I’m glad you filled in the blank, but are you?<\/p>\n
Author of Brokeback Mountain,\u00a0Edna Ann Proulx, is begging something of us as readers. I propose that the argument woven throughout the text is the internalization of fear, in this case, queer fear. By saying this, I want to outwardly state that my definition of “queer fear” is not homophobia. Rather, “queer fear” coins itself as a moment of dread felt by someone who may or may not identity as queer themselves. And I hear the sigh already, “okay babes, the main characters in Brokeback Mountain never call themselves gay, why is that a big deal”? And to that I say, “exactly”.<\/p>\n
Some textual points I would like to expand upon can easily be recognized starting as early as page fifteen. After Jack and Ennis have intimate and sensual sex, Ennis interjects “I’m not no queer”, to which Jack responds “Me neither. A one-shot thing. Nobody\u2019s business but ours\u201d (Proulx 15). I would like to propose that here, queer fear catches up with the reality of their situation. While having sex, Jack and Ennis are not exactly worried with being perceived as queer. However, once they have finished, outside societal pressures creep their way back into their consciousnesses. This happens again, four years later, after each have their own wife and kids, as well. After having sex (again, surprise!), Ennis again states, “You know, I was sittin up here all that time tryin to figure out if I was\u2014? I know I ain\u2019t” (Proulx 26). After stating this, he expands and says, “I mean here we both got wives and kids, right?” (Proulx 26). Ennis, in my reading, is controlled by the fear of being perceived as queer, which is jarring and gutting in its own right.<\/p>\n
In Brokeback Mountain, I would argue that queer fear originates in social context, here being driven by the requirement to fit in socially. However for Ennis, the need to fit in socially derives from early childhood trauma, seeing Earl, killed for the notion of being queer (Proulx 29). This ultimately catches up and manifests itself more seriously in hearing Jack has passed away. Though Jack is never explicitly murdered, for Ennis, fear has now embedded itself so deeply, that he wholeheartedly believes that Jack was murdered.<\/p>\n
This leads me back to my title. We’re all trying to figure out what we are, only if it fits though. We have an understanding of how we’re perceived, in the same breathe, we also have the ability to filter certain facets of our identities for what is most palatable for others. Some of us, for job interviews to look more presentable, but for some, driven by queer fear.<\/p>\n
Hope I’m useful,<\/p>\n
Jay Walker <3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m glad you filled in the blank, but are you? Author of Brokeback Mountain,\u00a0Edna Ann Proulx, is begging something of us as readers. I propose that the argument woven throughout the text is the internalization of fear, in this case, queer fear. By saying this, I want to outwardly state that my definition of “queer … Continue reading We’re All Tryin’ to Figure Out if We’re \u2014.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346798],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2023-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}