Manipulation of Time

The Green Mile, directed by Frank Darabont was set in 1935, about a man Paul Edgecomb who tells his story from an old age who was working as the main Death Row Corrections Officer during the Great Depression in the United States. The opening of the film flash's the audience forward to present day, the young 108 years old Paul, waking up from a nightmare and going through the motions as an elderly man, in a retirement home, with the radio playing in the background. With the radio used to show the audience wether or not it is past or present, obviously present, and also showing us that the past events still haunt Paul, the guilt he lives with. As Paul continues we see that he has a repetitive daily routine, "two pieces of dry toast" "same as always", showing us life for Paul no longer has any taste/savour. Another 5 minutes later we are shown a group of elderly people gathered in a group huddled around the small television, which crosscuts to the film "Top Hat", which then is a reminder to Paul of the past, and starts breaking down next to his friend Elaine, with the song "I'm in Heaven" playing in the background, which brings all the past to the present as Paul confesses to his friend Elaine about the deaths he had to enforce, even if he did not agree with them. Then begins the manipulation of time with the flashback of the story which makes the audience also live through what Paul had lived through, forgetting that all the past events had already happened, so the hope the audience would have, wouldn't be able to be put to the events or hope for some deaths to not occur for the deaths had already happened and nothing can change the past, impacting not only myself but the audience in general.

Symbols / Motifs / Themes

Mr. Jingles is the tiny mouse that joins the group on The Green Mile. At first the guards try to kill him, but then everyone becomes rather fond of the friendly little mouse. Throughout the movie we witness three executions that take place in an electric chair. As the story progresses, we learn about each of the three characters and gain views on each of their executions. The second of the three people to be executed is Eduard Delacroix, who comes across quite dense/blank and had the intelligence of a young child. He seemed reasonably quiet at the beginning of the story although Del's true characteristics weren't discovered until Mr Jingles entered the story. Mr Jingles was an unusually clever little mouse and became the centre of attention for Del, who takes him in as a pet around halfway through the movie, which the guards and Paul do not have a problem with at all and learn throughout the film that Mr Jingles is looked after like a child and Paul later refers to the mouse as a son. Mr. Jingles symbolizes the loneliness that the men feel on the Mile, not just the inmates but the guards are even willing to take in the mouse. This was when Del showed his true personality and his seemingly harmless character was revealed. Through discovering what Del was truly like, you began to feel no hate or fear towards the supposed criminal. When it came to the time of Delacroix's execution, the role was reversed and he then looked like the victim, about to be affected by a crime. The crime being, the death penalty. Only Percy held a grudge against the mouse, and one day he steps on it. Symbolising the acceptance or forgiveness that Percy does not have, empowering the audience the morals Percy does not live by. After Percy steps on Mr. Jingles, John uses his powers to save the tiny mouse, later when Del is killed, John takes care of the mouse, and a little of his power transfers into it. In later years, Mr. Jingles represents the possibility of immortality. The little mouse has lived for many years, and after over half a century, he is finally showing signs of aging in the end of the movie Paul shows Elaine and the audience where Mr Jingles is and how old the two friends are together. 

Conflict / Opposition

While the audience is watching the film we later learn that Percy is not a well liked character as he is involved in every conflicted scene and is sometimes the main reason for it. Percy acts like the victim so people feel sorry for him he come across as a young guard that has high aspirations and tries to act staunch but is actually really really afraid, especially in the scene were an inmate "Wild Bill"

 reaches through his cell bars, and grabs Percy until the other guards tell him to release Percy, then the audience is truly shown how scared Percy really is, as Percy wets himself, in front of everybody including the inmates and Delacroix then makes fun of him, foreshadowing the revenge percy gets or the conflict that is about to occur between the two as Percy purposefully executed Del, the worst way possible, torturing Del by "forgetting" to wet the sponge during the execution which is an important process to go through, as the audience and percy is shown what actually happens if you do not wet the sponge, it leads to a longer more sickening death on the outside of your body rather than a quick zap through the insides of the body. When this scene is shown the witnesses are disgusted and there are people vomiting everywhere trying to get out while the smell of Del's cooking body is steaming up the room. But the law is to not stop an execution "Electricity will now pass through your body until you are dead, God have mercy on your soul"  if they had of stopped the execution it would have been against the law. The guards never liked Percy and only let him control the execution as Percy made a promise that if he was able to lead an execution he would transfer to another area of the prison. The only reason Percy had such control over Paul and the other guards is because his uncle was the Mayor of the town. After Eduards execution we learn Percy is a murderer, Brutus punched him in the face. If Percy hadn’t held a grudge against Eduard then he may not have murdered him and got away with it. Brutus could have told the warrant what really happened and had Percy fired but later on we learn that John Coffey used his powers to punish Percy mentally causing him to end up in a mental institution. Percy had opposing ideologies, he saw the inmates/prisoners as animals or dirt on the bottom of your shoe. He felt that the prisoners had no say or did not deserve respect like how the other guards and how the audience felt or treated them as we learn to feel sorry for the inmates and listen to them and their stories and get to know them, Percy felt nothing  but felt joy in calling them names and treating them like dirt and was one of the main villans of the story.