Discussion questions.
Why do prison movies have an enduring appeal?
In what ways are they related to crime or gangster movies?
Kevin Kehrwald’s “Prison Movies: Cinema Behind Bars,” suggests there are three reasons:
- “They offer a glimpse into a hidden world that few will experience.”
- “Intense identification with the inmate protagonist, resulting in heightened emotional responses to his or her experiences.”
- They are about “survival and personal redemption in a context ruled by oppressive authority, a common human experience that can be examined and understood with clarity when presented in the extreme context of incarceration.”
Moreover, he suggests that, “Some historians classify prison films as offshoots of the gangster film, another genre popular in the ’30s, Kehrwald sees the prison film as relating more closely to social problem films and melodramas.”
Reference:
PopMatters. (2017). ‘Prison Movies’ Is a Serious Attempt to Define a Genre and Identify Its Key Characteristics, PopMatters. [online] Available at: https://www.popmatters.com/prison-movies-cinema-behind-bars-by-kevin-kehrwald-2495392365.html.
The Big House (1930) Hill
Watch these two clips and comment on the similarities & difference you notice compared with The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Darabont
Processing
Meal time
Genre – a recap and some theory
Task: complete a genre analysis of the prison movie.
You can use The Shawshank Redemption as one of your examples, but you should also consider other films or TV programmes within the genre, such as: Prison Break, The Green Mile, Papillion…. If you haven’t seen these movies, watch the trailer on YouTube before commenting.
You should use this document to make notes on the repertoire of elements.
Reflective Journal
Start a new post called “Genre & Narrative in The Shawshank Redemption.”
Link in a copy of your genre analysis of prison movies.
Describe the ways in which The Shawshank Redemption follows generic conventions.
Approximately 30 words on each:
- Events / Scenes
- Characters
- Setting
- Mise-en-scene (Iconography)
- Production Technique (Specifically mise-en-scene & camera)
Do you think the film subverts or challenges the genre?