White male supremacy — and the idea that any other race, gender, or sexual orientation is secondary — plays a role in American society. Homophobia, particularly in males, can often stem from a person's supposed understanding that homosexuality demeans masculine power and dominance. The fear that openly gay men could somehow undermine the learned masculinity taught in society often places homosexual males in a position to receive more intolerance than homosexual females. This observance ties into sexism in American society and the misogynistic views that frequently run as an undercurrent in relationships involving men and women.One particular example of sexism in Brokeback Mountain is the relationship Jack and Ennis share with their wives, more specifically the relationship between Ennis and Alma. Even as Ennis participates in what society would perceive as an emasculating and shameful relationship, he still maintains the belief that his wants and needs are above his wife's. Alma is not spared the disrespect of witnessing her husband being intimate with another individual, never mind if the person is male or female. The same goes for Lureen, Jack's wife, and the fact that Jack believes it is alright to have relationships with several other people throughout the course of his marriage. While I sympathized with the fact that both Jack and Ennis were polluted with their own cases of homophobia, I found it hard to be completely understanding because of the mistreatment of their wives.
Even so, it was sad to me that Ennis' and Jack's relationships with Alma and Lureen only seemed to come about because of society's expectation for a man to get married and procreate. It was the isolation and solitude of Brokeback Mountain that allowed Ennis and Jack to be open in a way they could not in regular society, and yet, both men still struggled with removing their front of masculinity. Their unwillingness to let go of the cultured belief of what a man's life should be like is what ultimately limited their relationship from becoming something more.
5 comments:
Please read my blog instructions and post a picture to get full credit for this blog. You have put your last name in the title, that is good, but you need to post a picture with every blog. Please edit this blog to add a picture. Your comments about Jack and Ennis and their need for the isolation of Brokeback Mountain to fulfill their sexual desires is important. Ennis fears that, if others knew he was gay, he would be killed the way Earl was. He also thinks that Jack was found out and killed with a tire iron the way Earl was.
Baker you did provide excellent points on the relationship between Ennis and Jack. What was the most important for me was when you discuss the relationship between Ennis and Alma. This example highlights the idea that Americans have to conform to norms no matter how unhappy they are.Also the example of the tire iron incident explains how gays are not accepted in society and will be dealt with accordingly.
Good addition of the picture.
Baker you brought up a very interesting issue when you explain that there is a difficulty in being understanding of Ennis and Jack in view of their battle with the homophobia sorrounding them and which was also instilled in them, seeing as both disrespect and mistreat their wives. Why propagate this cycle of abuse, hate and deceit that they themselves were victims of? There is absolutely no reason for the abuse except for the fact that Ennis and Jack still considered themselves to be men and men to be superior to women. The fact that they fail to accept themselves as gay men oppressed by an intolerant society does not allow them to sympathize with women. This also relates to what someone also mentioned about the fact that these two are usually regarded as being the same by straight men in terms of the imagined power hierarchy in society. They are the emasculated and feminine minority, (which would in numerical terms be the majority). However, one can see in this story that these two groups have nothing in common.
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