The Life of David Gale

The Life of David Gale “Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind” (George Bernard Shaw). There are civilizations and niches of hunters all over the world that believe if you drink the blood of the steer you kill you reach a level of enlightenment that only hunters and those willing to take a life are subject to. If this is true what happens psychologically to the hired hands of “correctional facilities” that either apply for or are relocated to the job of, executioner, murderer, or any variation of the job? If your job is to kill, regardless of weather or not it is classified as “justifiable” your psychological dynamics will undoubtedly be altered. To quote John Mayer “where are all the people watching people watching me?” If you give people the right or duty to kill others their morals become questionable. George Shaw’s standpoint towards capitol punishment challenges the very concept of an eye for an eye and the mentality of politicians and civilians alike that support capital punishment. If the son of a carpenter learns patience, hard work, dedication, and craftsmanship what is absorbed by the son of an executioner? Alan Parker clearly utilizes a balance of both pathos and logos in the film The Life of David Gale, to present both rational and non-rational aspects in support of the argument that Capital Punishment is not only wrong, but the system and branches of the judicial system responsible for its undertaking are flawed. Any mistake would be proof that the two were reprehensible for murder and is nothing less than intolerable. Though Alan Parker claims that the film was not meant to be “[…]a political diatribe”(Alan Parker’s The Death Penalty: The Political Argument), the film unmistakably provides energy for one.
The strongest presence of emotional appeal within the film was embedded into the characters David Gale and Constance. Constance’s involvement in the film was