An Evaluation on The Ex-Convicts' Reintegration and Adaptation Process Through the Movie “The Unforgivable”

Abstract

A person who has commiPed a crime is called a criminal, and a person who has been convicted of a crime and released from prison is called an ex-convict. After being released from prison, exconvicts face many problems such as economic problems, inability to adapt to social life, social exclusion and discrimination, psycho-social problems. These problems experienced by exconvicts in social life are addressed in cinema. Cinema is an effective tool in raising people's awareness and consciousness by addressing social problems in all their reality. Today, it can be said that digital platforms that reach more individuals more quickly increase this area of effectiveness. The aim of this study is to evaluate how ex-convicts, one of the disadvantaged groups in society, experience the process of re-joining and adapting to social life through film. In this study, the dialogues of Ruth, the leading actress of the movie "The Unforgivable", which was first released in the cinema and then on Netflix, were discussed, including the practices of rejoining and adapting to social life as an ex-convict individual. In the study, data on the categories of re-joining and adapting to social life and stigmatization were analyzed and interpreted using discourse analysis technique, one of the qualitative research methods. As a result of the study, based on the movie "The Unforgivable", it is seen that stigmatization as an ex-convict prevents the process of rejoining and adapting to social life.