When they put the main character back in her room at the end of the day, my first question was "In this society or place, are there other prisoners who go through this?" Because you have to wonder if this kind of punishment is being implemented with other criminals. Do they each have a punishment related to the crime that they commit? Economically, it does make sense. Instead of costing the taxpayers money, they're making money off of her by charging admission to this "park". Does it morally make sense? It definitely makes the viewer question it.
Like we discussed in class, I don't think the film would be the same if they hadn't shown her to be a criminal. For me personally, it makes me feel uncomfortable as a viewer to be unsure if I am sympathetic with her or not. I think that feeling that the film gives is really important and really makes you reconsider what you view to be justice versus torture. It definitely reminds me of Hammurabi's code; an eye for an eye. If you steal something, you get your hand cut off. It's an idea that has been in society for hundreds of years. You should get the punishment you deserve, right? I'm still not sure how I feel about it all. It's treated as a fun game to the rest of society. But it runs a similar parallel to how the United States treats their criminals. There's plenty of punishment, but no rehabilitation. Her screams as she watches the movie she filmed while she gets her mind erased are the hardest part for me to watch. The viewer can definitely tell that she's being tortured. But there is literally no way for her to get better. And so she's constantly being subjected to the same torture over and over again.
Overall I thought it was a really good film though, and makes the viewer reconsider their morals a little bit. Unfortunately, I still have a lot of questions that I know can't be answered, but it's certainly interesting to chew on.
I agree that people should get the punishment they deserve but in White Bear it was torture, not just punishment. However, I feel that once this society punishes her once, they could erase her memory and doing that could possibly be a way to rehabilitate her. She would not have remembered doing the crime or being a bad person (if she was one) and they can tell her that she was a good person and help bring her back into society.
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