In the film Brokeback Mountain, Ennis del Mar has been taught to participate in the patriarchal society of America, and those beliefs play a huge role in the way he treats his family. There are many scenes throughout the film in which this attitude Ennis has towards his family is shown. One scene in particular happens when Ennis brings the children to Alma's work, and he leaves them with her instead of taking care of them himself. This event occurs for the sake of his own job, even if it is at the expense of hers'.
In this scene, Alma is once again left to take care of the children, even though Ennis promised to look after them for one night. When he gets called into work, he automatically chooses to drop the children off with Alma so that he can keep his own job. Ennis believes that because Alma is the woman in the relationship, she should be the one to look after the children. When Alma asks, "What about my job?" Ennis' silence speaks louder than words.
It is clear that Ennis believes that as the man of the house, he should be the one who brings home the money and provides for the family. This makes him feel powerful and important, and it reassures him of his masculinity. When Alma questions Ennis about her own job and Ennis remains silent, he is telling her that what he wants is more important, and as the man in the relationship he gets to have the final say on what is going to happen.
This scene really made me feel for Alma because it is obvious that Ennis views her as someone who is there to take care of the children, and he believes it is her job as a woman to fulfill that role. I felt like the look of resignation on Alma's face really spoke of how her relationship with Ennis had been like up until the point where they got divorced, which consisted of Ennis calling all the shots. In the patriarchal society they live in, Alma has no voice and no input on what happens in her life until she decides to divorce Ennis.
4 comments:
Campbell-
I agree with your assessment of this obvious situation in which Ennis displays the typical patriarchal male characteristics where he determines his own self-worth and occupation automatically trumps that of his wife’s. Ennis further displayed totally disregard for Alma’s job by bringing the children unannounced and dropping them off in the middle of Alma’s place of employment virtually giving Alma no option other than taking the children and making arrangements for their care.
Had Ennis valued Alma’s employment and financial contributions to the family he would have made the same arrangement of getting Alma’s sister to care for the kids which was the solution that Alma had to come up with to resolve the matter. This scene and Ennis’s attitude was a prime example of the patriarchal societal norms in which the male’s employment and needs are of greater value that that of a female in a marital relationship.
This scene defiantly evoke feelings of empathy for Alma from the viewer.
The Blog by Baker assesses scenes carefully and shows the relationship between the scene and the blog prompt about patriarchy. The Campbell post points out a solution that Ennis neglected because he assumed his job was more important than Alma's
While I agree that it was not a good way to handle the situation, and I believe Ennis should have tried to arrange alternate care for his children, I don't think it was strictly that he believed his job was more important than Alma's, rather it WAS more important. She worked in a grocery store, and his job clearly brought in much more money than hers. The evidence for that is found when he is ordered to pay 250.00 a month in child support.
I see things like this in my friend's relationships as well. My good friend works for a bank, but her husband does shift work, has benefits, and makes more money. If he gets called into work, she would have to care for their children if no one else could regardless if she had to work. I maintain that Ennis should have tried to arrange childcare, but if his job were on the line, I find it acceptable for him to ask her to make arrangements for the children. I don't think it automatcially means he doesn't value the fact that she works as well.
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