The Zapruder film was very shocking and graphic I had never seen it before nor did I know that a film of the Kennedy assassination even existed. The most graphic and heart wrenching event in the film is not the president himself being shot, but when the first lady leaps onto the back of the car reaching for a piece of his heading that has been blown off from the gunshot. Seeing this and her desperation was very sad. It was almost as if in that moment she thought that putting that piece of him back would save him, would keep him alive. This makes you want to cry and you have such sympathy for her in her desperate act.
I would also like to say that in seeing the film it does appear that the president was shot from behind and not from in front of him. The bullet appears to enter the back of his head rather than the front and it is difficult to see in which direction it actually exists.
Also interesting to see the number of shots. Before reading Libra and seeing the video I had always assumed that JFK had been killed with one direct shot to the head. But seeing the video you can see that he was shot 2 or 3 times. He leans over the first time he is shot and you can see concern on the face of the first lady, and some pain is somewhat visible on his face.
The film was shocking over all, and the fact that people could be more concerned about the conspiracy around the shooting and not the emotions and sadness is disturbing. You would really have to be an emotionless person to sit and watch and study that video over and over for hours upon hours.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Lee, Le, Li....
I find DeLillo's use of Lee's name throughout the novel is very interesting especially how well it all ties in with as character and are historically accurate.
Lee takes on many different aliases throughout the procession of the novel. This last and most important one to me is Leon. Leon is the alias who will be carrying out the assassination and is the one in cahoots with the other conspirators. Leon is also the name would go down in history if Lee had not been a recognizable figure and had people who knew him such as Ferrie and his family.
I also really appreciated the title Libra and tying in of the astrological sign and that Lee was a Libra. Considering that the astrological sign of the Libra is all about balance it somewhat ironic. As a character Lee is not very balanced at all. He is more negative that positive. He is definitely more unorganized than organized. His organization prevents him even more from being balanced. Which in the end leads to his demise.
I have never really been one to believe in astrology and horoscopes but in Lee's case, I would say that it plays a role. His unorganized acts in the Kennedy assassination and the few hours after leading to his arrest make this very apparent. Lee fired his shots too early, leading to the plan not going the way it was supposed to. His cockiness and failure to comply with a policeman leading to him murdering the man also shows how unorganized he was. Lee didn't have a plan for escape. He paced for some time in a back alley rather than just leaving the scene of the crime and going far away. If Lee had been balanced which is the main theme of his zodiac sign he would have been more organized and would have gotten away. I'm not saying that he would have gotten away with the murder of President Kennedy, but it might have taken longer for him to get caught.
Lee takes on many different aliases throughout the procession of the novel. This last and most important one to me is Leon. Leon is the alias who will be carrying out the assassination and is the one in cahoots with the other conspirators. Leon is also the name would go down in history if Lee had not been a recognizable figure and had people who knew him such as Ferrie and his family.
I also really appreciated the title Libra and tying in of the astrological sign and that Lee was a Libra. Considering that the astrological sign of the Libra is all about balance it somewhat ironic. As a character Lee is not very balanced at all. He is more negative that positive. He is definitely more unorganized than organized. His organization prevents him even more from being balanced. Which in the end leads to his demise.
I have never really been one to believe in astrology and horoscopes but in Lee's case, I would say that it plays a role. His unorganized acts in the Kennedy assassination and the few hours after leading to his arrest make this very apparent. Lee fired his shots too early, leading to the plan not going the way it was supposed to. His cockiness and failure to comply with a policeman leading to him murdering the man also shows how unorganized he was. Lee didn't have a plan for escape. He paced for some time in a back alley rather than just leaving the scene of the crime and going far away. If Lee had been balanced which is the main theme of his zodiac sign he would have been more organized and would have gotten away. I'm not saying that he would have gotten away with the murder of President Kennedy, but it might have taken longer for him to get caught.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Pictures of Characters
On seeing the actual pictures of Lee and Ferrie, I realized that they looked either a lot different than I had expected or somewhat similar.
Lee looked a lot younger than I had expected him to, but he was in fact younger than I had thought he was. I had always thought that Lee Harvey Oswald was just some angry 40 year old guy who had decided to stake out and shoot the president. I had never been the kind of person to feed off into conspiracy or be really involved in historical conspiracies. Seeing Lee, and the photos of him I could see that he was somewhat conflicted. His photos of himself holding his gun are especially revealing showing that he needs to somehow impress himself or maybe even his wife. There aren't many other people that would have seen the photo because there wasn't Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram back then. His mugshots also look kind of smug like, "what did I do wrong?". Lee really was just a conflicted character, he always wanted to do things his way and found himself to be much more important than he really was. He didn't want do things how people told him, but when he didn't things seemed to go all wrong. The photos of Lee also make him look very innocent. He has the slightest baby face, that really makes you question if someone like him could carry out such an act.
