Throughout the documentary, the audience is manipulated against capital punishment through painting Johnson’s character as that of a hard done-by innocent victim. In every scene Johnson appears in he speaks in a calm, controlled tone which when combined with the fact that he is on death row forces the audience to associate him with one whom has given up hope and dreams, and has fallen into a state of depression and inner-frustration. This is point is further expanded on by Johnson:

“I feel helpless, although I want to make plan

One particularly powerful scene is where the gas chamber is being tested, the documentary shows a rabbit being led in with a cage and cyanide pellets are dropped and rabbit is killed. The documentary uses the helpless rabbit to show the cruelty and brutality of capital punishment.

There are many other such scenes used to persuade the audience against capital punishment, such as the minute size of the cells that Johnson is kept in, the close up his calendar with the date of execution circled, the crucifix kept in the gas chamber (thou shalt not kill), close up of guns and barbed-wire fence etc… All these types of subjective material are deliberately shown to bias the audience against capital punishment.

Johnson proclaims his innocence describing how he was forced to sign a confession and that the officers that had him in custody when he was arrested were racist towards him. Johnson stands by his claim that he is innocent and never committed the crime he was being punished for. As the documentary makes a strong case on him part the audience is led to believe him, and it gives a message that anyone could end up in his position. The penitentiary warden expands on this:

The documentary encourages the audience empathize with him and as they aren’t told until the conclusion of the movie whether or not he is released, it puts the audience into suspense, hoping he will not be executed, and allowing them to grow closer to him throughout the length of the documentary.

s and dream I feel like I won’t be ever able to do none of these things”.

Some topics in this essay:
Earl Johnson’s, African-American Johnson, Contrastingly Johnson, Days May”, Earl Johnson, May” Panorama-BBC, capital punishment, FOURTEEN DAYS, capital punishment documentary, audience capital punishment, audience capital, gas chamber, bias audience, punishment documentary, throughout documentary, Edward Earl, filming techniques, discussion issue capital, edward earl, emotive material, “fourteen days may”, bias audience capital, audience suspense,