tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post8007840153278886227..comments2024-03-28T18:35:54.237+09:00Comments on BigHominid's Hairy Chasms: the Tao of ChanceKevin Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-71566121069178851342021-02-10T07:07:03.118+09:002021-02-10T07:07:03.118+09:00You're welcome, John, and thanks for reading!You're welcome, John, and thanks for reading! Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-87137189096872530052021-02-10T06:24:03.529+09:002021-02-10T06:24:03.529+09:00Wow! Not sure how I missed this post way back in ...Wow! Not sure how I missed this post way back in the days when one could "rent" a movie. I guess with all the religious discourse it couldn't help but be enlightening. I know next to nothing about the so-called Eastern religions so you provided a fascinating introduction in relating them to the character of Chance. Good stuff!<br /><br />Cool Hand Luke is probably my favorite Newman film. Never thought about his Christ-like qualities until now. I guess I'll have to re-watch it with that context in mind.<br /><br />Thanks again for the link to this post.John Machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614775172062071697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-38642494163192657552013-08-25T00:46:58.820+09:002013-08-25T00:46:58.820+09:00Brat,
I don't think you're wrong.
Nathan...Brat,<br /><br />I don't think you're wrong.<br /><br />Nathan,<br /><br />Gracias.<br /><br />Steve,<br /><br />I've seen "Cool Hand Luke," and I completely agree with your take. From the biblical name "Luke" to the eggs (which themselves symbolize rebirth/resurrection), Christ-imagery comes fast and furious in this movie. Even the recurrent trope of the "failure to communicate" harks back to Jesus asking God to forgive his tormentors, for "they know not what they do." I think you're absolutely spot-on.Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-67027636446225481792013-08-24T21:50:29.468+09:002013-08-24T21:50:29.468+09:00For my money, the greatest Christ figure in film i...For my money, the greatest Christ figure in film is chain gang prisoner and frequent escapee Luke from Cool Hand Luke. On your list of Christ traits above, the only one he's missing is being resurrected. <br /><br /><i>And</i> he has moments in the film that hearken back to specific touchstones in the Christ story. After his "miracle" of eating 50 hard boiled eggs, he is left lying on the table in the crucified position (he even has one foot on top of the other). Later, after a break out and recapture, Luke is given a massive plate of food and cannot leave the table until it's gone. The other men file past him one by one and scoop food off his plate, effectively "taking and eating" of him. He even has a moment of conversation with God in which he asks that the cup be taken from him.<br /><br />If you're not familiar with Cool Hand Luke, you should track it down and watch it. You can't not see the Christ story as it plays out...and it's a great damn film.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-7258575315608984542013-02-27T14:22:19.279+09:002013-02-27T14:22:19.279+09:00Bravo, Kevin! This is a great post on my favourit...Bravo, Kevin! This is a great post on my favourite movie. I still think that Chance has certainly got elements of a Christ-figure in him, but he's certainly no Jesus. Anyway, I agree with you that Taoism is a more appropriate lens to view Chance through than Zen Buddhism.Nathan B.http://nathanbauman.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-73372090667992932942013-02-24T19:09:13.341+09:002013-02-24T19:09:13.341+09:00Holy shit!
To me this movie is about a simpleton ...Holy shit!<br /><br />To me this movie is about a simpleton who can't relate to the world and yet all the people who react with him read their own interpretations into the things he says.<br /><br />Which is, I think, how people react to such things as Bibles and holy writings. And shrinks. Because shrinks insist you come to your own conclusions, as it should be.<br /><br />Since Chance doesn't 'look' retarded, no one is going to treat him as such. He doesn't look how one might suppose a retarded person looks and/or acts and/or dresses, for example.<br /><br />If he had the 'classic' look of someone with Down Syndrome for instance, he never would have been taken for some kind of eccentric philosopher.<br /><br />So, you can take the craziest shit, dress it up nicely, and people are going to fall in behind it.<br /><br />Dress it up as crazy though, and you'll still get people, but not as many. <br /><br />(Space shit hiding behind a comet, anyone? There's a possible naked eye comet coming in March: Nasa: http://tinyurl.com/ad5zzte)<br /><br />Bratfinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18199795989064872696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-17418537378883747732013-02-20T00:14:15.130+09:002013-02-20T00:14:15.130+09:00Perceptive insight. Since "Dasein" pair...Perceptive insight. Since "Dasein" pairs up nicely with Heidegger's other major concept, "Geworfenheit" ("thrownness"), we could be talking about being-in-context. Chance is "thrown" from one situation to another, although in true Taoist fashion he doesn't struggle against his circumstances. His is a non-mastering mastery.Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-45171292892484822032013-02-19T21:24:00.578+09:002013-02-19T21:24:00.578+09:00"For one thing, the aptly-named film is a tes..."For one thing, the aptly-named film is a testament to a tremendous human need: the need for others to “be there” for us". <br /><br />I think "being there" is just Heidegger's "dasein", literally "being there", his word for pure human existence.Domnoreply@blogger.com