ABSTRACT
The composition is clean and direct, making the meaning of the image easy to grasp: a man is getting ready to ride a motorcycle or has just arrived on one at a visually captivating destination. Rumble Fish tells the story of Rusty James, a troubled teen who idolizes his older brother, an aimless hoodlum known in their small Oklahoma town as “The Motorcycle Boy”. After his brother is killed by a policeman while trying to release stolen goldfish into a river, Rusty rides out to the Pacific Ocean, symbolically taking over the mantle of “The Motorcycle Boy” in the process. The austerity of the composition also seems to suggest a future barren of possibilities, perhaps signaling that Rusty’s emotional growth and path to adulthood continues to be hindered by his urge to follow in his brother’s footsteps, a point implied by the prominent placement of the motorcycle in the frame.
