Whirlcool,
Well, Proulx wrote the story many years ago, so of course she's done with it. If she had intended to do a sequel, it would have been done by now. And with Jack gone, it would be very difficult to work up another angle.
That said, I still think the movie ends on a slightly upbeat note - mainly, Ennis finally begins to realize how cutting himself off from other people is not working and not really what he wants. He finally agrees to attend his daughter's wedding, shelving his usual excuses of work and poverty. That is a smidgeon of the character development we all like to see, whether it's in fiction or real life. And the look of joy on his daughter's face makes it very worthwhile.
Toggle,
I have heard a similar thing about the pre-christian era. Like you say about modern Arab/Hispanic cultures, the Romans and Greeks didn't lose respect for a man as long as he was in the dominant role. And wasn't Alexander the Great the one who established a great monument, if not a city, in honor of his favorite male lover, who drowned in the Nile?
Ennis' self-loathing becomes painfully obvious when he can't relate to the bouncy waitress who keeps on trying to break though to him. "I don't get you, Ennis Del Mar!" she says tearfully in frustration at his refusal to return her calls and messages. Perhaps that's because, Ennis didn't "get himself".
