Week Eight

In Mason's article " The Screen Machine" he talks about how people are misinformed about prison. he says that the media has selective, simplified, and skewed depictions of prison and that peoples familiarity with prisons is through symbolism not facts. He also talks about the violence and brutality in prison primarily between inmates and prison authorities. This is a common theme especially when the inmates are the protagonists like The Longest Yard and The Shawshank Redemption. Mason also defines prison films as an English language film that concerns civil imprisonment and that is mainly set within the walls of a prison or uses prison as a central theme. He also says there's over twelve different common themes in prison films including escape, riot, inmate and prison officer violence, wrongful conviction etc. One main theme he discusses is the prison as a machine that dehumanizes inmates. I can't think of one prison movie I've seem that doesn't have a scene of dehumanization. The author concludes but saying there are two reasons that prison movies have not led to prison reform the first is movies that show imprisonment for shock value only and second that the only reason that prison films add to debates is because they model real life issues happening at them time. I think that they have not led to reform simply because people understand they are just for entertainment and do not believe real prison is like that.

In the Rafter chapter she talks about the traditional characters in prison movies, the older, hardened,and wise criminal, a snitch, the loyal friend, convict buddies, a father like warden, a cruel assistant warden/guard, a bloodthirsty convict, and the hero.