Pictures that Lie

My picture is inspired by some research I'm doing for a literaure class about Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange. The film adaptation of the novel has become such an iconic aesthetic, and Malcolm McDowell's interpretation of the novel's main character, Alex, is so simultaneously chilling and charming, I just couldn't resist adding another image to the milieu.

First, I found a lovely antique picture of Lisbon on Stock Xchange, and I found a screen shot from the movie on Google. I magnetically lassoed Alex out of the screen shot and put him on the streets of Lisbon. I had to resize him so he didn't tower over the door frames, and I had to use the clone stamp tool around his arms and legs (which was one of the most painstaking tasks I've ever had to do).

My Picture that Lies doesn't really have a great political meaning like many of the photos we have looked at in this class. However, in researching the public's reaction to this work of art, I have been amazed how the movie still repulses and shocks people today despite the presence of much more violent (and less well constructed) films in the mainstream today. For me, this image somewhat conveys the "staying power" of the book and film in the modern mind.

In my opinion, I don't believe that this manipulation was harmful. If I tried to use it for commercial gain, it would be illegal since I don't have permission from Malcolm McDowell to use his image, but since this is just for my class project, it's just a harmless, sort of weird image that pays tribute to one of favorite directors, Stanley Kubrick. However, if I were going to make something like this for commerical use, I would obtain permission to use the picture of Malcolm McDowell.

The article I researched is titled "Computer as Accessory to Photo Fakery." It doesn't directly relate to my piece because the article deals with supposedly faked photos of POWs in China. However, the article also addresses the history of photo fakery. Before the use of computers, the article reports that "the photo manipulator...needed a mechanical pencil, retouching medium, an etching knife and tubes of spotting colors." Even though I complained earlier about the difficulty of cloning the tiny areas around Alex's arms and legs to make him appear like he is actually on the street, in perspective, using PhotoShop is so much easier than the old methods. It's amazing what lengths people went to in order to fool others before PhotoShop became so prevalent.

Browne, Malcolm W. ""Computer as Accessory to Photo Fakery"." New York Times 24 Jul 1991: 6. Web. 9 Apr 2010.