Deflecting the Political in the Visual Images of Execution and the Death Penalty Debate

George, Diana; Shoos, Diane L.

doi:10.2307/30044654

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“… 27 For an argument that this film is anti‐death penalty, see George and Shoos (2005, 587–609). For a discussion of ways this film asks the viewer to judge Barbara's character, see Bingham (1999).…”

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confidence: 99%

Scenes of Execution: Spectatorship, Political Responsibility, and State Killing in American Film

Sarat¹,

Chan²,

Cole³

et al. 2014

Law soc. inq.

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For as long as there have been motion pictures, scenes of execution have appeared in American film. This article examines those scenes over the course of the twentieth century and suggests that spectatorship, and what it means to watch, is central to scenes of execution in film. We are interested less in the intentions and politics of a filmmaker and more in what those scenes offer viewers. We argue that three central motifs of spectatorship characterized death penalty films during the more than 100‐year period that we studied. First, viewers are often positioned as members of an audience and many scenes of execution are presented in a highly theatrical fashion and, as a result, the line between spectatorship and witnessing is blurred. Second, in many scenes of execution viewers are brought “backstage” and provided chilling, intimate views of the machinery of death, privileged views unavailable outside of film. The third motif shifts the positioning of the viewer such that we stand in the shoes of those who are to be executed. We conclude by asking whether and how scenes of execution in American film provoke in viewers an awareness of the political responsibility inherent in their identities as democratic citizens in a killing state.

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confidence: 99%