Hey again, everybody. I'm going to make another long post, then I'll be very busy for a few days with a project (but I'll check in at least). I'll begin by quoting an exchange between *Patriot1* and myself from another thread. I don't know how to link at this point, but if one of the mods wants to supply the link, please do. The title of the thread is "Did Jack Have Lureen Killed?"
Quote from: edgar on Apr 17, 2006, 11:36 PM
Quote from: Patriot1 on Apr 17, 2006, 01:54 AM
Quote from: edgar on Apr 16, 2006, 11:43 PM
[*edgar] ...And the way the movie shows the flashes of the murder, those must come from Lureen's head, yes? Certainly not from Ennis's head, at this point.
[*Patriot 1*] Why do you think they can't come from Ennis' head Edgar?
He is the one standing there thinking and not saying a word, to the point where she had to say "hello" several times before the images stopped and he "woke up".
I was sure they came from Ennis.
[*edgar*]Also, I'm coming from the perspective that the shots of Jack's murder are "real." In other words, we are seeing what really happened to Jack. Ennis does not, cannot know this at this time. Lureen, imho, knows what really happened and *cannot keep* those images from her head as she repeats the lie.
I like your point about Jack's silence and faltering, but couldn't that just be a reaction to hearing the horrible news of Jack's death? Ennis was never much of a talker, you know....
[*Patriot1*] If you believe the images are real, that would have to mean either Ennis or Laureen was there when it happened in order for one of them to have a flashback of the real scene.
We all see the movie the way it means to most to us and I can not offer any conclusive proof or any kind of evidence to say the thoughts came from either one. However, because Ennis is listening to her and thinking, and so caught up in his thoughts of Jack dying by the tire iron, I just believe the thoughts came from him. She was talking, he was thinking. For me, it doesn't make sense any other way. She is talking and he is just standing there empty headed?
[*end of quoted material*]
I'll just start by saying that my understanding of the movie has changed since I wrote this, as will become clear. I've seen the movie again and read the short story since writing the above.
The reason why I said that I originally said that the images must have come from Lureen's head is explained by the fact that (I guess) she knew what happened (probably after the fact. I don't think she was involved in the murder, fwiw). However, now I see that they certainly came from Ennis's head (as Jack_Me points out in another thread, the shot is of Ennis, then the murder, then Ennis--the murder is in his thoughts).
This brings up some odd questions. Why would Ennis immediately think of Jack being murdered? Answer, of course, is that he had been shown Earl's body and had an almost irrational fear of his and/or Jack's being murdered because of society's homophobia (a homophobia, ironically, which he in part has shared in). But still.... It's not really like me to share personal information in a format like this, but it's one specific example of a well-known phenomenon that I can access immediately. When I was a teenager, my girlfriend was killed in a car accident. The accident occured at night. When my dad (I lived with my mom) showed up unexpectedly one morning to tell me the news, I distinctly remember standing in the doorway and laughing--for a split second. I wanted it to be a joke; my psychological defense to something I couldn't handle was to laugh at the information and thereby make it untrue. (I'm sure many of you can remember similar instances from your past or from works of literature and film.)
Now, Ennis already knows Jack is dead from the postcard, and has taken time to find the phone number, so we're not dealing with his absolute first reaction. But I still say that, psychologically, as Ennis hears those soul-searing words from Lureen, that any *involuntary* response on his part (such as seeing those images) would reflect Ennis's own desires. That's heavy, but this is a basic Freudian premise, and still very much accepted by later psychological theorists.
It is not at all uncommon for one partner in a relationship to dream or fantasize about the other's death. Once again, I'm sorry to be personal, but when my sister was trapped in a loveless marriage, she would dream very often that her husband had died. She would never have committed an act of violence against him; it was merely her subconscious helping her solve her problem by eliminating the issue. (She divorced.) One may also dream about a partner's death in times of conflict, or when one wishes for freedom.
I propose that Ennis has been wanting out of the relationship with Jack, and that his vision of the murder is one he has seen before--with himself or his "doppelganger" committing the murder.
Remember, as discussed in many other threads, Ennis had reached the breaking point and has told Jack, "Then why don't you [quit me]?" He blames Jack (partly irrationally, partly correctly) for all the problems in his life--economic, social, and family--and says he "can't stand this anymore." At least on some level, Jack wants out. He is definitely capable of withdrawing and "quitting" a relationship--we see exactly the moment when he does this with Alma; he is absolutely content to "leave her alone." This is what a part of him (his superego, formed by the homophobic society, and his ego, who doesn't want to have a "queer" identity--or you can just say his "head") wants to do with Jack. However his id (or his "heart" or his body) still sends the postcard. (This gets more complicated: he also sends the postcard because part of him feels obliged to Jack, his one true friend. Poor Ennis, where was a good therapist when he needed one?)
Now back to the question of whether the images Ennis sees are real or imagined. As *Patriot1* points out in the quotation above, strictly speaking, for the images to be real, either Ennis or Lureen (but they don't come from her head) would have had to witness the incident. Ennis certainly didn't. Now it gets difficult. Many of us believe the images show what really happened to Jack. We know Ang Lee filmed the entire sequence and then omitted most of it, just giving us those few horrible images. Thus, we tend to think that it really happened. (And, btw, since it was at the time meant to be part of the film, I definitely defend my original assertion that the choice to cast Christian Fraser, Ennis's double, as one of the murderers was intentional.)
However, the way the movie is now (not taking into account the story, the original screenplay, or the original film sequence), I think the only logical way to interpret the scene is as follows:
1. The images are from Ennis's head.
2. The images cannot be the *actual* murder because Ennis hasn't seen it. (However, they are close to the real thing, as it turns out.)
3. Ennis deepest fear (which, as we know, has a way of mixing itself up with our deepest desires at times) is that Jack would get killed because of him. He has had nightmares/daydreams of such a scenario.
4. An essential part of those nightmares was that Ennis himself was involved in the murder. This is due to the fact that Ennis could not psychologically handle with his relationship with Jack, and part of him wanted to do away with Jack, whom he resented for many valid reasons. (And loved for many valid reasons, but that's another story.)
5. Because of number 4, Ennis felt terrribly guilty and was a psychological mess, not able to handle the relationship with Cassie, withdrawing further and further into himself, drinking quite a bit, and having insomnia (apple pie scene).
Thus, the images Ennis sees in the phone booth are primarily from Ennis's nightmares of Ennis murdering Jack, but also, symbolically mixed with the actual murder of Jack. (Ennis was, after all, correct about the way these things happened in that society.)
Where's the emoticon that says... Whew!!!
Sorry for the long post, and for the disturbing parts of it, but I tried to show that this was a normal and understandable psychological process Ennis went through in which he saw himself murdering his friend and lover. Because he blamed himself for Jack's death, we see Ennis become very, very withdrawn and haggard afterwards.
This, by the way, is how Annie Proulx started writing the story. She saw a sad old cowboy sitting in a bar drinking.....
Thanks all, for reading. Hugs all around.