Musical Motif: Symbolizing Love in Brokeback Mountain

Sound

There is no music in the shots until the very end. There is nondiegetic, faint, disjointed, sounds of horns that begin to play. Then a sound of xylophone or keyboard and violins join in. The volume increases from faint to a more full sound, as Ennis embraces the blood stained jacket and shirt. I must note that during the course of the movie, there was a very signature musical motif. We hear a steel guitar strumming a very serene melody as violins and a faint hint of a slide guitar play this beautiful recurrent melody. This beautiful musical motif is significant in that it is repeated every time Jack and Ennis are together on Brokeback Mountain. The song signifies their time spent together as their love affair grows. It signifies the beauty and serenity of the mountains and a secret place where Jack and Ennis could go and share their love without being judged or scrutinized by the public's disapproval of homosexuality in the 1960’s.There are few sound effects in the shots. Most of the sounds heard are natural sounds like the wind blowing or the floor creaking. We can hear a crow cawing in the distance and a cow mooing when Ennis opens the window in the scene. This helps us understand that we are in the

The film conforms to the conventions of the way we would expect two young, rough and tough cowboys, from a poor upbringing to look and act. Jack and Ennis are very masculine men. The deviation occurs in the fact that they have a homosexual relationship with each other. The two men do not follow the conventions of what one might view as a stereotypical gay man. I believe this is done in the film because, the 19 year old men were thrust together on the mountain to herd sheep. I do not believe either one expected to have a romantic or sexual relationship with each other. It was not acceptable in the 1960’s especially among western cowboys to be gay. The men had to maintain an alter identity to be accepted by