Film Birdman of Alcatraz Directed by John Frankenheimer

The Birdman of Alcatraz is a true-life American drama about a man, who experiences life in a solitary confined prison cell, and develops a curiosity in birds. The movie, released in 1962, is a duration of over two hours long directed by John Frankenheimer. Frankenheimer created a fictionalized version of the life of a federal inmate, Robert Stroud who was known as the ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’.

Robert Stroud in the movie is portrayed as a rebellious male who is keen on fighting against the rigid prison system, this is signified when Stroud breaks the prison window open in order to stop the inmates from suffocating, ‘even convicts got a right to breathe’ Stroud declares to the prison warden who immediately responds ‘ rights I don’t think you know what that means’ implying how the prisoners are different to everyday citizens and powerless within the prison system. Stroud is described as an animal and dangerous throughout the movie as he stabs a prison guard to death and gets into conflicts with other inmates leading him to be sentenced to solitary confinement before getting hanged to death. The inmate’s mother is keen on giving Stroud justice, ‘my son is a prisoner worth saving’ and so her emotional plea at the white house is what saves him from being condemned to death. The prisoner’s life then changes once he finds a sick bird and nurses it back to health.

The Birdman of Alcatraz illustrates an element of space, where space is an instrument used to produce order and facilitate control. This is portrayed through physical exclusion where prisoners are segregated and confined in a limited space, physically removed from society, and excluded from social binds. The inmates in the prison are controlled by the strict rules and surveillance put in place, Stroud states ‘sit and listen to your heartbeat, hear your life ticking away…you know what’s coming next’ which connotes how the inmates have a highly regulated regime and suffer from the repetition of it. During the beginning of the movie Stroud is given a book of rules by the warden, ‘and what you will do for every minute 24 hours of the day’ illustrating how the prisoners are always being observed and lack autonomy. Space in prison is therefore never neutral and is characterized by power relations and in a given way to perform specific functions which include social exclusion.

An element of time is also present in the movie where time is given great importance, ‘one thing I’ve learned is not to abuse time’. The prisoner’s timetable is a central feature of prison life and it is what gives life in prison a semblance of structure. It is highly organized and controlled by the prison system in a way to deprive inmates of choice and instills discipline. French philosopher, Foucault states how “Power is articulated directly onto time; it assures its control and guarantees its use” as a way to explain how the organization of time links to the element of control and order which is established by the prison system.

Further to this, a lack of freedom of prisoners is recognized when Stroud stated how he was an ‘animal in a cage’, indicating how he is deprived of liberty. Stroud also talks to his bird during the movie and mentions how,’ out there… the air breathes easy, nights move faster and you can tell time by the clock’ referring to the outside of the prison, emphasizing how the bird can fly away and be free whilst Stroud is still stuck in his prison cell, controlled by authority. Stroud mentioning the clock and how you are able to tell time outside of prison links to the element of time and underlines the idea of how time is controlled in prison.

The movie also illustrates an element of adaptation in prison which is shown throughout the movie. At the start of the movie, Stroud is clarified as a rebellious and aggressive prisoner, who was adapting to the prison in a way by rebelling and challenging authority, however, as the movie goes on Stroud started taking an interest in birds, he started cooperating and was showing patience. During the end of the movie, there was a sign of withdrawal from Stroud as he stopped engaging in prison and turned to suicide when all hope was gone.

G. sykes novel the society of captives (1958) indicates how all prisoners are subjected to some basic deprivations that are intrinsic to imprisonment, this includes liberty, autonomy, security, and loss of certain rights. This links to the element of time as the prison guards are in authority of the time in Prison, which leaves prisoners weak and powerless. The novel also illustrates how the ‘contaminated man, is a constant threat to the prisoner’s self-conception’ and how the prisoner is reminded that he must be kept away from the ‘decent men’. This links to the element of time as the prison guards are in authority of the time in Prison.

The book a critical Introduction to prisons and imprisonment mentions the deprivation of liberty of the prisoners by stating how their loss of liberty is a ‘double one’, ‘first, by confinement to the institution and second, by confinement within the institution’. This is shown in the Birdman of Alcatraz where Stroud is restrained behind bars, away from other prisoners as well as individuals outside the prison, supporting the idea of the element of control in prison. During the 18th and 19th centuries, punishment and the distribution of space were more about minimizing contagion, encouraging self-reflection, and maximizing security instead of rehabilitating the prisoner and bringing them back into society. The birdman of Alcatraz represents this when Stroud was put on a sentence of solitary confinement, isolated away from other inmates with no form of socialization and reflecting separation.

Foucault argued how ‘modern systems of discipline require forms of regulation which are also positive and which involve inducements and incentives’. Prisoners need support rehabilitating back into society in order for them to reform, this can be by putting them on training and work schemes so they do not end up going back in. He also stated how Punishment has now shifted over time ‘from the disciplining of the body to the discipling of the “soul”’ as a way of suggesting how punishment is now seen as punishing the mind of the individual and helping them reflect instead of punishing their bodies and causing pain.

In the Birdman of Alcatraz, although the inmates were not allowed to have birds as pets after the warden saw how well it worked for Stroud, he had permitted it. Oakwood Forensic Center, a maximum-security prison in Lima, Ohio found that it helped calm the violent inmates down and helped them become ‘far more sociable and cooperative than usual’ which enhanced prison life for both inmates and guards. In the movie, Stroud had apologized to one of the guards for his ill manners even though he had not apologized to anyone during the past twenty years.

Furthermore, Stroud was only allowed to keep his birds once he got public attention, this suggests how the ‘government confronts the pressures of public opinion, conveyed via the media’… media coverage has seen to have a big impact on… An example of this…

Overall, the birdman of Alcatraz is a movie that presented how a violent criminal had become... whilst being faced with the tough elements of the prison system which included solitary confinement, restriction, lack of liberty, and control and order.

Bibliography

1. G. sykes novel the society of captives (1958)p.165
2. Doing time : Introduction to the sociology of imprisonment by roger Matthews 11 march 2016
3. A critical Introduction to prisons and imprisonment book by Yvonne jewkes; helen Johnston 2006 pub place Cullompton p.164
4. https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2001/aug/25/weekend7.weekend3 j D Carpentieri sat 25 august 2001 Jail house flock
5. Politics of the prison and the prisoner: zoon politikon susan m. Easton 2018 p.191
6. https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/prison-rehabilitation
7. G. sykes novel the society of captives (1958)p.40