Author Topic: Question about "If you can't fix it, you gotta stand it" - spoiler? (Read 24205 times)

*Froggy* · « **on:** Jan 01, 2006, 08:23 PM »

I know i can speak and understand English, but sometimes i get meanings wrong...so...

When Ennis says "If you can't fix it, you gotta stand it" what does it mean ...to you?

borger1582 · « **Reply #1 on:** Jan 01, 2006, 11:31 PM »

If something is hurting you, and it is impossible to change the circumstances or occurrences that are causing your hurt, you must endure the pain.

ranchgal · « **Reply #2 on:** Jan 01, 2006, 11:57 PM »

If you can't fix or make better whatever problem/situation you have then you have to endure it, and deal with it.

You have to stand(endure) what you can't do anything about.

Toadily · « **Reply #3 on:** Jan 02, 2006, 01:48 PM »

Ennis was bowing to society and acknowledging it's power over their lives. I mean if they could do what they wanted,
the would be making a life together.

Gosh I saw it for the third time yesterday and *I* can barely stand how happy Ennis is when he reunites with Jack
compared to earlier scenes, the smile on his face kills me cause you know its the only time he smiles.

Toadily · « **Reply #4 on:** Jan 02, 2006, 01:49 PM »

Ennis was bowing to society and acknowledging it's power over their lives. I mean if they could do what they wanted,
the would be making a life together.

Gosh I saw it for the third time yesterday and *I* can barely stand how happy Ennis is when he reunites with Jack
compared to earlier scenes, the smile on his face kills me cause you know its the only time he smiles.

*Froggy* · « **Reply #5 on:** Jan 02, 2006, 03:48 PM »

Thanks everyone...i really appreciated you helping poor little French me

stationbbm · « **Reply #6 on:** Jan 02, 2006, 03:57 PM »

Yes, this is perhaps the most profound line in the film as well as in Ms. Proulx's short story. If you cannot get 1960's society, cowboy culture, or anyone else to reduce or eliminate homophobic attitudes and prejudices, then you're forced to succumb to a lifestyle within the cultural norms. Marrying a spouse, raising children and hiding from the truth. In this case, you're confronted with choices: lie and tell the world that you're going on deceptive rendezvouses (i.e, fishing trips, hunting excursions, out of town trips or whatever) in order to get a few days with those you care for the most, or end the relationship and continue this painful, secretive, searching journey through life. Unfortunately, the options are full of pain, anguish and heartache. Lee's BBM does a magnificent job in displaying this dilemma.

I'm still trying to get my head around the depth of the issues portrayed in this film. A great forum that allows one to think out loud.

stationbbm

brokebackmountain · « **Reply #7 on:** Jan 04, 2006, 04:48 AM »

IMO, in addition to the environment forcing Ennis and Jack's relationship, the line also shows who Ennis is.

daveya26 · « **Reply #8 on:** Jan 14, 2006, 09:16 PM »

Quote from: Toadily on Jan 02, 2006, 01:48 PM

Ennis was bowing to society and acknowledging it's power over their lives. I mean if they could do what they wanted,
the would be making a life together.

Gosh I saw it for the third time yesterday and *I* can barely stand how happy Ennis is when he reunites with Jack
compared to earlier scenes, the smile on his face kills me cause you know its the only time he smiles.

That's my favourite scene in the movie! Ennis waiting for Jack in his best shirt, pacing up and down like an excited little lad, the wife a little bemused - Ennis still waiting hours later, the beers drunk adding up on the table and Ennis getting more disappointed. Then he sees Jack arrive and bursts out of the door - wow! That's real passion, right there. That scene takes you up, down and way up again in a few short minutes, genius.

septuaginarian · « **Reply #9 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 04:20 PM »

In the short story, “If you can’t fix it, you gotta stand it” occurs not once but twice, each time with an ironically different meaning.

First, it stands where it is found in the movie, when Ennis tells Jack he’ll have to ride out his marriage with Alma.

As the last line of the story, exactly the same words occur again, ironically, not as a quote, but as a kind of final, tragic gloss on Ennis’ situation, and at a time when the shoe is on Ennis’ other foot:

Alma had found the reins to call it quits with Ennis.

Ennis now has learned too late that his love for Jack might have made a life together, but at a time when nothing could be done about it.

This is the universal theme in tragic literature: to learn too late (opse mathos) and to learn by suffering (pathei mathos).

stephan · « **Reply #10 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 04:31 PM »

Quote from: Toadily on Jan 02, 2006, 01:49 PM

Ennis was bowing to society and acknowledging it's power over their lives. I mean if they could do what they wanted,
the would be making a life together.

Gosh I saw it for the third time yesterday and *I* can barely stand how happy Ennis is when he reunites with Jack
compared to earlier scenes, the smile on his face kills me cause you know its the only time he smiles.

