Many of the prisoners in the film are perfect examples of how the American penal system has failed to rehabilitate the prisoners. The system has instead forced institutionalisation upon the prisoners through physical abuse, fear, direct orders or instruction and the abuse of authority that the prison guards possess. Along with these factors that aid the enforcement of institutionalisation, is the factor of time; it forms the means for the reason why the other factors are so successful.
Throughout the time that Brooks has spent in prison he comes to depend on everything that the penal system has provided for him. This in turn has allowed Brooks to build a life, name and responsibility in prison. Therefore, when his parole is accepted he fears the “outside” world because things have changed so much. Brooks knows that “In here he’s somebody” but has realised when his parole is accepted that “out there he’s nobody”. Brooks decides to attack an inmate in hopes of getting his parole revoked, with his reason being “It’s the only way they’ll let me stay”.
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The medium shot of him attempting to cross the road into traffic, makes it clear that Brooks is unable to keep up with how fast the world moves after fifty years of imprisonment. Brooks loses hope at the park and sits alone on the bench while feeding the birds with the dying hope of Jake (a bird he raised in prison) ever returning. The viewer sees that when he has trouble sleeping he has come close to reaching his breaking point. This breaking point is when he commits suicide. During his preparation we see him smiling through the ceiling pillars which signify the happy man he was in prison, therefore signifying the fact that his suicide is an escape of
After being incarcerated for a petty crime and sent to a chain-gang jail, Lucas Jackson (Paul Newman) has risen up the ranks of the establishment and become the prisoners’ idol as well as the guard’s enemy. Jacksons’s contrasting relationship with the guards and the prisoners is an important
The article then jumps to present day, in which he uses his past to relate to current convicts and help them overcome the position that they are in, by allowing the prisoners to understand their own culture and those of different cultures,
Ted Conover’s book, New Jack, is about the author's experiences as a rookie guard at Sing Sing prison, in New York, the most troubled maximum security prison. He comes to realize that being a correctional officer isn’t an easy task. This is shown from the beginning when he is required to attend a 7 week training program to become a correctional officer. He comes to realize what inmates have to endure on a daily basis. Throughout his experience into a harsh culture of prison and the exhausting and poor working conditions for officers, he begins to realize that the prison system brutalizes everyone connected to it. New Jack presents new ideas of prisons in the United States in the ways facilities, corrections officers, and inmates function with
By analyzing the substantial aspects of prison life (preliminary adjustment to prison life, prison experience, prison subculture and rehabilitation), as demonstrated in the film, it can be determined that the film American History X can be used as a realistic tool for creating awareness of the consequences of being incarcerated and the effects that prison can have on an individual after they have been released. Furthermore, numerous theories such as argot roles, the importation theory,
The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King is both a wonderful film and a brilliantly written short story. There are many themes represented in each form of The Shawshank Redemption. The one major theme that interests me in both the film and the story is freedom. Freedom serves a large purpose for both the story's writer and the filmmaker. Both use similar examples to signify freedom, not only in the jail, but also in a larger context about life. There are many events and examples in both the film and the short story that signifies the theme of freedom. The one main difference is when the film uses the director’s technique to portray a feel of freedom for the inmates. The overall three issues used in this essay are all linked to the
The movie the Shawshank Redemption, based on the book by Steven King, I believe is one of the best movies ever made. The portrayal of prison life in the movie is the best I have seen and a star-studded cast including Morgan Freeman supports the characters and brings to life the everyday struggles of life behind bars. In this paper I will relate topics from class to the movie and discuss information we have learned through out the semester.
As we later see in the movie, the retributive system did not work for the well of the boys as it did not reform their behavior in any way. In jail they are beaten, abused and raped by guards, these acts are much more heinous than what they had been sentenced for. The acts of being raped and abused turned them into worse criminals than they were. Ten years down the line, they become members of The West Side Boys gang. The boys have transformed into not only drug users but murderers as well.
