“Sing, Sing” Screening Circle
A scene that stuck out to me the most is toward the end when Divine G has a meltdown when he unleashes his anger and frustration on stage after losing his friend and his appeal getting rejected. It shows his struggles emotionally, which are more complex human elements than just a one-sided portrayal of an angry incarcerated person.
When incarcerated men perform on stage through RTA, it breaks the stereotype that they are not intelligent. For example, in one of the scenes, the RTA members discuss their next play and one of the members brings up performing a play written by Divine G, sharing the intellectual side of an incarcerated person. When these people are on stage, they can express their emotions, which they can’t truly do so in incarceration.
Compared to the film, I have seen incarcerated individuals presented in the news differently. For example, in The Shawshank Redemption, the incarcerated individuals are either innocent or friendly while the police or officials are the corrupted ones. In the news, incarcerated individuals are often seen as violent. These opposite portrayals help with my critical thinking skills because I would question which is true, both or neither.
Media can be both harmful and beneficial when it comes to shaping opinions and views about incarcerated individuals. It is harmful when the media decides to show only one side of the story, it is harmful, whether it is showing the positive or negative side. This is because biases will form when any opinion or view is one-sided, particularly when that singular idea is constantly and repeatedly presented. It can lead the audience to believe there is only one side to the whole story when every story is multi-dimensional.