I know Brokeback Mountain is mostly about the struggle of two gay men trying to survive in a society that hates gay men. And their struggle is incredibly real and still felt in the US even today. However, I want to focus more on some of the minor characters, notably Alma and Laureen, their wives.
Despite their summer affair on the mountain, Jack and Ennis proclaim, "I ain't queer." Then they go off and marry women and even have children with them. Four years pass and finally the two men are reunited. Unfortunately, Ennis's wife, Alma, witnesses them kissing behind her house. My first thought was why she didn't bring it up to him immediately. Why did it take her so long to divorce the man who was clearly cheating on her. Foucault might have part of the answer to this. According to him, sex has been treated as a private matter, and it's frowned upon to speak about it in public. Perhaps Alma didn't want to bring it up because it's uncomfortable to talk about, especially as she was brought up to believe being gay was wrong. Of course, no one wants to believe the worst, so perhaps she was in denial.
Jack is the same way. His wife most likely knows what her husband is up to every summer. However, she's a little calmer about it, but still, it isn't fair to her. Jack even goes to other places looking for sex because Ennis isn't giving him enough. His wife has to sit at home and wait for him.
Alma and Laureen looked happy when they dated their respective husbands and married them. Both had children with these men. And still the men go off and have an affair. The women do not "take on an assertive role in expressing their own sexuality, rather than leaving it to the assertiveness of men" (MacKinnon). Alma does, once, take control during sex with Ennis. She tells him to stop because she doesn't want any more children as they can't afford to support them. Or so Ennis assumes. This is after she knows of his affair with Jack, so perhaps sex is no longer something enjoyable to her. Only in this way can she stop him from having sex with her, so she uses it.
Laureen, though not shown as often as Alma, seems to have even less control of Jack. It also seems like she doesn't even care anymore. Jack says their marriage can be done "over the phone" at this point, insinuating that they rarely see each other at this point.
In the end, though the men have their own share of problems regarding their love, the women have their own problems, too. These are brought about by the men ignoring them for each other. It can even be argued that it wasn't fair for Jack and Ennis to even marry them in the first place. Yes, they weren't sure they'd ever see each other, but clearly their wives ended up unhappy. Jack neglected his wife, and Ennis was violent toward his whenever she brought up her own wants. Even in a movie about two gay men suffering a life apart from each other, the women are still put down and ignored by the men in their lives.
I think focusing on minor characters can definitely be a good thing. It brings up an interesting topic for sexuality: "beards." So, if you aren't familiar with the term, this is basically someone who is used for covering up sexuality. It would be like a lesbian woman marrying a man (who may or may not know she's a lesbian) and continuing her lesbian affairs behind his back. I think another important thing here is why these two men covered up their sexuality using the two minor characters. Like you clearly said, it's unfair to the two women. Instead of repressing their own sexualities by being with these men, they could be out there finding the person they truly adore. Yet, they stuck around and even still attempted their marriage. It could be a time-period thing, though, where women were expected to remain married no matter what. Still, I think it's interesting that the women stuck around regardless and I can't help but want to see if our readings could point at another explanation?
ReplyDeleteTo follow that, what if the husbands' expression of sexuality, free the women from their own societal views? It could possibly be an explanation as to why Alma stood up to Ennis? MacKinnon wrote about repressed sexuality and how society views men in charge of that sexuality. What if the movie was making a statement about that? By witnessing something completely out of the ordinary, the women now feel as if they can act that way, too. They can express themselves more rather than hiding behind what MacKinnnon would say is the "culturally stereotyped role" of a woman? I have a feeling it was more about the time period, but I thought looking into our readings for an explanation might be worth a try! It's an interesting theory, but I'm not entirely sure I'm buying it.
I think your post makes the very accurate point that gender roles are still extremely prevalent today. Even in today's society, women are thought of as lower than men and their thoughts and feelings are often not taken into account. I think it is very interesting that you chose to focus on the women in a movie about a gay couple. It shows, as you pointed out, that regardless of whether the men are gay or straight, women are still thought of as below them. Their thoughts are not taken into account. I also think the behavior of the women shows how badly gender inequality affects women. Perhaps these women did not say anything for so long because they felt it was not their place to? Maybe they felt that even if they did say something, nothing would change? I think your post shows the severity of gender inequality, regardless of the situation.
ReplyDeleteYour post has some interesting suggestions. I think it is important to focus on the men in this movie and the way they deal with their sexuality. But I also think that looking at the characters around them is important. And I see the point you are making. The women didn't get a say really as to what was happening and it was their lives too that were affected by Ennis and Jack's decisions. And when Ennis is confronted by his wife, he uses his strength to completely intimidate her and holds up his fist to her. This movie definitely is definitely important in discussing the topic of being gay and all the struggles that society puts on people for this. But with that, it is a man's world and the women in this film do not come first, and their lives are turned upside down by it all.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact you brought up their wives. Even though they are minor characters, they are still very much affected by the choices that their husband's make. I've never seen this movie, but I've heard plenty about it. The turmoil that these men go through with their sexuality is strongly felt today, because many still feel like they need to hide it. Though they think they're not hurting anyone but themselves, in reality they are hurting the ones they love by pretending. Harsh, but this movie proves that point.
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