely alone again. The news of the newly lone Ennis makes Jack hopeful towards a future he imagines with Ennis. However, with the responsibility of his daughter, Ennis holds back his options. Jack expresses to him his urges, his struggles and the incongruity of his mind and body. Ennis explains that the only way for them is to meet interruptedly - to keep the engine of life alive. The moral choices force them to lead a lonely life.
One fine day, Ennis's letter to Jack is returned with a 'deceased' stamp. The situation brings forth two implosions - one of the end of incomplete life of Jack, while the other is the end of hope for Ennis to find a companion. Ennis drowns in his own silence. The characters lives unite through the shirts which donot have their bodies, but indicate a soul that overlaps with one another.
Brokeback Mountain is a hard story of loneliness encountered by two people who find it difficult to consolidate their sexuality, rather find outlets for their sexual longings. And sexual longings are not merely bodily, but so intrinsic to the mind, thoughts and feelings. The film reveals beautifully, how sexualities are fluid - and the "male" and "female" are only two extreme ends of the spectrum. This fluidity is doubly complex - since our sexual inclinations not only change towards male and female, but also as we grow in age. And yet, male and female are just societal roles, just labels that try to encode your behaviour in the society that is assumed "normal" that is so easily internalized. The loneliness of the grey area that lies between this binary is the central content of the film for me. Loneliness tears apart the body internally, hurting several others in the process. Does one not spend one's lifetime in seeking completion to oneself, in completion to the 'lack' as a Greek Philosopher suggested? The aim of the life is to unite with another life to experience completion - that satisfies biological as well as non-biological needs.
In most cultures, the representation of unison represents the fullness of the universe. However, these representations only depict unison of binaries. But in reality, unisons can be of different types - not just the positive and negative. Brokeback Mountain portrays the struggle of one such atypical unison that is hard to negotiate within the given moral society. It also portrays the search of how life fits with the other, given that they appear to match. It is a hard story to reconcile, it unsettles standard ideas, and leaves you open into the grey area between the binaries.
[I don't like the act of describing stories or things, rather getting to my theoretical discussion, but in the recent past, I have realized that descriptions themselves are political and hence descriptions embed within them half your theoretical perspective, hence I will have to undergo some of that laborious process of description]
As most know, Brokeback Mountain talks about the journey of two men with their sexual lives. Ennis and Jack first meet while on the summer job (grazing sheep) on the Brokeback Mountain. They are responsible not only for the sheep count (who are prey to wild animals as well as getting lost in the wilderness), but also their own selves. While one takes care of the sheep during the day time, the other readies meals for the two for the evening. Getting bored eventually, they exchange their sole two activities - the 'domestic' and the 'professional'.
The most arresting scenes of the film are the wide landscapes within which the lives of Ennis and Jack are lost - rather floating, when the loneliness brings them together one night in a reluctant sexual encounter. Initially hesitant, Ennis succumbs to his desires and falls out for Jack's acceptance. The loneliness of Brokeback soon becomes a landscape of play. The two men find within each other a part companion which makes them complete. The relationship heals the uncommunicated sentiments of Ennis while satisfying Jack's need for a partner to share life with. Ironically, it is the silence that eventually transforms into an unspoken friendship sealed by a sexual bond. The words that are so hard to utter and express, that are never told to each other only find expression through carnal experiences.
Both Ennis and Jack are eventually separated at the end of the summer. Each of them gets married and have kids - their environments still remain lone - depicted in the physical as well as psychological landscapes of their lives. While both their lives have progressed, they have kept in touch through the mail. And when after a long time, a communication is made, both the bodies once again seek to complete themselves through a physical unison.
Such occasional meetings become outlets for a life that is "incomplete" without the other. The transgressions from the moral codes of life make them assert their human-ness. Their encounters with each other help them find themselves, take them through turmoils of an unexplained life. Both spend large chunks of their life alone, only to erupt and melt into each other occasionally. For Jack, the uncontrollable cravings of his body over such long spans forces him to go to meet men from Mexico border.
Ennis's wife has found out about his bisexuality in much advance, and she makes way for a divorce, making him absolutely alone again. The news of the newly lone Ennis makes Jack hopeful towards a future he imagines with Ennis. However, with the responsibility of his daughter, Ennis holds back his options. Jack expresses to him his urges, his struggles and the incongruity of his mind and body. Ennis explains that the only way for them is to meet interruptedly - to keep the engine of life alive. The moral choices force them to lead a lonely life.
One fine day, Ennis's letter to Jack is returned with a 'deceased' stamp. The situation brings forth two implosions - one of the end of incomplete life of Jack, while the other is the end of hope for Ennis to find a companion. Ennis drowns in his own silence. The characters lives unite through the shirts which donot have their bodies, but indicate a soul that overlaps with one another.
Brokeback Mountain is a hard story of loneliness encountered by two people who find it difficult to consolidate their sexuality, rather find outlets for their sexual longings. And sexual longings are not merely bodily, but so intrinsic to the mind, thoughts and feelings. The film reveals beautifully, how sexualities are fluid - and the "male" and "female" are only two extreme ends of the spectrum. This fluidity is doubly complex - since our sexual inclinations not only change towards male and female, but also as we grow in age. And yet, male and female are just societal roles, just labels that try to encode your behaviour in the society that is assumed "normal" that is so easily internalized. The loneliness of the grey area that lies between this binary is the central content of the film for me. Loneliness tears apart the body internally, hurting several others in the process. Does one not spend one's lifetime in seeking completion to oneself, in completion to the 'lack' as a Greek Philosopher suggested? The aim of the life is to unite with another life to experience completion - that satisfies biological as well as non-biological needs.
In most cultures, the representation of unison represents the fullness of the universe. However, these representations only depict unison of binaries. But in reality, unisons can be of different types - not just the positive and negative. Brokeback Mountain portrays the struggle of one such atypical unison that is hard to negotiate within the given moral society. It also portrays the search of how life fits with the other, given that they appear to match. It is a hard story to reconcile, it unsettles standard ideas, and leaves you open into the grey area between the binaries.
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