Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain

Although the story of "Brokeback Mountain" has been classified as "the gay cowboy story", it contrarily is the tale two young men who strive to come to acceptance of who they are in a society which demands something so different from the taboo nature of this union. Originally written as a short story by Annie Proulx, this story that started off as one of the most real tales of her fictitious stories took up almost 30 pages that covered a relationship that lasted 20 years and was adapted into film with a delicate yet balanced symposium of cinematic screenplay and cinematography. The elements of the story and its adaptation go to reinforce different aspects and beliefs that have been developed and poeticize the relationship of Ennis and Jack paralleling the beauty of the surrounding landscapes and mountain ranges.

In the process of adapting this short story to the silver screen, screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana added to Annie Proulx's story certain details and elements to enhance the development of the plot and characters. The most obvious of these additions that take place for both Ennis and Jack with the expansion of different relationships with some of the minor characters, some of which were not in the original story. Jack's relationship with his father-in-law was always a tense one. L.D. felt as though Jack was not only completely inadequate for Lureen but also for the greater community. This resentment brewed inside Jack until one Thanksgiving Day where he established his competence and authority by threatening his father-in-law into submission. L.D. fell silent to Jack after he commands "Sit down, you old son of a bitch...This is my house...or I'll knock your ignorant ass into next week" (66.). Jack's unsteady grasp of who he was and what his role in life as a closet homosexual was further expanded with the introduction of a couple who just moved to Texas. While at some social function, the two husbands, Jack and Randall, were out having a cigarette and Randall suggested to go up fishing at a cabin nearby with some whiskey to just "get away" (76.) thus introducing a new relationship and chapter in Jack's homosexuality that supposedly brought his demise at the end. In comparison, Ennis' added element in the film was a bit more drawn out and expanded on to further develop his sense of solidarity and relationship he maintained with his daughter Alma Jr. A new character not originally from the short story was introduced as a waitress named Cassie who he develops something of a relationship with for a short period of time. This relationship would develop so much so that time spent with his daughter would be at the same bar Ennis and Cassie met. despite the resentment Junior felt for sharing what little time she had with her father. In the end, his distance in the relationship, caused by his feelings for Jack, drove her away thus being twice "burned" (16) and further sinking into solidarity.

In Proulx's supplementary essay "Getting Movied", she describes