I toadily agree with you, Toadily

This line comes out in the scene where Ennis remembers what his dad showed him when he was 9 yrs old. A memory about what happened to 2 men living together. So I think Ennis was admitting to himself at that point in their relationship (4 yrs) that he wanted to make his life with Jack :D but that society didn't approve. He couldn't fix that, so he had to stand/endure society's dictatorship. Stephan

romeshvr · « **Reply #11 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 04:56 PM »

Sorry guys but I really hate this line..."if you can't fix it, you gotta stand it". Don't ask me why...but I just do. I believe this line is the entire movie... yikes....

bbmlover · « **Reply #12 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 05:02 PM »

Quote from: romeshvr on Feb 04, 2006, 04:56 PM

Sorry guys but I really hate this line..."if you can't fix it, you gotta stand it". Don't ask me why...but I just do. I believe this line is the entire movie... yikes....

me tooooo, i hate it.
l

living life to please others.......sucks.

chameau · « **Reply #13 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 05:04 PM »

Quote from: bbmlover on Feb 04, 2006, 05:02 PM

Quote from: romeshvr on Feb 04, 2006, 04:56 PM
Sorry guys but I really hate this line..."if you can't fix it, you gotta stand it". Don't ask me why...but I just do. I believe this line is the entire movie... yikes....

me tooooo, i hate it.
l

living life to please others.......sucks.

Ditto!

stephan · « **Reply #14 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 05:12 PM »

Quote from: bbmlover on Feb 04, 2006, 05:02 PM

Quote from: romeshvr on Feb 04, 2006, 04:56 PM
Sorry guys but I really hate this line..."if you can't fix it, you gotta stand it". Don't ask me why...but I just do. I believe this line is the entire movie... yikes....
me tooooo, i hate it.
l
living life to please others.......sucks.

I know, it is hateful, but so many people do just that ! One of the reasons BBM has got so many people real bad, huh ? Stephan

chameau · « **Reply #15 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 05:13 PM »

agree with you Stephan! Big time!

bbmlover · « **Reply #16 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 05:16 PM »

Quote from: chameau on Feb 04, 2006, 05:13 PM

agree with you Stephan! Big time!

me too......... i agree......
being hetero....... i just dont know what other side of people r going through........ seeing this movie........told the real impact. I'am flabbergasted.

stephan · « **Reply #17 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 05:27 PM »

But the best part is, I think, that Ennis himself, at the last rendez-vous, breaks down and says he can't stand it :'( :'( Close on to 20 yrs he's been standing it, not doing a lot to fix it, and discovering that there's more to life than standing it. Which is why I know that Jack never gives up on Ennis... but that's another thread ! Stephan

bbmlover · « **Reply #18 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 05:32 PM »

LUV is LUV.....

please....... i dont want to hear any reason to keep 2 souls seperated......... & blaming on "if you cant fix it.......u gotta stand it"

LUV is force of nature........ just take it as it comes............ & hold on to it tight.

shieldmaid · « **Reply #19 on:** Feb 04, 2006, 07:12 PM »

I think the way the filmmakers chose to move this line from the end of Proulx's story to Ennis and Jack's first reunion is really brilliant. Story: "There was some open space between what he [Ennis] knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it you've got to stand it." Movie: Ennis says, in response to Jack's suggestion that they get a ranch together, "If you can't fix it, Jack, you've got to stand it." Proulx's line appears at the very end of the story--the final words of the whole book Close Range, in fact--while Ennis speaks his line in the middle of the movie, when his and Jack's relationship is still relatively young and they have (perhaps) some hope left for the future. Thus I agree with romeshvr above that this line in some ways encapsulates the movie's whole message--but I also think that the line's placement midway through the movie shows us that Ennis realizes what a difficult situation they are in and decides it's worth loving Jack anyway. Then Jack strokes his cheek to comfort him and I melt away . . . .

peace--

camom · « **Reply #20 on:** Feb 05, 2006, 03:23 AM »

Quote from: romeshvr on Feb 04, 2006, 04:56 PM

Sorry guys but I really hate this line..."if you can't fix it, you gotta stand it". Don't ask me why...but I just do. I believe this line is the entire movie... yikes....

I actually think this line is brilliant. If there is one universal truth in life, it's that some things can't be fixed and some questions can't be answered, and then the only thing left is to stand them.

camom

cybernaut · « **Reply #21 on:** Feb 05, 2006, 03:38 AM »

Sigh... :'(

What about if you can't beat them, join them??

rikcub · « **Reply #22 on:** Feb 05, 2006, 11:43 AM »

Quote from: brokebackmountain on Jan 04, 2006, 04:48 AM

IMO, in addition to the environment forcing Ennis and Jack's relationship, the line also shows who Ennis is.