Ferrie looked just as creepy as I had expected him to. The toupee and his eyebrows were very amusing. Although I expected him to have a more narrow face and a creepy beak like nose. In this weird and terrible way he reminds me of this cashier at County Market who only works late at night and seems to always be there when Nikita and I go. She has really bad drawn on eyebrows, that look like she might use a brown Crayola marker. Although Ferrie's photos don't really make him out to be the conspirator type either. They more make him out to be clown reject, a terrible cross dresser, or a pedophile. Especially the pedophile part, which makes the somewhat more intimate scene between him and Lee more believable.
Its always interesting to have your own interpretations of what a character might look like, but have an actual and historical comparison is even better.
Lee looked a lot younger than I had expected him to, but he was in fact younger than I had thought he was. I had always thought that Lee Harvey Oswald was just some angry 40 year old guy who had decided to stake out and shoot the president. I had never been the kind of person to feed off into conspiracy or be really involved in historical conspiracies. Seeing Lee, and the photos of him I could see that he was somewhat conflicted. His photos of himself holding his gun are especially revealing showing that he needs to somehow impress himself or maybe even his wife. There aren't many other people that would have seen the photo because there wasn't Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram back then. His mugshots also look kind of smug like, "what did I do wrong?". Lee really was just a conflicted character, he always wanted to do things his way and found himself to be much more important than he really was. He didn't want do things how people told him, but when he didn't things seemed to go all wrong. The photos of Lee also make him look very innocent. He has the slightest baby face, that really makes you question if someone like him could carry out such an act.
Ferrie looked just as creepy as I had expected him to. The toupee and his eyebrows were very amusing. Although I expected him to have a more narrow face and a creepy beak like nose. In this weird and terrible way he reminds me of this cashier at County Market who only works late at night and seems to always be there when Nikita and I go. She has really bad drawn on eyebrows, that look like she might use a brown Crayola marker. Although Ferrie's photos don't really make him out to be the conspirator type either. They more make him out to be clown reject, a terrible cross dresser, or a pedophile. Especially the pedophile part, which makes the somewhat more intimate scene between him and Lee more believable.
Its always interesting to have your own interpretations of what a character might look like, but have an actual and historical comparison is even better.
Seeing Lee Harvey Oswald as an actual person rather than just a name, makes it very difficult for me to believe that he killed the president. Lee was very unorganized and just did things on whim, he didn't really think things through. This can be seen when he shoots himself and when he attempts to assassinate the general. Both of these acts are done in haste and do not have the exact outcome that he had hoped for. He is allowed to stay in Japan after shooting himself but the wound only appears to be a mere scratch and nothing major. When he attempts to assassinate the general, he has the dates wrong. Further more when he does actually shoot the general he hits him in the arm, and to further more be belittled the general removes the bullet with a pair of tweezers as though it were a splinter
From his previous attempts at doing harm to others especially his previous assassination attempt just causes me to have some doubts about his success in killing the president. Even if Lee had been assisted and had help from others, he himself would have failed. He had such pride that he didn't use a more advanced weapon and insisted on using his own that was old and outdated. He wasn't really a good shot which could be seen when he shoots the general in the arm. If he couldn't shoot a man who was sitting still, how could he shoot and kill a man that was moving.
I think that there may have even been 3 shooters. Two others to account for the actual shots that hit the President. It is highly unlikely that Lee managed to do it, maybe he did in fact shoot the president, but he didn't kill him.
From his previous attempts at doing harm to others especially his previous assassination attempt just causes me to have some doubts about his success in killing the president. Even if Lee had been assisted and had help from others, he himself would have failed. He had such pride that he didn't use a more advanced weapon and insisted on using his own that was old and outdated. He wasn't really a good shot which could be seen when he shoots the general in the arm. If he couldn't shoot a man who was sitting still, how could he shoot and kill a man that was moving.
I think that there may have even been 3 shooters. Two others to account for the actual shots that hit the President. It is highly unlikely that Lee managed to do it, maybe he did in fact shoot the president, but he didn't kill him.
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