Prison films

The Shawshank redemption is a film set in the 1940's where a young banker by the name of Andy Dufresne is sentenced to life in Portland, Oregon based Shawshank prison on a false accusation of murdering his wife and another man. The rest of the movie is based around his journey to find his identity as well as his freedom and hope in order to survive. In this maximum security prison of Shawshank, prison life is designed to be harsh and breakdown the inmate’s spirits. On the inside the inmates…

of poems, songs, films and books have been published across the globe exploring this notion. Two prominent texts that deeply explore the ocean that is the concept of justice are Frank Darabont’s film interpretation of Stephen King’s novella “Rita Hemsworth and The Shawshank Redemption” and the poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” by Oscar Wilde. They investigate the injustices and justices within the judicial system and life. Written from the point of view of Red, Darabont’s film, The Shawshank…

people have been found guilty and have been locked up in prison, but this documentary demonstrates how years later with DNA testing these former prisoners can be freed. Although the 2005 documentary After Innocence explains how there is hope for those who were falsely accused of committing crimes, it also demonstrates the struggles they have to face coming back to the real world. The film follows some that have been exonerated from prison to witness their new life. At the beginning of the…

What issue was discussed The campus event I attended was a showing of the film titled “13”. The film analyzed the incarceration history within the U.S. and had the 13th amendment as its main focus. Mass Incarceration is a subject rarely discussed in Social Work classes, nonetheless is a huge concern.Today the total population of individuals who are serving time in jail is estimated at 2.3 million, and the majority of them are Black or Hispanic men. Despite the crime rates decreasing, the number…

the best films of the last 25 years. Throughout this film there are many relationships between the characters and sociological terms. Social change, social inequality, and culture shock are a few of these terms present throughout this film. Along with these terms many other types of crime can be seen as well. Andy Dufresne was a banker in Maine when he was convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. When Andy first gets to the prison, he…

the silence on police brutality. This visual invitation to a history most refuse to acknowledge. A Netflix original, 13th, reveals a rather disturbing phenomena on modern day slavery. Lined up with writers, activist and United States attorneys, this film ranges from a political standpoint on a very disturbing and shunned past. This documentary, incredibly hard to watch and powerful enough to awaken even the simplest of minds. If you have not watched this documentary, you are living in a box. A…

Park Chan-wook's Oldboy (2003) tells the story of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), a businessman who is celebrating his daughter’s fourth birthday by getting wasted. He is promptly kidnapped and wakes up in a hotel inspired prison. He is held captive in a hotel-inspired prison for fifteen years, where he passes time by punching the wall and learns that his kidnappers have killed his wife and framed him for her murder. Dae-su is released without explanation, and immediately finds the nearest restaurant.…

“13th”, a 2016 documentary, dives deep into details regarding prison systems in the United States. The documentary discusses the history of inequality as well. The title “13th” gets its name as reference to the thirteenth amendment. The thirteenth amendment states that it is unethical for one to become a slave; this documentary shows just how ironic it is that prisoners often times get treated as one. Though, some may disagree. In relation to this, the filmmaker makes an argument for the…

citizens. In the film, Alexander also addresses the extent to which individuals are impacted by a prison sentence. Alexander was among several scholars in the documentary who described how there are over 40,000 collateral consequences to being a convicted criminal, including disadvantages that impact access to welfare, life insurance, food stamps, jobs, and the ability to vote. Alexander and the other scholars featured in 13TH not only provide this sort of insight, but they act as the films…

to thoroughly explain the prison industrial complex in a beautiful and tactful way through the use of various voices. The film illustrates the outcomes…