40...41...42... Eggs and 40 Nights [spoilers]
(Or Cool Hand Luke, Passion Play)
Surly and i have been kicking around the notion of Cool Hand Luke (aka The Sweatiest Movie Ever) as an allegorical retelling of the Gospels. For one, there are crosses and crucifixion-like imagery throughout the movie; for another, according to IMDb, Luke's number is 37 not as a reference to Clerks* but as a reference to Luke 1:37, "For nothing is impossible with God."
Anyway, here's a quick recap of the things we've found so far:
This is just what we came up with tonight after finishing what we didn't watch last night. (And yes, we didn't start watching it till after midnight so that we could shoot for some further "stayed up all night to watch Cool Hand Luke" action.) Anybody else have other points to make about the allegory that's possibly present? Anybody think we're just totally smoking crack?
*****
*That was a joke.
Surly and i have been kicking around the notion of Cool Hand Luke (aka The Sweatiest Movie Ever) as an allegorical retelling of the Gospels. For one, there are crosses and crucifixion-like imagery throughout the movie; for another, according to IMDb, Luke's number is 37 not as a reference to Clerks* but as a reference to Luke 1:37, "For nothing is impossible with God."
Anyway, here's a quick recap of the things we've found so far:
- This first one's a stretch: the opening scene, where Luke is cutting heads off of parking meters, could be seen as a parallel to throwing the moneylenders out of the temple.
- At the end of the 50 eggs scene, Luke is left lying on his back on a table, arms splayed to either side, feet together, lit so that he stands out against the dark background, looking for all the world like he's crucified.
- When he's told to get his dirt out of Boss Kean's ditch--in other words, dig a ditch where there wasn't one before--he digs what looks like a grave. It is in this grave that he's finally "broken" by the bosses and the captain, where he lays down in the ditch/grave, cries out to God, and agrees to behave--this could be the death/martyrdom...
- ...followed by Luke's sudden acquiescence to everything the guards ask, causing his friends/followers to despair that he's gone, until he steals the truck and returns to his Luke-like ways (and the tomb is revealed as empty!1) until...
- ...he is caught and killed, and dies with a smile on his face, to be taken up to Heaven;
- On the other hand, the last scene in the church, before Dragline and the cops show up, could be seen as his night in the garden;
- The last shot of the movie pans away to show the chain gang working at a crossroads, which is then superimposed/replaced with the picture of Luke and the two prostitutes. The picture has been ripped in quarters and taped back together, but instead of being ripped into even quarters, the tears are vertically down the middle, but horizontally closer to the top, making it appear like a cross.
- Dude, he's hanging out with the prostitutes and the criminals, yo.
- He constantly rejects the authority of the prison establishment (aka "the Romans") and instead follows his own laws.
- Dragline and several of the inmates act as disciples. Dragline most closely resembles Peter--Peter was a leader before Jesus came along (as Dragline was the namer and the leader of the prison group), he had a stronger and more well-defined character (frankly, he's the only one who stands out for more than one or two lines), denies Jesus (losing his faith in Luke after he's "broken"), but then after realizing what he's done he becomes a very aggressive and vocal supporter, actively fighting to stop the crucifixion (attacking the Man with No Eyes), and after Christ's ascension, spreading the Gospel and taking over leadership of the other disciples/the Church (the final scene where he's telling the rest about how it happened).
- Eating 50 eggs is a miracle--"nobody could do that."
This is just what we came up with tonight after finishing what we didn't watch last night. (And yes, we didn't start watching it till after midnight so that we could shoot for some further "stayed up all night to watch Cool Hand Luke" action.) Anybody else have other points to make about the allegory that's possibly present? Anybody think we're just totally smoking crack?
*****
*That was a joke.