The Last Supper

On Death Row, prisoners are given a “last supper” of their choice; a last remnant of their legacy and humanity here on earth. Now, this proves to be controversial because it shows a sharp contrast between food, a strong symbol of humanity, with that of murder, which in essence is robbing those of their humanness in itself.  One presentation of this contrast, “No Seconds”, goes to show this visual rhetoric and support the author’s beliefs through a series of pictures and captions.  The author is able to portray this contradiction in ideals through many visual elements. The presentation begins with a brief summary of what the author’s understanding of this practice is, without an overwhelming amount of bias pertaining to the death penalty itself. The font is small and black with a white pale background, giving off a sense of eeriness and emptiness. All the pictures of the meals are detailed and colorful, with contrast to the white background and small black lettering, further exhibiting the discrepancy in the practice of a “last supper”. It almost goes to highlight the beauty, color, and life of the food in comparison with the harsh reality surrounding the condition, which is represented by the meek font and white backdrop. Not only that, but the pictures are very detailed and give you a sense as if this is your last piece of fried chicken before the lights go out forever.

            Another compelling visual element is the font, which seems to be drafted by a typewriter back in time. This may go to show the authors belief in the archaic and barbaric element of the death penalty.  As far as the captions themselves, they are brief and bullet pointed remarks on the facts and realties of the prisoner as well as the details of the meal itself. In my opinion, they are done this way to show how we are dehumanizing these people and briefing there lives but at the same time there is an extensive list of the details going into their last meal, which shows just how human these people really are. 

As for the other presentation, “The Last Meal Project”, the author is more direct in his argument and view on the topic. He chooses red font to introduce the subject, giving off the initial visual of blood that is being spilt. Each slide shows a picture of the convicted with their choice of meal overshadowing them. Beside that image is crinkled up paper with red font, giving statistics about the covicted and their execution details. This presentation seems to be more bias than the other, seeing that the reason they were convicted in the first place was chosen to be left out of this presentation. The crinkled paper seems to give an eerie sense of “garbage” within our society, which we throw away, or wrinkle. The pictures of the actual people humanize the situation further and create a ghostly atmosphere.  There are also notes in-between slides, which give facts about why the death penalty is unjust.  I think the presentation I found more compelling was “No Seconds”, because even though it displayed less argumentative information than the other, visually I found it to be more thought provoking. I think the contrasting elements and realism in “No Seconds” gave it more of an eerie and authentic impression.  The first author wants to show you more of an unbiased view of the contrast and hypocrisy of the idea of a “last supper”, while the second wants to prove more of why the death penalty is inhumane.  Another presentation that may have also gotten this point across would be if they had pictures of the actual prisoners eating their last meals, which would have added to the realism visually.

            Both of these presentations were able to take a monumental controversial issue, and express that issue subtly through visual rhetoric and sharp contrast.