Carceral Fantasies: Cinema and Prison in Early Twentieth-Century America, by Alison Griffiths
Carceral Fantasies offers an exploration of the significance of the prison, in representations on screen and in relation to concepts of alternative/non-traditional exhibition spaces. As Alison Griffiths notes, prisons are indisputably real, concrete entities, but ones that the majority of citizens w...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University College Cork
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media |
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| Online Access: | http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue18/HTML/ReviewYoung.html |
| _version_ | 1818056305554751488 |
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| author | Gwenda Young |
| author_facet | Gwenda Young |
| author_sort | Gwenda Young |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Carceral Fantasies offers an exploration of the significance of the prison, in representations on screen and in relation to concepts of alternative/non-traditional exhibition spaces. As Alison Griffiths notes, prisons are indisputably real, concrete entities, but ones that the majority of citizens will never physically enter; instead, our contact with them is structured and mediated by an array of visual and literary representations. The result of such accumulated exposure is the cultural formation of what she terms, a “carceral imaginary” (1).
The prison as a site-within-film may immediately be invoked as a defining constituent of such an imaginary. The establishment of thematic conventions, a well-defined aesthetic and, frequently, the sculpting of material to suit a particular star, may be assumed to have emerged in the early sound era, in a series of narrative films released by Warner Brothers, including Mervyn LeRoy’s seminal, I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) and Michael Curtiz’s hard-hitting 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), but as Griffiths points out, the entertainment potential of prison-set films was identified almost as soon as cinema began. Carceral Fantasies deftly traces the diverse lineage of the prison film, from early trick films and slapstick comedies that relocated their generic lampooning of authority to a specific penal setting, to earnest melodramas and social justice films that engaged with Progressive-era debates regarding crime, punishment and rehabilitation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T12:26:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6405ea460b874539ac11a83c2ff3b38f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2009-4078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T12:26:44Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | University College Cork |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media |
| spelling | doaj.art-6405ea460b874539ac11a83c2ff3b38f2022-12-22T01:48:56ZengUniversity College CorkAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media2009-40782019-12-0118265267https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.18.28Carceral Fantasies: Cinema and Prison in Early Twentieth-Century America, by Alison GriffithsGwenda Younghttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1537-872XCarceral Fantasies offers an exploration of the significance of the prison, in representations on screen and in relation to concepts of alternative/non-traditional exhibition spaces. As Alison Griffiths notes, prisons are indisputably real, concrete entities, but ones that the majority of citizens will never physically enter; instead, our contact with them is structured and mediated by an array of visual and literary representations. The result of such accumulated exposure is the cultural formation of what she terms, a “carceral imaginary” (1). The prison as a site-within-film may immediately be invoked as a defining constituent of such an imaginary. The establishment of thematic conventions, a well-defined aesthetic and, frequently, the sculpting of material to suit a particular star, may be assumed to have emerged in the early sound era, in a series of narrative films released by Warner Brothers, including Mervyn LeRoy’s seminal, I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) and Michael Curtiz’s hard-hitting 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), but as Griffiths points out, the entertainment potential of prison-set films was identified almost as soon as cinema began. Carceral Fantasies deftly traces the diverse lineage of the prison film, from early trick films and slapstick comedies that relocated their generic lampooning of authority to a specific penal setting, to earnest melodramas and social justice films that engaged with Progressive-era debates regarding crime, punishment and rehabilitation.http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue18/HTML/ReviewYoung.htmlprisonscinemaexhibitionspectaclecorporealityspectatorship |
| spellingShingle | Gwenda Young Carceral Fantasies: Cinema and Prison in Early Twentieth-Century America, by Alison Griffiths Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media prisons cinema exhibition spectacle corporeality spectatorship |
| title | Carceral Fantasies: Cinema and Prison in Early Twentieth-Century America, by Alison Griffiths |
| title_full | Carceral Fantasies: Cinema and Prison in Early Twentieth-Century America, by Alison Griffiths |
| title_fullStr | Carceral Fantasies: Cinema and Prison in Early Twentieth-Century America, by Alison Griffiths |
| title_full_unstemmed | Carceral Fantasies: Cinema and Prison in Early Twentieth-Century America, by Alison Griffiths |
| title_short | Carceral Fantasies: Cinema and Prison in Early Twentieth-Century America, by Alison Griffiths |
| title_sort | carceral fantasies cinema and prison in early twentieth century america by alison griffiths |
| topic | prisons cinema exhibition spectacle corporeality spectatorship |
| url | http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue18/HTML/ReviewYoung.html |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gwendayoung carceralfantasiescinemaandprisoninearlytwentiethcenturyamericabyalisongriffiths |