Andrew's Blog

The visual text I plan to discuss in my paper is the movie Cool Hand Luke. The movie is a 1967 Stuart Rosenberg film staring Paul Newman. It is a representation of the lives of prisoners in roadside chain-gangs, which were often used in the south during the early 40’s. The main character Luke (Newman) is a new addition to a chain gang, but he quickly shakes the foundations of the establishment. Luke is the man who will not conform. His rebellious makes him an attractive character who appeals to almost any audience. The movie ends with Luke being killed because of his refusal to corporate with prison officials. One famous line often quoted from this movie is when the prison boss says to Luke “What we got here is… failure to communicate.”

I would like to write my evaluation on how this film is a representation of biblical values. Luke certainly fits the character of a modern day messiah. I think that this is a movie everyone should watch. It has the amazing ability to be a fun movie to watch while simultaneously teach about human values. It shows one of the great struggles of the human spirit. Luke becomes an idol who you viewers wish to emulate. It displays the human part of criminals which can be applied to any person thought of as sterotypically bad.

Technology has certainly affected the way we remember events. Photography in particular is something which people spend endless amounts of time researching and perfecting. Magazines are devoted entirely to the artistic quality of photographs. Some pictures are so powerful that they inspire people to change. The ability to change people’s perceptions of the world is one of the greatest powers a person can hope to achieve. However, other people abuse photography. They seek to create a false sense of memory about an event by creating poses to be recorded. The time they spend taking these meaningless “family photos” detracts from the experience of the event. (I’m sure everyone has seen a photo album that has the same people in the same pose behind any variety of backgrounds.)

Something as simple as a photo can be infinitely complex or totally meaningless. It’s impossible to judge photography as a medium. Every picture in a roll of film starts of blank. It’s the person behind the camera who creates the persona of the picture. It is this person who makes a picture good or bad. They are the person who can make a picture have value.

In my family there are examples of both good and bad photography. My father is a terrible with a camera. He insists that we assume the same familiar poses, with the same forced smiles. There are no memories recorded on this film. But, who is to say it’s bad, it makes him happy and it obviously works for millions of others. My mother, however, has had her photography published establishing her as good photographer. She told me once that something important for pictures is to take the photo when the other person isn’t aware they are being watched by a camera. The essence of life can be seen in her pictures. But, that’s only my opinion. Since photography is really a form of expression like any other kind of art quality is determined by the audience.