A Comparison Of The Film Adaption Of Brokeback Mountain

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In the film adaption of Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee, with the help of Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, expands certain scenes in the screenplay in order to shed more light into the lives of the two main characters. Lee directly parallels the Thanksgiving dinner scenes of Jack and Ennis to contrast each character’s status in their lives outside of Brokeback Mountain while also using these family scenes as a reminder of Jack and Ennis’ other lives. These Thanksgiving scenes represent a shift in power; Ennis is no longer the calm and composed one with a handle on his life—Jack is now the one who is starting to feel more secure in his life. By juxtaposing the two scenes, Lee illustrates the strong friction of Jack and Ennis’ realities following the sudden shift in their relationship after Jack drives over after hearing about Ennis’ divorce. Because Annie Proulx focuses on Ennis’ life and his regrets, we are unable to understand Jack’s side of the story. The film, however, is able to expand on the idea that the divide between dreams and reality drives Jack and Ennis apart over time; in these Thanksgiving dinner scenes we see the inevitable change and consequences of their distinct beliefs.
Directly following his experience in Mexico with a male prostitute—an interesting cut on Lee’s part—Jack is seen at a table with Lureen, her parents, and their son, Bobby, attempting to carve the turkey when his father-in-law rudely intercepts. The contrast between the scene in Mexico and this Thanksgiving scene allows the audience to perceive the tension between Jack’s sexual impulses and the constrictions of societal norms. As Jack and the Mexican prostitute walk into the dingy darkness of the alley they are swallowed by the darkness of the nig...

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...his balance allows Lee to more strongly portray the cause-and-effect of Jack and Ennis’ stances in their relationship. Throughout the story, Ennis and Jack are complementary to each other: Jack’s extroverted personality and Ennis’s introverted tendency, Jack’s money-producing marriage and Ennis’ hard-earned living, and Jack’s pursuit of his sexual impulses and Ennis’ suppression of his sexual orientation—these two Thanksgiving scenes include moments that add to the long list of aspects that harmoniously strengthen both as characters. However, their complementary characteristics also lead to complementary beliefs, preventing both of them from ever getting what they want. What seemed to be the driving forces that brought the two together actually turn out to be the ultimate destruction of hope and the possibility of ever escaping the suffocating influence of society.

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