Images of greatness

The invention of the camera and video cameras has started a revolution. We are bombarded with free flowing, aesthetically pleasing to the eye, fast moving images everyday. There are probably many images around you as you are reading this blog right this very minute. Your existence and life’s most cherished memories can be told with a giant photo album, no words attached are even necessary. Images and the Image Culture is a phenomenon that I cannot explain in words.

A simple picture can speak a thousand words. My job was to find an image that is meaningful to me and share its importance to a culture. Many images easily come to mind, most of them political or military based. Famous war photographs from the civil war including sprawled out dead bodies on the grounds of the First Bull Run or Antietam, Marines raising the American Flag at Iwo Jima, a naked crying girl running in the streets of Vietnam, Jaws surfacing from deep beneath the dark murky waters, Indiana Jones escaping from a giant bolder, Michael Jackson moon-walking or NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong standing on the moon.

All of these images have been presented to us and have been embedded into our minds through the universal use of media and literature. Yet, I need to share an image that is truly meaningful to me. I have selected the famous photograph taken of Boston Celtics legend, The Hick from French Lick, Larry Bird and the Los Angeles Lakers Superstar, Mr. Showtime himself, Earvin “Magic” Johnson! I must say that this image has many meanings besides two players awaiting a possible rebound. You can see this very image in the background of my room in my recently made vlog regarding self-censorship. By the way, it is a painting that was given to me for my birthday from a friend who is an artist.

This particular image has been named as one of the Top 100 Sports Illustrated Magazines greatest photographs. Just the other day I witnessed a fellow SFSU student wearing a lime green t-shirt with the image on the front. I can say that it has obviously affected our culture in some shape or form.

Rosen says, “ We will, of course, be enormously entertained by these images, and many of them will tell us stories in new and exciting ways……....why particular

events or people affect us as they do.”

These two particular people have had a tremendous effect on me. Not only in the way I view the game of basketball, but in life as well. This image can tell everyone a story. This image in my eyes represents the path or drive to success, work ethic, leadership, pride, striving to be the best, friendship, respect, dedication, excitement, competitiveness, guts, intelligence, determination, domination, class, warriors, gladiators, just to name a few. At the time they were of epic proportions. Mythical like gods some say. In representing the cultural aspect during the 1980’s, the city of Boston represented the blue collared, hardworking, and gritty workers putting in the hours. While the city of Los Angeles represented the white-collared, glamour, flashing lights, and Hollywood.

As stated in the synopsis for a new book about these two individuals, “From the moment these two players took the court on opposing sides, they engaged in a fierce physical and psychological battle. Their uncommonly competitive relationship came to symbolize the most compelling rivalry in the NBA. These were the basketball epics of the 1980s -- Celtics vs. Lakers, East vs. West, physical vs. finesse, Old School vs. Showtime, even white vs. black.

In conclusion, images take us over completely. How close is that to McLuhan? Whether it is one image or a million images, the point is that they mean so much more than just an image. They speak to us without the use of words. They are a language all in themselves. They are capable of sharing the past; they are capable of sharing the future. They are…