Passions on Fire

Passions On Fire

Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (2005) was a breakthrough movie in the sexual history of Hollywood. The movie presents the hard rough life of two ranch hands, who become helpless victims of love and pain, rage and despair. This movie is based on the captivating short-story of

Annie Proulx. The advantage visual media has over literature, to capture life in its reality, has been demonstrated once again in this successful movie. Young, passionate and raw, like Marlboro men, Jack and Ennis are models of the legendary American cowboy. They struggle against rules of gender, society and their own beliefs. The passions they release are a result of the situations they are pitched into and prevent us from passing a just verdict. Brokeback Mountain reminds us of the immense power of love, to break and to make. It also gives the viewer a hard look at how imagination meets reality in practical life.

Brokeback Mountain ideologically deals with the social economy of the cowboy lifestyle. The story's narrative tells us of the history of the two friends, two school dropouts struggling to make a living. Jack was the son of a rodeo-riding, ranch owner. Starting to 'ride' sheep from a young age, Jack takes a passion for rodeo riding. He earns a major portion of his income from it, besides from ranch work. Ennis was orphaned in his childhood and grew up with his brother and sister. The story tells us that Ennis was interested in high school and thought that the word 'sophomore' carried its own distinction (Proulx 2). To his bad luck, his pickup broke down and not having money to repair it, he was pitched into ranch work. The story acquaints us with the financial struggle the men face in the sweet years of teenage. According to Ennis, the feeling of

'being broke all the time' was indeed a fact. The reality of western social and economical conditions is presented here. It is ironic that Jack and Ennis seek employment at 'Broke' back Mountain when they struggle to avoid becoming broke themselves!

The wild Texan lifestyle is presented more vividly in the movie. The imagery of the rough outback at Brokeback Mountain, with the background sound of guitars strumming and harmonicas being played even at midday, presents an atmosphere typical of 'the way of the West'. In contrast to the monotonous narration in short stories, movies present engaging conversations which allow characters to express passionate details of their lives. Through these Loud and Clear words, the men acquaint themselves, express their present ideals and share their future aspirations. Over a drink at the bar, Ennis cheerfully unravels secrets of his past and family. Jack shares the feeling that he lacks a sense of belonging at his own home. Rodeo riding interests the men for different reasons. They agree that participating itself is not exciting, but that earning money makes it worth the strain. The men are happy of each others presence, a relief they could share, while engaging in their strenuous summer jobs. The movie shows us how the men encounter friendship, in greater depth than literature.

Beyond friendship, the bisexual extant to which the men's relation extends is the thematic crux of the movie. Homosexuality was a 'hot potato' back in the 90's as it still raises concerns today. Ang Lee, in an interview mentioned that although the movie movie's content would shock some people, he intended that shock to be a positive liberating one, "to get them invested in the tragic love story" (Ara Osterwail 40). The director ensures that the characters that play such homosexual roles retain their dignity, as the camera takes concerned shots in such a way that the point is delivered, with the least amount of nude exposures. Annie Proulx incorporates in her story real life Western situations such as scarcity of temporary jobs and the hostility to same-sex

love. The story describes Ennis and Jack falling in love with each other. As if to escape the melodrama of loneliness, like married couples they engage in physical intimacy and bisexual feelings are kindled. They are forced to this mountainous escape ,to satisfy their sexual hunger. Like quicksand, the more they interact, the deeper they are pulled into interdependency. Jack harboring unrequited passions, suggests a life they can enjoy inseparable love He reasons to run a ranch together. Ennis is terrified of the idea as he recollects witnessing the wrath of the society against homosexuals. In his childhood, there were two roughneck men who 'shacked together'. One of them was found tortured to death, as if "they took a tire iron on him, spurred him, and dragged him 'round by his dick, till it pulled off" (Proulx 15). Such memories blind Ennis from the inescapable fact that he loves Jack, and to be separated from him would cause more pain than advantage.

The movie describes these emotions more intricately. The mountains Jack and Ennis retreat to can be seen as an attempt to relive their cherished past memories. Activities like talking over the campfire and swimming in the lake help them to strengthen their bonds of intimacy. In the story the phrase, "the feeling nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved" (23), is used by Proulx to express the lack of satisfaction, they felt at the end of such reunions. In the movie, the feeling is expressed when Jack talks of running a ranch together. Apart from the off-screen conversation going on, a flashback shows Ennis and his brother walking with their father on a sunny afternoon, to see the mutilated body of a person accused of being gay. Ennis is incapable of imagining another form of life and he expresses his fear to Jack, "You and me can't hardly be decent together if what happened back there... grabs on us like that. We do that in the wrong place we'll be dead" (Proulx 13). Ennis means to say that he is scared of being caught and tortured by prying eyed town-men. The war Ennis and Jack face is internal, fighting the feelings they have been taught to avoid and yet found present inside themselves.

A stark ideological contrast both the movie and the story present is the face-off of imagination vs. reality. Due to the restrictions of the society, Ennis sees his liaison with Jack impossible. Jack on the other hand holds onto his imagined 'dreams' and grasps at issues reality deny him. After Jack dies, it is ironic that Ennis is