Reading Bronson from deep on the inside: An exploration of prisoners watching prison films

This chapter reports on a small scale project screening contemporary British prison films to people serving sentences in British prisons. In particular, this will focus on one of the films, Bronson (UK 2008, Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn), a stylized biography of notorious British prisoner, Charles Bronson. The chapter will set out the theoretical groundwork regarding the representation of prisons in the media and its effects upon society and individuals. It will go on to explain the methodology of the study and summarise the narrative of the film before exploring the responses of the audience. The responses particularly focus on issues of power, resistance and hope. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the consumption of prison media by prisoners and its implications for individuals and social control.