Grimm

Grimm is a new tv series that involves a Detective  that can see fairy tale creatures for what they really are. Nick (the detective) must find all the "bad" fairy tale creatures and take care of them before they kill him. He does this with the help of a creature known from the story of Little Red Riding Hood, a wolf who has turned vegan because he realized killing little girls wearing red got his relatives no where.
I find this crime show pretty interesting because it brings in a new genre of crime media that has yet to be studied to an extreme degree and it's creative in the ways Nick tries to stay within the law to get his "man". I can't wait to see what kind of scholar papers this new show will bring out.

Silence of the Lambs

I had never seen this movie before this class, honestly I was scared to watch it. However, I am now glad that I did. I absolutely LOVE it. Hannibal was portrayed in such a way that I was literally intrigued enough to go and watch the rest of the movies. I have to say the only one I didn't really like was the Rising of Hannibal. I also did not get around to watching the Red Dragon.

I wish they had gotten Jodi Foster to continue in the role Agent Starling, I feel Hannibal would have been a better movie with her.

Enough

I remember watching this film a few years and really liking it then, to me it was a motivation to never let a man get away with abusing me. Watching it again this year, I find that I still like it. It is a bit far fetched but the message still remains the same, if you're put into that type of situation, you don't have to stay there. You can get out, you can get help, and you can fight back.

Because it was mentioned in class, I also watched Sleeping with the Enemy and I think it is a more realistic story of what someone might do to get out of abusive relationship. I also liked how the only one putting any blame on Julia Robert's character is her husband, no one was asking her what she had done to get hit or yelled at.

Jewkes - Surveillance

Jewkes talks about how the advances in technology has allowed monitoring  of others to be much more easier and now it's not just in closed and confined environments where devices are being put up to watch people. How people feel about surveillance is still a big debate and especially with the constant advancements that are being made. Either people think it's a good thing or a bad thing. Surveillance can be used as deterrent to crime being committed but it doesn't always work, people have found ways to work around these kind of systems.

I'm not really a person who cares about the surveillance one way or the other, I think it's good to have the ability to advance such things in case it can help the justice system in some way.

Shawshank Redemption and Rafter Chapter Six

Shawshank was a good movie but not one of my favorites. The exaggeration in the film was a little too much for me, I don't really get why it's considered a classic other than Morgan Freeman is a freaking awesome actor and anything he touches turns gold.

Rafter talks in this chapter about the "classic" prison film, the identification with the "perfect" man, the perfect friendship, the worst criminal you can think of, the happy ending where the good guy who got put away for some stupid reason escapes either by actually escaping or dying in the end.

It's pretty easy to catch these types of characteristics in all genres of films because when a recipes works well, you don't throw it away, you use it again and again. Making a film, is a lot like baking, you want everything to turn out as good as possible so once you or someone else has figured out what brings the best taste to people's mouths, you use it all the time.

Mason - Prison

Mason explains to us the structure of prison films and how they appeal to the audience with things such as the deterrent effect, the extreme graphics and sadism that occurs. Prison films also make sure to show the dehumanizing process that all prisoners have to endure for their crimes. These films also like to constantly remind the audience of the strict routine that continues throughout prison life, lining up for food, going out to the exercise yard when you're told to. The life you lead is the life that the guards allows you to. It's like being a teenager all over again.

Besides, Shawshank Redemption, the most recent experience I've had with prisons in the media involved watching the series Prison Break last year, which fyi, it is a most excellent to watch! If I recall, it does much of what Mason talks about. Dehumanizing process, strict routines, nothing done without permission.Corrupt guards that would sometimes look away when certain things were happening, especially if they had been bribed to. Mistreatment of prisoners was a common occurrence, however, if you were on the Warden's good side, it was rare that you were mistreated and it was rare to get on the Warden's good side

Presumed Innocent and Rafter - Chapter Five

Where a District Attorney is framed for the murder of a fellow coworker and ex-lover by his wife.
I love this film, I felt that it could go either way in the end and found myself guessing every which way.
This is definitely a film I would recommend to other people for a good movie night in.

Rafter is telling us that law films are just like every other type in film in that it produces movies that fit within the changing times of society. It takes what how society currently feels about something and turns it out in an entertaining production. When it first started, films showed the law as a system that worked well with an "impartial process". However, as this image of the justice system faded, the movie system produce the same image that society was feeling.  Mistakes and prejudices in the system that made it unreliable and untrustworthy.

Without going back and watching some of the older movies, it's hard for me to say whether or not Rafter is on the right track but it all sounds good to me, she seems to know what she's talking about. It's really been interesting reading everything about how things in work in the movies and why it seems to be done all the time.