Abject Spaces in American Cinema

Book excerpt: American cinema abounds with films set in prisons, asylums, hospitals and other institutions. Rather than orderly places of recovery and rehabilitation, these institutional settings emerge as abject spaces of control and repression in which adult identity is threatened as a narrative impetus. Exploring the abject through issues as diverse as racism, mental illness or the preservation of bodies for organ donation, this book analyses a range of films including 'The Shawshank Redemption' (1994), 'Full Metal Jacket' (1987) and 'Girl, Interrupted' (1999) through to cult films such as 'Carrie' (1976.