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Gwynneth Waters
Kelly Jones
COM 120-I01K
25 April 2021
Interpersonal Communication in Brokeback Mountain
Director Ang Lee’s 2005 romantic drama Brokeback Mountain follows the intersections
of two men’s lives from young adulthood until one of their untimely deaths. The two central
characters, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, form a lifelong bond after working together for the
summer in 1963 as sheepherders on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. Their relationship
consists of a contentious passionate love, characterized by occasional covert meetings between
the two after their initial period together on the mountain. Throughout their lives Jack and Ennis
experience a great deal of interpersonal conflict, having serial arguments about the ideal nature
of their relationship.
The central conflict of the film revolves around Jack’s desire to have a more intimate
relationship in which the two purchase a parcel of land and run their own ranch, thus being able
to fulfill their emotional desires together rather than limiting their contact in order to avoid
arousing suspicion. Ennis, however, believes that this is not a realistic path for their lives to take,
partially due to his experience as a child seeing the body of a presumably gay man who had been
brutally beaten and killed for living with another man. The two come to an agreement in the form
of structural improvement, deciding that they will continue to meet for their “fishing trips” a few
times a year when they are able to get away from their normal lives and Jack can travel from
Texas to spend time with Ennis. However, resentment builds between the two as Jack desires
more and Ennis perceives his difficult financial situation and the deterioration of his intimate
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relationships to be the fault of Jack. These serial arguments continue over the decades, resulting
in a physical fight between the two at one point and many verbal confrontations. At their final
meeting before Jack’s death, Ennis reveals that he cannot meet next until four months later than
planned, resulting in an argument with no satisfactory conclusion. Ennis later learns that Jack has
died, supposedly from a freak accident, though the viewer knows Jack was the victim of a violent
hate crime similar to the one Ennis was exposed to as a child. Thus, the central conflict between
the two was never truly resolved in the long-term but rather continually patched with short-term
solutions until true long-term resolution was no longer possible.
Throughout the movie, the attachment styles of the two main characters are made rather
clear. Jack, who is continually pushing for a closer and more committed involvement with each
other, has a preoccupied attachment. He fears rejection from Ennis in the form of lack of