That is a very important point about this line...one central theme of the movie is how differently these two men approach life in general as well as their relationship. Jack is the eternal optimist who believes things can change and so he keeps trying to make that change happen. Ennis on the other hand believes his life is dictated by circmstance so what he can't fix (change) he simply has to endure. Without this difference there wouldn't be any BBM.

Cowboy Cody · « **Reply #23 on:** Feb 05, 2006, 11:54 AM »

Quote from: stephan on Feb 04, 2006, 05:12 PM

Quote from: bbmlover on Feb 04, 2006, 05:02 PM
Quote from: romeshvr on Feb 04, 2006, 04:56 PM
Sorry guys but I really hate this line..."if you can't fix it, you gotta stand it". Don't ask me why...but I just do. I believe this line is the entire movie... yikes....
me tooooo, i hate it.
l
living life to please others.......sucks.

I know, it is hateful, but so many people do just that ! One of the reasons BBM has got so many people real bad, huh ?
Stephan

You Bet. I don't live my life to make anyone happy, but try to be the cause of their happiness. Okay, well maybe justa incy-wincy bit with my Bubba.

septuaginarian · « **Reply #24 on:** Feb 05, 2006, 01:51 PM »

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it

-- Omar Khayyam

aintfoolin · « **Reply #25 on:** May 27, 2008, 05:37 AM »

Quote from: *Froggy* on Jan 01, 2006, 08:23 PM

I know i can speak and understand English, but sometimes i get meanings wrong...so...

When Ennis says "If you can't fix it, you gotta stand it" what does it mean ...to you?

I was thinking about this line today and found an old thread on it. Not pickin on Ennis but.....

I'm sorry, but this sounds like a total cop out philosophy to live by. There are many arguments to be made concerning this imo. Ennis brings up the story of Earl and Rich, something that happened 14 yrs. ago. Tragic as it was, they were'nt Earl and Rich, what happened to them does not necessarily have to happen to himself and Jack. I guess any one of us could make this argument for jack, but he was at least trying to fix it, but it takes two to tango.

Was'nt Ennis really saying that if you can't fix ME Jack, you gotta stand ME? His fear and shame? his rules?

Jack had a plan to "fix it" or at least try to. His dream, to ranch with Ennis, live with him, to fight side by side with him against whom ever tried to hurt or harm them. Two men living together smacks of Earl and Rich, but really, is'nt it Ennis's fear of being found out that he was loving Jack that was at the root of it all?

On the mountain, he fixed everything for Jack. switched jobs, got soup, shot the elk, straightened the tent, even fixed the problem with Jack's truck. Everything within his power to "fix it" so Jack woud'nt have to stand it. Ennis himself was the key to what Jack really wanted. What sense does it make to Jack when Jack has more or less just got done telling him that he was willing to chuck the wife and baby in Texas and move in with him. That should have givin Ennis a clue where Jack's loyalties lie.

Was he actually dictating to Jack that he should remain loyal to his family after the reception he had just given him in the reunion scene? Should he have to stand it and remain miserable in a sham marriage, just because Ennis did? Then Alma divorces him, he's free and clear with nothing to worry about but visits and child support payments. Other than that he is free to do as he wishes with his life. Jack comes back , again trying to fix it. Now they can be together right ? Wrong, Now it's Ennis's paranoia that keeps them apart. Not loyalty to the wife and baby in Texas or his *life* in Riverton. It's him. He may have sent up a prayer of thanks for Jack's return into his life, but Jack was'nt returning to stand " every once in a while" he was returning to fix it with Ennis by his side. Ennis had his reasons but imo, he was'nt doing right by Jack. Just MHO.

tpe · « **Reply #26 on:** May 27, 2008, 07:55 AM »

Quote from: aintfoolin on May 27, 2008, 05:37 AM

I was thinking about this line today and found an old thread on it. Not pickin on Ennis but.....

I'm sorry, but this sounds like a total cop out philosophy to live by. There are many arguments to be made concerning this imo. Ennis brings up the story of Earl and Rich, something that happened 14 yrs. ago. Tragic as it was, they were'nt Earl and Rich, what happened to them does not necessarily have to happen to himself and Jack. I guess any one of us could make this argument for jack, but he was at least trying to fix it, but it takes two to tango.

Was'nt Ennis really saying that if you can't fix ME Jack, you gotta stand ME? His fear and shame? his rules?

***

Interesting take on this statement, aintfoolin. I admit that I had never thought of it this way. I had always thought of the statement as an pendant to his "If you can't fix it, Jack, you've got to stand it" during the reunion so many years ago. In this light, I had always assumed that the thing to fix was their inability to love openly and freely through a life spent together. I don't know if it expressedly refers to Ennis inparticular, although I admit that your point of viw does make me start thinking about other possible interpretations... I am not so sure what to make of this one, as of now. I have to think about this...

