Crime, punishment, and Disney movies?

(Taken from http://physics.ucsc.edu/~leif/nowlan/execution.html)

The Execution
Alden Nowlan

On the night of the execution
a man at the door
mistook me for the coroner.
"Press," I said.

But he didn't understand. He led me
into the wrong room
where the sheriff greeted me:
"You're late, Padre."

"You're wrong," I told him. "I'm Press."
"Yes, of course, Reverend Press."
We went down a stairway.

"Ah, Mr. Ellis," said the Deputy.
"Press!" I shouted. But he shoved me
through a black curtain. The lights were so bright
I couldn't see the faces
of the men sitting
opposite. But, thank God, I thought
they can see me!

"Look!" I cried. "Look at my face!
Doesn't anybody know me?"

Then a hood covered my head.
"Don't make it harder for us," the hangman whispered.

~

I'm currently reading "Dead Man Walking" and was reminded of this poem. It's one of my favorites and I chose to memorize and recite this for an assignment for my poetry class. I've read some of the author's other work and enjoyed it, too, but this one in particular stood out to me.

I'm not certain how I became fascinated with crime and punishment. It's been gradual but I think one could say it started with my childhood. Like many girls growing up in the 1990's I lived on a diet of macaroni and cheese and Disney movies. Aside from featuring a lot of romance, adventure and happy endings these films feature many imprisoned characters:











-Belle's father, Maurice, Belle, and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast)(image source)
-Cinderella (Cinderella)
-Jasmine, and Genie (Aladdin)
-Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) (image source)
John Smith (Pocahontas) (image source)
King Triton (The Little Mermaid)

Ultimately all these characters are freed or free themselves and they triumph, cue end credits with soaring, sentimental soundtrack. But seriously, I think these movies impacted my sense of justice and equality. I was an impressionable little kid, and I got really into these movies and cried during almost every one; I hated seeing people mistreating other people. As I learned more in school about history and treatment of slaves and prisoners I became more concerned about this matter and the bulk of the non-fiction I read in high school was on mental health and the penal system. I feel like my next sentence should be "And that's how I decided I wanted to be a lawyer/social worker", but that isn't the case; as with poetry this is just another one topic that piques my interests and adds to my broad and shallow body of knowledge. Typical INFP personality.