Starting my 3-week catchup with week 8...I will begin week 8 blog by talking about the reading "The Screen Machine: Cinematic Representations of Prison." In his article Dr. Paul Mason discusses the prevalence of the "prison film" in the media, the impact this may have on the views of the public and therefore the repercussions that might come back on the prison and justice system due to public opinion. Previous views on the "Prison Film" remain skeptical on the value of the prison film because of it's not necessarily very accurate portrayals of criminals and the prison system. However the author rejects this conclusion, arguing that the importance of these portrayals are underrated and serve to be quite useful in keeping the public's attention and giving them opinion, which helps with reform in the prison system.
In class we had discussions over the general format of the typical prison film. That is typically falls along the lines of main character goes to prison, main character is either innocent or his crimes are justified in some way and the audience can relate to him. Not only must he fight for survival amongst the other inmates but he also falls victim to the cruel, corruption of the American prison system and the evil, cruel guards and warden. This is perfectly portrayed in this weeks viewing, "Shawshank Redemption," which actually other than the very basics of the plot-line is anything but typical...because it's awesome! Great movie, one of my favorites. Andy Dufraine was framed, never trusted to be innocent, and the narrator even bet against him that he would crack the first night but he seemed to thrive in jail, not just survived but thrived. He always made the best of his situation. Even though it was discovered he was innocent but the warden murdered the only witness he never lost hope because the whole thing was a giant scheme, all the while he was making his escape and padding the rest of his life with the warden's money. Awesome.
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