Review of The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) by Byron B — 30 Apr 2016
In grad school I interned at the Center for the History of American Psychology, which is an archive and museum in Akron, Ohio. I worked in close proximity to one of the doors from the makeshift prison cells as well as one guard uniform and one prisoner uniform.
Based on my short time working there, when I became aware of the new Stanley Milgram film called Experimenter (streaming on Netflix), I had to watch it too. These two films would make an interesting double feature.
The Stanford Prison Experiment is such an intriguing and terrifying real-life story. Billy Crudup plays the creepy professor Zimbardo who doesn't seem to know the limits of appropriate psychological tests.
The selection process is portrayed as shoddy, accepting too much of the survey results at face value. Ezra Miller would be the star of this ensemble piece as the rebellious Daniel Culp or prisoner 8612.
Authority, conformity, group think, and violence in the context of prison or the military are explored. But as some of the characters point out the experiment is constructed falsely and turns nightmare-ish.
We see some of the drama recreated in the scientific candid observations of 16mm footage, but then we are not allowed to remain objective as the modern day video camera gets uncomfortably close to the misuse of power.
This review of The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) was written by Byron B on 30 Apr 2016.
The Stanford Prison Experiment has generally received positive reviews.
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