Tony · « **Reply #27 on:** May 27, 2008, 12:00 PM »

Dear Aintfoolin - that really was an interesting rephrasing: Ennis really meaning, if you can't fix me, you've just got to stand me. Something came to mind over that - Ennis' raw stubborness. And then, of all things (I know am going too far here)...earthquakes. Those tectonic land plates we are all living on, are what we count on for stability, and yet they are always under pressure, building up in tension, until there's a sudden readjustment, or earthquake. And I kinda see Ennis that way - stable, dormant, but with forces building up for a sudden change. FNIT, SNIT, the reunion....all readjustments or earthquakes in his life, followed by some stability and resistance to change. Carrying the analogy through, the only way to "fix" things with Ennis, then, was to wait until enough pressure built up. So, maybe he would have caved in, that next meeting with Jack, that never got to happen. With Ennis, the stability had to snap, before he would change. Sure seems that way.

aintfoolin · « **Reply #28 on:** Jun 02, 2008, 03:59 PM »

Quote from: Tony on May 27, 2008, 12:00 PM

Dear Aintfoolin - that really was an interesting rephrasing: Ennis really meaning, if you can't fix me, you've just got to stand me. Something came to mind over that - Ennis' raw stubborness. And then, of all things (I know am going too far here)...earthquakes. Those tectonic land plates we are all living on, are what we count on for stability, and yet they are always under pressure, building up in tension, until there's a sudden readjustment, or earthquake. And I kinda see Ennis that way - stable, dormant, but with forces building up for a sudden change. FNIT, SNIT, the reunion....all readjustments or earthquakes in his life, followed by some stability and resistance to change. Carrying the analogy through, the only way to "fix" things with Ennis, then, was to wait until enough pressure built up. So, maybe he would have caved in, that next meeting with Jack, that never got to happen. With Ennis, the stability had to snap, before he would change. Sure seems that way.

I love this, the analogy to an earthquake to shake Ennis out of his complacency. I suppose the confrontation scene would measure a 9.5 on the Reichter scale, because this surely had to rock Ennis's world completely.

Jack was no longer willing to be over here fixing it , while Ennis's was over there standing it, taking full advantage of Jack not rocking the boat. Jack reminded him that they were in this thing together. Ennis was a rebel as well as stubborn in his manner, but he did have a weakness, Jack Twist and his need for him. I would like to think that though we will never know which way Jack's words would sway him that Jack finally got thru. That Ennis was finally open to change in his life, after Jack's words no doubt put the maximum pressure on him to fix this one way or the other. Imo, he was left with two choices, walk away from this thing, or make a commitment of some kind to Jack other than the status quo. Jack left the ball in his court and he sent the last postcard wanting meet up at Pine Creek...at least by that gesture, we know Ennis was still not willing to let go without some final words for Jack. What those words were or what they would mean will remain a mystery, but we as viewers can speculate forever which direction this could go. Certainly, he had a desire to fix it AFTER Jack's death IMHO, but maybe he had come to some resolution earlier than that. FNIT, SNIT, and the reunion scenes proved one thing, that Ennis was full of unexpected surprises when he has the right motivation. Thanx, MHO.

tpe · « **Reply #29 on:** Jun 03, 2008, 07:04 AM »

Quote from: aintfoolin on Jun 02, 2008, 03:59 PM

I love this, the analogy to an earthquake to shake Ennis out of his complacency. I suppose the confrontation scene would measure a 9.5 on the Reichter scale, because this surely had to rock Ennis's world completely.

Jack was no longer willing to be over here fixing it , while Ennis's was over there standing it, taking full advantage of Jack not rocking the boat. Jack reminded him that they were in this thing together. Ennis was a rebel as well as stubborn in his manner, but he did have a weakness, Jack Twist and his need for him. I would like to think that though we will never know which way Jack's words would sway him that Jack finally got thru. That Ennis was finally open to change in his life, after Jack's words no doubt put the maximum pressure on him to fix this one way or the other. Imo, he was left with two choices, walk away from this thing, or make a commitment of some kind to Jack other than the status quo. Jack left the ball in his court and he sent the last postcard wanting meet up at Pine Creek...at least by that gesture, we know Ennis was still not willing to let go without some final words for Jack. What those words were or what they would mean will remain a mystery, but we as viewers can speculate forever which direction this could go. Certainly, he had a desire to fix it AFTER Jack's death IMHO, but maybe he had come to some resolution earlier than that. FNIT, SNIT, and the reunion scenes proved one thing, that Ennis was full of unexpected surprises when he has the right motivation. Thanx, MHO.

I had always wondered whether Ennis would have done something had jack lived to break the stalemate. It would seem on the surface that the final break with Cassie signified something -- but did it really mean a change with Jack? Perhaps we shall never know... But I take at face value that Ennis couldn't stand it anymore, and was ready for a change.