A prison film is a
film genre
A film genre is a Genre, stylistic or thematic category for Film, motion pictures based on similarities either in the narrative , narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film.
Drawing heavily from the theories ...
concerned with
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...
life and often
prison escape
A prison escape (also referred to as a bust out, breakout, jailbreak, jail escape or prison break) is the act of an Prisoner, inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part o ...
. These films range from acclaimed dramas examining the nature of prisons, such as ''
A Man Escaped'', ''
Cool Hand Luke
''Cool Hand Luke'' is a 1967 American Prison film, prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman and featuring George Kennedy in an Academy Awards, Oscar-winning performance. Newman stars in the title role as Luke, a pri ...
'', ''
Midnight Express'', ''
Brubaker
''Brubaker'' is a 1980 American prison film, prison Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It stars Robert Redford as a newly arrived prison warden, Henry Brubaker, who attempts to clean up a corrupt and violent pe ...
'', ''
Escape from Alcatraz'', ''
The Shawshank Redemption
''The Shawshank Redemption'' is a 1994 American Prison film, prison Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the 1982 Stephen King novella ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''. The film t ...
'', and ''
Kiss of the Spider Woman'' to actioners like ''
Lock Up'' and ''
Undisputed'', and even comedies satirizing the genre like ''
Stir Crazy'', ''
Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'', and ''
Let's Go to Prison''. Prison films have been asserted to be "guilty of oversimplifying complex issues, the end result of which is the proliferation of stereotypes".
For example, they are said to perpetuate "a common misperception that most correctional officers are abusive", and that prisoners are "violent and beyond redemption".
Themes
Themes repeatedly visited in the prison films include escape attempts, gang activities inside the prison, efforts of wrongly convicted persons to prove their innocence, and guard and management cruelty. An entire subgenre of films exists where the toughest prisoners are permitted (or forced) to engage in boxing matches or martial arts bouts, replete with high-stakes wagering on the outcomes. Prison films set during
war have become a popular subgenre known as
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
film. These various theme elements may be meshed together, where for example a prisoner forced to fight uses the occasion to plan an escape.
Imprisonment is a widespread punishment all over the world, but prisons for most people are an unknown experience. Anything they know is mostly, through media and cinema representations. Additionally, the audience is captivated by issues which are unknown and unreachable, and which relate to the criminal behavior and action of institutions of social control of crime, but also to life in prison.
Media and societal perception
Journalist Paul Manson argued that generally, it is argued that fictionalized representations of the prison have not contributed to public understanding of the prison, and do not contribute positively in the direction of improving it. This is because the entertainment television industry has transformed crime and jail into entertaining objects, thus eroding our doubts and concerns about the prison as a solution of crime reduction.
The fictional representation of prison in cinema, the last decade, manufactures prison not only as necessary punishment but also as a unique process for the control and reduction of crime, in order to eliminate these "others" misfits, "psychotic criminals".
In 1979 the film ''Scum'' led to reforms of prisons and borstals in the UK.
See also
*
List of prison films
*
Women in prison film
References
{{Authority control
Film genres
*
Film