"Out of the Red: My Life of Gangs, Prison, and Redemption" is an autobiography that explores the insane narrative of a former gang member’s journey through a life marred by violence, incarceration, and, ultimately, redemption. This life story can be studied through social learning theory, control theory, and general strain theory. The book opens with a vivid portrayal of the author's introduction to gang life, depicting the “want” of belonging and the sense of identity it provided aside from the challenges of his upbringing. The power and sense of home within the gang makes him immersed in the world of violence, loyalty, and survival. He then dives into the experiences within the prison system, where he confronts the harsh realities of confinement
Hassine begins his narrative as he is entering prison but this time as an inmate. Prior to his incarceration, Hassine was an attorney (Hassine, 2011). Even then as an attorney, the high walls of prison intimated Hassine (Hassine, 2011). As Hassine was being processed into the system, he expressed how he systematically became hopeless from the very prison structure itself as well as because of the intimidation he felt by uniforms. Prisons of the past actually had a goal to aid individuals through rehabilitation by instilling new values in order to correct the wrongs that one may have committed during their lifetime but today this is no longer true. . Hassine draws colorful depictions of how dim and unfamiliar a prison can be in which instills fear in an individual soon as he or she
At first, he has a difficult time making friends thanks to his reputation of being “a snob and a coldfish” (King 27). He is very different from the other prisoners, partly because he knows he is not guilty and thus wears this confidence on his sleeve. It is the memory of his former freedom which provokes this seemingly arrogant attitude that both helps and hinders him. Nevertheless, this behavior serves as the very thing that first attracts the narrator, Red, to Andy. Not a man to be easily impressed nor persuaded, it comes as quite a shock to the reader that these two polar opposites form a bond. Red is able to see past what the other inmates label as “snobbishness” and instead takes comfort in Andy’s nonchalant approach to life and the tone of confidence that consumes him. Red views Andy as a much needed breath of fresh air to his musty routine within the Shank. However, it seems that their budding friendship is initially a greater asset to Red than it is to Andy. Although it may help Andy begin to find his place, he is primarily concerned with his own well-being, which is sustained only by his memories and not by the companionship of a stranger. An addition to this list of survival tools is Andy’s ability to keep his mind on the outside rather than focusing on the finality of prison life. His capacity to do so separates him from his peers, in that he becomes one of the few “long timers” able to avoid the characteristic walk, that in a
Prisoners like Brooks were trained to like routine for so long, that they became used to the way they were treated. Andy became subject to extortion when the administrator used him to do their tax returns ; “By April of 1951, Andy was doing the tax returns for half the screws at Shawshank , and by 1952, he was doing almost all of them” (51) This quotation shows that lack of empathy , and morals used by the administration at Shawshank. Shawshank as a prison was highly corrupt and the prisoners suffered from mental abuse by use of extortion and punishment.
The area of the criminal justice system that is showcased in the Shawshank Redemption is the prison system. By following the story of the main character Andy, both the problems and realities of the system are highlighted. Throughout the film, the characters are portrayed in many ways. The most alarming ways that the prisoners in the film is as lower class citizens. By making this point, the writers are eluding to the fact that the system is corrupt because of the subculture that exist within it.
The Shawshank Redemption movie is about a man named Andy Dufresne who was falsely accused of murder and was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover. Being in jail, Andy faced many problems of being abused, but he also gained a strong friendship with a man named Red. Many of the things that the prisoners had to face showed a sociological perspective on how life was in jail and how it affected the prisoners. In Shawshank prison, the functionalism theory, the conflict perspective, and the control theory shows the life and adjustments a prisoner has to make in order to survive going into a new world.
Survival is the key struggle in The Shawshank Redemption. This film takes place in the corrupt Shawshank State Penitentiary where mental and physical abuses inflicted upon prisoners are the hard realities of the system. For the prisoners of Shawshank, life is often bleak and violent. However, the will to survive is what keeps the characters motivated to retain their humanity and challenge the institutionalization of Shawshank. In particular, the film’s main protagonists, Andy Dufresne and Ellis “Red” Redding, exemplify the struggle for survival in the face of a corrupt, frightening, and oppressive prison system. In order to survive the harsh realities of the world, people adapt with personal traits like courage and resourcefulness in addition to forming community with other people.
The movie “Shawshank Redemption” shows what goes on in a prison. The movie depicts the part of a prison that most people are not aware of. People think of a prison as a place a person is tortured physically as well mentally. However, all that being said true, friendship, hope, and loyalty exists in prison. The movie shows how the main characters Red and Andy build a friendship that lasts in life after prison and loyalty among the inmates. Besides the development of friendship, the movie clearly shows the everyday routine of a prisoner’s life. The movie focus on the main characters Andy, who used to be the vice president of Portland bank before entering prison convicted with a double murder of his cheating wife and a man she was with and