Suffering for Our Cinematic Sins:

John Coffey in "The Green Mile"

While both films "The Green Mile" (1999) and "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) have prison settings, and the same director, these two film's overarching ideological agendas stand in striking contrast. "The Green Mile" uses the Christ myth of a singular, suffering (black) savior that can redeem white society. "The Shawshank Redemption" presents a morally ambiguous notion of salvation, that all individuals must strive for on their own, even as they work together to form a more viable prison community. This film offers a more complex and morally ambiguous solution to the stresses of a corrupt judicial system that cannot be fully healed that can only be assuaged by individual rebellion and strivings for intellectual liberty in the midst of captivity and oppression.

The comfort that The Green Mile" creates in the hearts of its viewers is partly due to its...
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