Brokeback Mountain: More Than Just Gay Cowboys

Brokeback Mountain. It’s still on my mind. It’s time to discuss it.

I went into it like most people do; searching “gay” into the Netflix search engine.

Martin and I were spitballing- and then I thought of it. Brokeback Mountain- gay cowboys!! Heath Ledger and Jake Gylenhaal?? Wow was I ready. Poor Martin wasn’t, little bb took a fat snooze.

But I was there for every kiss, tug, rootin’ tootin’ scene.

It’s exactly what you’d expect but also there was so much to the film that I wasn’t expecting at all.

But the parts that I was expecting were even more satisfying than I thought. It was those goddamn mountains, man. The LANDSCAPES. It felt like I was THERE.

Not in the tent though- those moments were theirs. Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. Easy to remember: Jake = Jack. Ennis = Heath, the other one.

It started as you'd think it would: two cowboys assigned to the same mountain to do cowboy jobs like herd sheep and whatnot. These spent a lot of time up there, and Jack Twist wanted something else to do to fill his time. Ennis Del Mar was NOT up for it at first, but Jack eased him into it and hey, what do you know?? Being gay isn't that bad, Ennis now is it. But what I truly wasn't expecting was the whole wives storylines. Both men left Brokeback Mountain when the gig was up, and both ended up marrying. Ennis seemed to actually love his wife, and Jack seemed to love her at first, too, but I think he just married her because he knew that's what he should do. But he never stopped loving Ennis. They escaped their wives a couple times a year to Brokeback Mountain, where they could be free to tumble in the wide green prairies and sleep together in a tent under the stars. It was romantic and somber at the same time. Because we knew (the audience), knew just as much as Jack and Ennis did, that it had to end. They had to return to their mundane lives they hated with their wives they didn't truly love. They suppressed their true feelings for each other because they feared the backlash that being gay would bring in a rural, homophobic setting. And that's what happened to Jack Twist, or it's what I interpreted what happened. The cowboys corresponded via snail mail throughout the years. On Ennis's postcard to Jack scheduling their next "fishing trip," a big red stamp saying "Deceased" made me gasp. Jack fucking DIES. Ennis calls Jack's wife to see what happened, and Anne Hathaway sighs as she has to tell her husband's lover the "story" of his death. She says Jack was fixing his tire along the side of the road, and in some freak accident was killed. But what flashes in Ennis's head is Jack being beaten to death by a group of men, where no one could hear him scream. I felt the wave of grief as Ennis cried. It was really fucking sad. Ennis went to go get Jack's ashes, and visits the Twists' small farm house. Jack's father said that Jack's ashes would stay with him to be spread with the rest of the family, despite Jack's wishes for his ashes to be spread on.....wait for it......Brokeback Mountain!! Ennis wanted to take Jack's ashes there, but didn't want to push Jack's father too much, out of respect for the family's loss. So Ennis retires to a small trailer, where he has a small window that looks out onto the green prairies he and Jack has once experienced together. And hung up in his closet is the shirt he and Jack first kissed in, hung at shoulder height so Ennis could hug the shirt as if it was his gay!! Cowboy!! Lover!! What a story!! Are you kidding me?? I stan Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist: the gay cowboys I didn't even know I needed.