Making Connections

We just finished watching Walk the Line (actually, we ended up watching it in two parts, but part two was tonight). Although he gave a reasonably good performance, I didn't think Joaqin Phoenix's Johnny Cash was imposing enough. Although I know that part of the point of the movie was to show us Cash's human side, there was always an aspect of him that made you wonder if he might've shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Phoenix's Cash might've written the line, but he didn't have the dark corners in his character to make you think he'd actually try. Reese Witherspoon did a good job with June Carter, at least as far as her public persona went. This was the June Carter that the audience saw, although I suspect that people closer to her knew a more complex woman.

But that's not what this post is about. It was inspired by a scene set in the offices of Columbia Records. In the background, on the wall, was a framed cover of Dylan's Blonde on Blonde album. It was small, and even more out of focus than usual. But something about it caught my eye.


It was reminding me of something else, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Intriguingly, once I recognized what it really was, I also realized what it was reminding me of. And then I started to wonder--surely I'm not the first person to notice this, but had it ever been acknowledged that the Blonde on Blonde album cover was an influence on the appearance of the Fourth Doctor?