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Stranger With A Camera Essay

Decent Essays

Matthew Chalfan
Mrs. Golden
ENGL 1301
12/8/2016
Stranger with a Camera: Final Essay
In the film Stranger with A Camera, directed by Elizabeth Barret, the primary focus is on the circumstances of the former, highly famed director Hugh O’Conner’s death by the hands of a land owner named Hobart Ison while attempting to film a documentary called U.S. in Kentucky in 1967 with the plot pertaining to the poverty-stricken life of residents within the Appalachians of America. The background of the main conflict of this film derives from the fact that the residents of the Appalachians often felt hostility towards outsiders whom they believe encroached on their territory to belittle their way of life. On the other hand, the outsiders, especially in this …show more content…

The resulting death of O’Conner with the three shots from Ison’s rifle was considered murder since he himself wasn’t in any true danger. The only factor that supports Ison’s reason for the outcome of this situation was his ignorance of the outside world, which possibly wouldn’t have occurred if he was fully aware of how society within the modern times worked. Some form of justice did come to Ison in 1968 with him being “convicted of involuntary manslaughter on his 2nd trial with him being sentenced to ten years in prison” (Barret). However, this apparent justice was short lived since Ison served only one year of his entire prison sentence following the fact that he was allowed parole for the rest of his jail time. This “Mountain Justice” didn’t exactly stress the seriousness of the crime he had committed, therefore Ison and probably other like-minded townspeople felt that this act was generally justified. Even though the people of Jeremiah were considered poor and backwards even, it doesn’t justify the act of taking a man’s life away for no good

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