The Prison Genre.
Introduction: In the film industry there’s producers and directors that are highlighted and respected for the work they do and especially the genre’s that they cover. the main reason is simply because everybody has their favourite own genre. many people may not know the name of the movie but once you know the genre you kind of know what’s going to happen for example if you are watching a action movie you expect to see explosions,fast cars and a lot of fighting(which this is called mis en scene.)and for other genres such as comedy,romance you expect to see something different.
Secondly i would also say that we associate some actors and directors to one genre for example Vin Diesel, Kevin Hart. Would be seen as an auteur because Vin Diesel acts in action packed movies such as xXx and fast and furious which shows that he is an auteur. there are directors that are known for a specific genre and a great example of this would be Quentin Tarantino he is a brilliant actor and has earned himself massive accolades for movies such as kill bill 1 &2, Djano unchained and not to mention pulp fiction, these movies are under the genre of action/thriller so because of this i would most definitely say that Quentin Tarentino is a auteur director.
one of the ways producers draw in an audience is by the trailer as this allows the audience to have an insight on what actors are going to be featured in the movie, in my opinion this is plays a massive part for a films success. I would say the actors also plays a part in it as people are in awe with the likes of tom cruise,bruce willis because of their work so if you see a movie that features them people will most definitely pay to watch the movie.
another thing that has been recognised is that people will watch a movie based on the genre the reason they do this is because you know what to expect. The reason people choose to have this approach on a movie is because they enjoy the genre and they like what they are going to see. Personally my favourite genre has to be action because I like seeing fast cars, explosions. Just anything thats action packed.
In the film industry we also have sub genres and hybrids and the reason for this is because it’s for people that like a wide-range of genres these types of genres would have two or more within the movie so this allows the audience to enjoy both in one which is a brilliant technique directors use as this allows them to make a lot of money by creating hybrids within genres.
Prison genre is one of the most classical genres and has been following the same type of plot for years as you expect to see one of the prisoners having the jail in complete control meaning that most of the prisoners don’t really want to mess with them as they pose a threat to everyone. The similarities with prison genre is that all the prisoners are innocent. There’s always one prisoner(Andy Dufresne) that’s trying to escape a great example of this would be Shawshank Redemption. Meanwhile these aren’t the only things they have in common as most prison genre movies would have iconography of prison bars, prison uniform,prison guards and handcuffs these are all types of iconography we expect to see in this genre of film. in prison genre films there’s always a unfortunate inmate that is unfortunately getting targeted a great example of this would be in the movie; Gridiron Gang where we see a inmate getting beating up over “dissing another guys hood”, where you can this from 2.23.
there are several different films that i can think of when talking about the prison genre. here are some of them listed below:
- The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont,1994)
- The Magdelene Sisters ( Peter Mullin, 2002)
- Law Abiding Citizen (F.Gary Gray, 2009)
- Cool Hand Luke ( Stuart Rosenbeg, 1967)
- Hunger ( Steve Mcqueen, 2008)
When you talk about the prison genre, one thing that you automatically associate with a prison genre are these different codes and conventions:
- Escape From The Protagonist
- Death Of A Main Character
- An Inmate That Gets Bullied
- A Brawl Between Inmates
- Man Made Weapons.
- Prison in A Isolated Location.
Andy is a character that is described by red by “having something different about him, the way he walks and talks.” One thing which fairly odd about Andy as a character is that throughout the movie he had me personally thinking that “he doesn’t belong in the Shawshank prison.”however, Andy fits in very well as he’s liked by most of the prisoners. I really liked the way they conveyed Andy’s journey throughout his time in the prison as initially he is a nobody, nobody has his respect as he was seen as the “freshmen” of the prison, you can see the different stages of his importance. he ended up gaining the respect and approval of all the inmate and his prison guards.
Now i will be talking about Red. What I noticed from watching ShawShank Redmeption is that Red is seen as the father of the prison and he seen as the “go to guy” meaning he can get anything any of the inmates need. Something that is clearly visible is that red has the most respect amongst his inmates and because of this I would say that Red is widely respected in the prison. But yet again what the director smartly put together is that Red is hugely liked in the prison, In other prison movies what you expect to see is that the person that’s the “top dog” has normally made a lot of enemies for different reason such as trying to overuse their power. so it’s almost as if the director (Frank Darabont) defied the prison iconography and went about it in a different way.
The Mise En scene of the Shawshank Redemption has segments of suspense as it was my first time watching the movie. I had a question, which remained with me throughout the whole movie, what’s going to happen next? The props that were used were very effective as one of the scenes that I can remember was the scene of brooks committing suicide which was very effective for the way he killed himself. The lighting of the scene varied between scene. The director chose when to use the lighting very well and were used at times to create a major effect on the audience. For example when the lighting darkened I knew it was nearly time for brooks’s death.
Red has a natural calmness to him which comes across quite clearly that he is liked. What I also enjoyed seeing in the movie is Red and Andy’s relationship as you see the start of a very good friendship which was enjoyable as i felt that andy needed somebody to speak to as I had a feeling that he was innocent.
The narrative of the film has a mixture of different techniques such as flashbacks and voiceovers which is very effective as it allows the audience to understand what the actor was thinking so personally I was able to emphasise with that was being told and it also allowed me to build a visual image in my head which was a very useful. the flashbacks play a big role because when the flashback are playing voiceovers are usually going too and they work excellently together which we’re able to clearly see in the movie.
The Magdalene Sisters:
The Magdalene sisters fits in perfectly with the prison genre because a viewer you get the sense of hopelessness they are unable to do anything about their situation and for this reason I would say that it has the same codes and conventions of a prison genre. The Magdalene Sisters has you gripped throughout the movie as you’re never to sure what’s going to happen and for this reason I really found the movie interesting. this movie weren’t a typical “high end Hollywood movie” meaning that the actors weren’t top class actors. As i continued watching the movie I thought to myself that this movie has the potential with the right backing to be a world class movie, it made a lot of sense and the shots used were very effective as it engaged me. I wanted the best for the three young women as i felt that they didn’t deserve the treatment they were receiving.
the movie didn’t necessarily have to use bars,handcuffs to show that they were in a prison but the asylum that they were in the rules were very strict they couldn’t go out and they couldn’t really speak to each other while they were at work. Not to mention the punishment they received was a sign that we were watching a prison genre type film. In relation to The ShawShank Redemption they have prison wardens however in The Magdalene Sisters they use “Mother which is evident that the nuns have full control of the asylum which you see in the movie time and time again. Lastly the girls all have matching uniform which automatically shows that there’s no individuality which is very similar to ShawShank redemption.
Overall, I would say that this film was put together very well I was able to emphasise with each character and their everyday struggle in such a difficult asylum and as they surely didn’t deserve the treatment they were receiving it made me rather annoyed the way they were treated. The film was full of mystery and at the end of the movie you gasp a sigh of relief knowing that some of the characters got away. The scene with Crispina ending up in a mental asylum really got to me as nothing was wrong with her.The Magdalene Sisters is a well thought out movie and would be put under the category of a prison genre movie.
Justin Grant 