Essay on Main Themes in "The Green Mile"

At a very young age of eight, David Fincher’s passion for cinema grew when he was inspired by the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Born in 1962 Denver, Colorado, David Fincher moved to Ashland, Oregon in his teens, where he graduated from Ashland High School. During high school, he directed plays, designed sets, and managed lighting after school. One summer, he and a friend attended the Berkley Film Institute’s summer program, where he hoped to learn film as a true art form but instead was taught the technical production. Either way he was happy to engage is this and as his early film industry career started, he was a production assistant at his local television news station. Years went by as he directed propaganda films followed by becoming a well-known music director until his first movie feature debut Aliens 3 in 1992. However, the American director David Fincher didn’t become a modern 21st century visionary until his creation of the film Se7en (1995). The huge success from this film started Fincher’s popularity in the film industry. From there he continued to make ironic movies we know today such as: Fight Club (1999), Zodiac (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), Gone Girl, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

The last of the Mohicans was a movie that really appealed to me from the beginning because of the heroism and the action into it. The main characters in this movie were Daniel day- Lewis as Nathanial Poe (Hawkeye) and Madeline Stowe as Cora Munro. The movie could be described as a romantic action like a Spiderman or a superman movie always needs the girl to give motivation to the main character but it is a historical drama.

The film Shawshank Redemption was released in 1995 and directed by Frank Darabont and Of Mice and Men directed by Gary Sinise released on 1992 based on the John Steinbeck novel both discuss themes of escape, friendship and becoming free from the issues that impact the main characters. Both directors convey the difficult lives of the characters in America, during the 1930s. Shawshank Redemption set inside a prison looks at the 20 year period of wrongly convicted Andy Dufrense and his friendship with Red. Of Mice and Men highlights the lives of poor laborers during the great depression. Lennie and George have a complicated friendship, but they rely on each other in this time of need. The use of setting, characterization and symbolism emphasizes the key themes allowing the audience to connect with each character. Both directors effectively illustrate to the audience, the hardships of the characters by capturing the lives of those that strive to make their lives better and seek the freedom they deserve.

To begin, "The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box" (Lee 224). Tom Robisnon becomes a victim of racism when he is wrongly convicted. Tom is wrongly convicted of raping Mayella Ewell because of the color of his skin. Jury members only convict Tom because he is black, not because of the evidence presented in the trial. Secondly, "If I hear one more peep outa my girl Helen about not bein able to walk this road I'll have you in jail before sundown" (Lee 253). This is important because Mr. Ewell harasses her on her way to work for Mr. Deas, he does not even let her walk in front of his house, he even threatens her to not go to work. This shows that Helen has had a hard time finding work because she is associated with Tom. If Tom had not been wrongly accused of raping Mayella, then Helen would not face the harsh discrimination from the Maycomb community. All in all, Helen and Tom Robinson have a really hard time because of the effects of racism on them.

Back then there was racism that was heavily predominated and encouraged inequality. This book revolves around the trial of Tom Robinson for allegedly raping a white woman. The problem is, no matter what the case, facts were, the white lady was going to win. "There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins.

Written by Stephen King in 1996, the film adaptation of The Green Mile, directed by Frank Darabont, explores the ideas of death row and the use of power. Set in 1935, the movie follows the story of John Coffey, an alleged double murderer sentenced to death, and the guards at Cold Mountain Penitentiary in charge of inmates on death row. Cinematic techniques were made use of to add to the intensity of the film as well as to engage the audience.

dark suit. We next see him on the bus. The camera is set in front of

Tom Robinson was a cripple who was always helpful, yet he faced prejudice because he was a black man. The general people of the county automatically assumed he was guilty simply because of his skin colour: “‘My folks said… that n***** oughta hang from the water-tank!’” (Lee 87). This quote came from a young child who was just quoting his parents. The people clearly did not think that Tom even deserved a proper trial, let alone a fair one.

In the film, “The Shawshank Redemption” directed by Frank Darabont, symbolism was used to highlight the main idea of holding onto hope. Darabont has effectively used different symbols throughout the film to convey the themes of hope and freedom in Shawshank. “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” This quote said by Andy Dufresne in a letter to Red shows that Shawshank was portrayed as a place of hopelessness at the start. But it was through the use of these symbols, music, the library, and the birds, that made the viewer truly understand how “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Lee has mainly expressed racism via the unmerited conviction of Tom Robinson. Which was unmerited due to the fact he was found guilty based wholly on the stereotypical assumptions of character made by the jury; despite the overwhelming evidence suggesting his innocence. This allowed the man whom was actually guilty of the crime, Bob Ewell, to suffer no consequence. Lee has likely used the theme of racism in this context, to encourage the reader to contemplate the injustice of it, by showing the extent someone’s ethnicity can be exploited.

Tom Robinson was convicted only on the basis of the color of his skin, and the rules that governed the society he lived in determined that he was guilty regardless of truth. In this film we see issues arise surrounding the assault of a young year old girl by her own father, false reports of rape, racial prejudice, biased jury, and attempted murder.

This is seen through how the other character’s treat John Coffey and how they think about other colored people. John Coffey was accused of killing two little girls just because he was found with their bodies. Little did the jury know, he was trying to help the girls after Wild Bill killed them (The Green Mile). The jury did not look at all of the possible scenarios and convicted John based on what they saw, and they could have also based choices of convicting on prejudices towards African-American males. The movie also featured several characters who are prejudice.

The Green Mile has a huge connection to the seven Catholic social teachings. The first one, human life and dignity, is very evident in the Green Mile. The main connection with this one is how Tom Hank’s character cares about John Coffey. Many people would not care or even given a second look to someone who is in prison and on death row but Paul, the guard, gets close to him. He ends up really caring about John Coffey and believes he is innocent. It shows human life and dignity because when he has to execute him, he believes he is going to hell and can’t live with what he has done. The film overall brings up the debate of capital punishment. To truly have respect for human life you cannot be in favor of the death penalty. This movie

In the Film Shawshank Redemption (1994) directed by Frank Darabont, Andy was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife and is shipped off to Shawshank prison. The prison is run by Warden Norton who is a corrupt leader. When Andy first arrives at the prison he is very timid and shy. As the film progresses, Andy breaks out of his shell and starts building relationships with Red and the other prisoners. Throughout the film we learn that Andy is an ex banker who Norton enlist to help him with his taxes and balancing the books. Soon enough Andy realizes that Norton was laundering money. The movie displays many of the concepts that we have learned throughout Organizational Behavior textbook written by Cohen Et Al. Throughout the paper I will be talking about how Shawshank Redemption relates to the concepts we have learned in the textbook specifically in chapter 8 and 10.

A summary of any novel by Stephen King has to include a small biography of the horror novelist, himself. Publishing this novel in 1996 as a serial novel, with the first edition actually coming out as one of six small paperbacks that were eventually made into one novel. Stephen King is well known for his horror novels, therefore, this summary of the novel “The Green Mile” shows this book set in the 1930's and is a deviation from some of his other works.