How ar the themes presented in Cool Hand luke? Free Essay Example

In the film ‘Cool Hand Luke’ there are numerous themes that are presented in many ways. These themes are; Characters and Roles, Faith and Religion, Motif of Gambling, Setting and Atmosphere, Authority and Power. There are many ways in which the viewer can interpret these. These points will be explored throughout my essay.

The main character in the film is none other than Luke Jackson, who is portrayed by Paul Newman. Luke was imprisoned for defacing public property by removing the heads of parking meters.

Once inside the prison, Luke constantly questioned the rules, which brought out his audacity and spontaneity. This quickly gained him respect among the other prisoners. After escaping three times, the prison officers attempted to ‘break’ Luke from his ways. Luke fell to his knees and vowed to conform to the rules.

At this point the other prisoners lost respect for him. This made it seem as if they were just feeding off of him and using him as a form of entertainment.

Also, another prisoner, Dragline, was the ‘boss’ of the prisoners, and he abused his power until Luke arrived. Although he was ‘head’ of the prisoners he never broke the rules because he was afraid. He used Luke but also looked up to him at the same time. There was one prison officer that stood out. The ‘Boss’ or ‘man with no eyes’ wore very dark shades so that no one could see his eyes, thus read his emotions. He was very intimidating to the prisoners.

The viewer is led to think that no one can outsmart him because they never know what he is thinking which leaves his character as a bit of an enigma.

Another major topic of the film is Faith and Religion. This topic is a contradictory one that twists and turns itself within the movie with a number of different characters like Luke and Dragline. Luke doesn’t admit to being religious, but he contradicts himself a number of times during the course of the film. During one of the scenes it begins to rain and Luke asks God to show a sign of his existence, but it doesn’t come. He states to Dragline, “There ain’t no God, just standin’ in the rain talking to myself.” But, in the last scene he is in the church on his knees praying to God. Luke also refers to God as ‘Old Man’, which shows that he doesn’t want to show that he is religious. Luke doesn’t believe in God until he is out of ideas. In the last scene he turns to the ‘Old Man’ and asks if he has a plan for his life, because he has come to a dead end. This can help the viewer empathize with Luke on how peer pressure can affect ones beliefs.

The next theme is the Motif of Gambling. There was always a form of gambling in this movie. It seemed as if everything was a gamble or wager no matter where. In the film, Luke unintentionally earned respect by gambling with his life. Evidence of this is during the fight with Dragline, Luke gained respect for not giving up, even though he was getting pummeled and could have lost his life. This showed Luke’s tenacious character because he was the one left standing all alone in the ring because Dragline had walked off and given up. Another form would be Luke’s spontaneous character.

Throughout the movie Luke ran away three times without planning it. He claims that he had never planned anything in his life. Also, when Luke was made to dig ditches repeatedly for no apparent reason, the other prisoners were betting on whether he would break or not. In essence they were getting pleasure from Luke’s pain. The viewer can see where they have used Luke so much that he is suffering from this. This evokes a sympathetic response from the audience.

The Setting and Atmosphere of the film really underlined the fact that a jail is disconnected from the outside world. This was achieved by the fact that there are rarely any people around the prison or the prisoners and they are in the middle of nowhere. We know this because no one ever drives down the road that they clean up. Also, there aren’t any houses or buildings to be seen in the background for miles and miles, just farm and marshland. This shows that these men in the prison are isolated from the rest of society. This sends a message of warning that you never want to be in prison.

The film’s central theme of authority and power is understood by three main points. Power corrupts is the first point. The guards in the prison take advantage of their authority, like when Luke is forced to do work for no reason or when they try to put him in the box by giving him extra food. Also, when they put him in the box for no reason when his mother dies. This was a very important part in the movie. The guard says to Luke, “Sorry, just doing my job.” Luke replies, “Saying it’s your job don’t make it right.”

This shows that the system inside the prison is established so that no one can get around it. The second point is that there will always be an Ultimate Power, i.e. the ‘Old Man’. This means that no matter what we have limited control over what happens, and that there will always be someone or something higher than us. The third point is Defying Authority. This may be the biggest point in the entire movie. The film starts off with an act of defiance of authority when Luke is caught cutting the heads off of parking meters. This point continues all the way through to the last scene. Luke is constantly defying authority. It never ends in the movie. I think that it is the main purpose of the film.

In conclusion, I state that this film is important because it questions the very way that society exists in my world. It questions the validity of the punishment systems and laws of the present. Its’ powerfulness is complimented by the immaculate way that these themes are presented in the film.

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