"Writing is Magic"
The movie "The Hurricane," staring Denzel Washington, follows the life of famous boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. A record 28 wins over 5 years, made him one of the most dynamic prizefighters in boxing's golden era. His career, however, came to an abrupt end when he was wrongly convicted of triple murder by an all-white jury and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences.
While in prison, Carter was fiercely outspoken, refusing to subject himself to its regimens. He shunned the prison’s food and refused to wear prison-issued clothes. He was not only robbed of his freedom, but of his wife, whom he divorced to lessen her share of his torment. After going through the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, and depression, he comes to terms with his injustice and finds solace and empowerment in writing. He wrote his autobiography "The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender to Number 45472," from prison, highlighting his journey from the ring to solitary confinement and the racial injustice he was a victim of. This cry for help lead to a retrial and later his release.
This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie, when Carter describes writing as a weapon and more powerful than a fist could ever be. He uses writing and reading as a means of personal escape, education, and to gain political and personal power. This excerpt illuminates "The Prison Industrial Literary Complex" which we discussed in class and the greater good of writing.