Biographical Film Entitled Polloc - Essay Example

There are a variety of sacrifices made by Pollock’s friends, family, and colleagues. For instance, Pollock’s girlfriend and eventual wife, Lee Krasner, sacrificed her well-being and success to support Pollock’s painting. In addition to becoming his manager, Lee also takes care of Pollock when he is diagnosed as neurotic and continually tries to help him with his alcoholism. She essentially supports Pollock financially as well because he is not able to sell any paintings due to his inability to change his paintings for potential clients. Lee even appears to sacrifice motherhood because she knows that she must be there to care for Pollock and his mental health problems, in addition to pushing him to continue his art. Later on, she has to sacrifice her happiness as she puts up with the affair between Pollock and Ruth Kilgman.

Pollock also must make some sacrifices for his art. In the film, the audience sees Pollock struggle to sell his paintings. This is mostly because Pollock does not appear to want to modify his paintings according to the tastes of others. Because he refuses to do this, art buyers are not purchasing his paintings. He seems to believe that his art is not as pure, or that he loses some of his artistic integrity if he gives in to the buyer’s desires. He is forced to sacrifice this type of mindset when Life magazine decides to write about him which appears to bother Pollock as he does not seem to want this added attention and seems to believe that he is a phony or a sell-out for allowing Life magazine to cover him. Ultimately, he sacrifices his career and life due to his alcoholism which ends up causing a deadly car crash.

Because so much pain and struggle surrounded Pollock’s life and career, the question of whether or not it was all worth it floats to the forefront of the discussion. Without the controversy and early death, likely, Pollock would not have been as well remembered in the history of American art. Typically, it is the bad things such as difficult relationships, mental illnesses, difficult personalities, and tragic deaths that cause a person and their accomplishments to be thrust into the limelight. Pollock’s life and the sacrifices made by himself and his loved ones are ultimately why he became a legend. Without these elements, if Pollock had merely died of old age, likely, he would barely be a footnote in history. Ultimately, everything that he and those around him went through was worth it because it cemented his position as one of America’s most famous and influential painters.

Like many of America’s history-changing figures, Jackson Pollock had a lot of flaws. Even though these flaws hurt everyone around him, including himself, these flaws ended up being a huge part of what made his paintings so unique in comparison to the other artists of his time. The movie ends with a positive note on the issue of sacrificing in that Lee Krasner was able to continue painting after Pollock’s death which suggests that, even though she had to sacrifice a lot while he was alive, she was eventually able to regain her own life. This shows the audience that sacrifice is merely temporary, and the rewards often outweigh the costs. Read More