Hello
romeshvr and
dblippy. Welcome.
The screenplay is fairly faithful to the original story when it comes to the use of symbols. Recall that in the original story, the northern plains are always evoked to call to mind loneliness, bleakness, and an intrinsic sadness. This is contrasted with the the beauty and majesty of the mountain (i.e. BrokeBack Mountain), which is the refuge and symbol of the love between Ennis and Jack.
I have mentioned elsewhere that in the screenplay, the final shot is made to evoke loneliness and bleakness -- as if to mirror Ennis' regret and resignation in losing Jack. The screenplay ends by bringing to our attention
'the bleakness of the vast northern plains', but as in Proulx's other work, there is a stark and severe beauty to the northern plains that is captured most perfectly in the final shot of the movie. Personally, I find a note of comfort in the final shot -- something which is never hinted at in the original story or the screenplay, and I suspect that this is an addition of Ang Lee (excellent cinematographer that he is.)
dblippy, in the scene where the shirts are found in Jack's room, Jack's blue shirt is seen covering Ennis' white shirt. In the final scene, we see that Ennis' white shirt now protects Jack's blue shirt. This reversal is not found in the original story, but is explicitly added in the screenplay. Since Proulx had a hand in suggesting modifications to the final screenplay, I would assume that this addition (presumably made by the screenplay writers) has her explicit blessing.