The Brokeback Mountain is an American Romantic Drama Film that was produced in 2005. The director of the film was Ang Lee. The film was adapted from a tale written in 1997 by Annie Proulx. Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry composed the screenplay. The short story and the film are based on the lives of two young men, Ennis, and Jack. Both looked after livestock on the fictional Brokeback Mountain. With time, they developed a sexual and emotional affection. At the end of the summer, Ennis and Jack parted ways. In the next twenty years, they lived in different places, married, and even had children. Later on, it is revealed that the two men reunite in camping trips despite having started their families. It was difficult to separate their emotional connection as they went ahead to meet each other. The paper will provide a critical analysis to the adaptation of the Brokeback Mountain from the short story to the film. In addition, it will shed light on the differences that exist in both the film and the book. The paper will illustrate the scenes in the film that creates a unique experience to the viewers through a visual medium but cannot be experienced by the reader since they have to picture it by themselves.
In both the short story and the film, the length of time is demonstrated differently. In the short story, the story is narrated over a span of twenty years. In most instances, it has been challenging for a short story to adapt such a period, but the author succeeds. The author bases the story on the close association and the landscape between Ennie and Jack. These two factors bind the main protagonists together and act as a driving force. Time is used to induce tension, particularly the transitory of time, and the associated sense of swiftly forthcoming grief. Despite time flying, the infrequent couplings of Ennie and Jack remained steady and unmoved. The bond between them remained strong and the absence of each other never affected their attachment to each other.
Jack and Ennis's memorable moments are set contrary to this idea. For instance, the prolonged and half-asleep hug occurs in the summer. Years later, Jack responds to it. He recalls the dozy embrace even though he knew that Ennis would not embrace or even see him anymore. Also, Jack may have thought they’d never meet again. The unforgettable moments they experienced at the Brokeback Mountain could not fade easily. Later in the film, the two men meet and decides to live together happily. Before then, Ennis had divorced with his wife, and there was no obstacle to entering into a romantic relationship with Jack.
In the film, this scene where Jack and Ennie get back together is rather cut short while it lasts for an extended period in the short story. Perhaps, the film director could have made more in that scene. Nonetheless, this concept and fluidity of time, together with the comparison among emotional moments and the rapidity of life are easier for the fiction writer and difficult to be expressed in the film. It is enchanting to illustrate that the tale shifts its period back and forth as the fiction writer narrates the story, whereas the timeline in the movie is mostly linear. Possibly it should be that way. Any film that fails to adapt a linear timeline remains challenging to watch, even though such exists. The film uses a unique strategy to compensate to the passage of the time shifts experienced in the tale. For instance, the film uses the mountains and the meadows, the grass, the rocks, and the music to create the Brokeback watching experience.
Another aspect I will put into consideration is the end of the short story. The written text seems superior in the beginning and the end of the story. The filming of the movie is less superior than the book in the commencement and the culmination. In the visual medium, Ennis stands after the departure of his daughter, and stares at the two shirts that meant a lot to him and the reader couldn’t capture this part. The scene is emotional and influential. The audience is carried away as Ennis talks when half-crying after which the shot fades.
In my opinion, the film is more compelling than the book. It incorporates aspects that induce deep emotions to the viewers and helps to demonstrate the characters of the main protagonists in a broad way. The feelings and understanding of readers change in this farfetched drive of love, grief, loss, pain, experienced by Ennis and Jack. In the tale, Proulx, in many incidences only touches issues, but the film expresses them. Many people would have thought that it could be difficult for the filmmaker to capture emotions as expressed in the short story and this is done in a brilliant way.
The film-maker expands on the themes than the novelist. Lee illustrates the lives of the two men while away from each other in a detailed manner compared to Proulx. The film also succeeds to match the balance between the family life of both Jack and Ennis diligently. For example, the tale does not expose Jack’s wife in a direct manner but in the film, Lureen becomes a fascinating and ultimately touching character. Lureen fights for their relationship with Jack, and this creates a strong bond between them, unlike Ennis and Alma. In a Thanksgiving dinner, Lureen exposes her subtle and delighted smile when Jack protests against her bullying father.
The telephone conversation between Lureen and Ennis after Jack’s demise is also fascinating. Her face expression and tone reveal the loss and grief she was experiencing (Proulx 54). The words are similar in the book and film but interpreted differently. In the short story, Proulx reveals the telephone conversation from the Ennis’s side, and this makes the readers think that Lurren is ultimately emotionless and unbending. On the other hand, Lee demonstrates the compassion and generosity of Lureen as she allows Ennis to bury Jack’s ashes. Such a posture is unexpected and shows the humanity part of Lureen.
Moreover, the film-maker extends the theme of the humanity of women by illustrating the visit of Ennis to Jack’s parents after his bereavement. The setting is filled with tension as Ennis and Jack’s mother remains silent to each other. Jack’s mother comforts Ennis as the two are unable to share a conversation. Later on, she puts twofold shirts in Ennis bag, and this demonstrates concern and humanity. Women in the film treat each other in a friendly and welcoming manner and influence the way of life in the society.
Nonetheless, in the short story, Ennis does not have a home or a residential place. The fiction writer uses this to annihilate him from the world so that he can make Brokeback Mountain his place of belonging. In the tale, the setting is an explicit element and indicates the extent to which the society suppressed the sexuality between the men. In the book, both characters are denoted as tough and rude. Contrariwise, in the film, the sexual relations are more romantic as insinuated by the film-maker.
The short story depicts the physical description of Ennie as the most muscular while in the movie, the acting style of Ennie is what denotes the masculinity. Ennie is a man of few words who doesn’t speak much and is reluctant to express his feelings. In the film, Alma Junior conveys a sense of hope and fulfillment in Ennie’s life that seems engulfed in bleak and difficulties. The death of Jack left Ennie hopeless and he lacked the meaning of life. Alma Junior instilled optimism in her father’s life Ennie got a reason to smile again.
The second last part of the film is not comprised in the book. The book does not include the touching part where Alma Junior asks to live with her father after the divorce. Nevertheless, Ennie is not ready and alleges his decision to the commitments in work. The audience knows that exact reason for the refusal is the urge to keep meeting Jack. The decision made by Ennis is precise for him but does not work for Alma Junior. Later on, the Alma Junior invites her father to attend her impending marriage. At first, the father says that he is very committed to work, but later on, he agrees to grace the occasion. Ennie attends the wedding because of deceased Jack meant he was free to attend it. The film also pays close attention to the affiliation between Ennis and Alma Junior.
In conclusion, both the film and the book creates reactions that are debatable. The story is more of a tragedy. Despite Ennie and Jack losing each other, they lose themselves too. Both characters do not achieve living a fulfilling life. In their life experiences, the gay men were lost in memory, fear, fantasy, and restrictions within the society (Osterweil 40). In an interview, the author of the short story agrees that the tale is worth a read. In my opinion, I think that the film and the books illustrate the overwhelming power of choices made in our lives. Apart from depicting the story the two men in the Wild West, the story is about making choices, leaving people out of our lives, and selecting those we feel will always be part of our lives. The tale talks about occurrences that take place in the daily encounters in our lives.
Work cited
Proulx, Annie. Brokeback Mountain. Simon and Schuster, 2005.
Osterweil, Ara. "Ang Lee's Lonesome Cowboys." FILM QUART 60.3 (2007): 38-42.
