Director's Work of Frank Darabont in The Green Mile

Separation is a very influential force that causes an individual to experience loneliness or alienation. To overcome the perception of separation, one must display emotional courage which gives an individual the power to show confidence in a distressing environment. In the film “The Green Mile” we can see the main character Paul Edgecombe working at a prison where he execute criminals on an electric chair.

Moreover, the director of the film Frank Darabont displays the protagonist as a very loyal person toward his job, who wishes that every criminal gets appropriate justice for their crime, and this was proven when he reopened the case of John Coffey’s murder. The reopening of John Coffey’s murder case proves that Paul believes John isn’t the person who killed the two girls. Paul displays a tremendous amount of confidence and emotional courage during the execution of an innocent man John Coffey. The film forcefully suggests that in some scenarios humans are required to separate from an individual, and the only way to counter these negative emotions are by displaying emotional courage.

Initially, Paul is not shown as an emotional person, instead, he is presented as a very courageous person. He continually executes individuals who are criminals without showing any signs of grief for his actions. We can conclude that he did not fear getting separated from the prisoners, which shows that Paul is full of emotional courage. In the film, Paul also has a very severe bladder infection, which he fights with as the movie progresses. Him not going to the doctor to get his bladder checked shows he has physical courage as well as emotional courage. As the movie progresses, John Coffey arrives at the prison as a very big and muscular black guy.

The first perception which could be drawn by looking at John was opposite to his personality, and behavior. John looked very strong from the outside but was very weak from the inside. John Coffey was scared of darkness which was ironic with his skin color. Him being scared of darkness indirectly tells us that he is a pure man, free of sin. Paul, on the other hand, was very strong from the inside, but he had an unattractive body. The director is trying to inform us that a person should not judge an individual's personality by their outer look. Moreover Paul’s inner strength begins to weaken when his urinary tract infection was healed by John Coffey.

Consequently, Pauls behaviour and personality began to change, as he was beginning to get emotionally attached with prisoners. The act of John Coffey eliminating the black flies from Paul represents darkness and evil, leaving his body. The director states every human being is not perfect, everyone has done some sort of crime, and this was shown by the significance of the flies. The act of John Coffey healing Paul made him even more curious that if he was the real murderer which further establishes onto the fact that he is very devoted toward his job. The director tells us that humans opinions change over time, which can make separation from an individual to be a harder decision to put into action.

As Paul begins to investigate deeper into John Coffey’s murder case, he was getting confident that John Coffey wasn’t the real murderer. Though, after Paul gets to know the truth about the real killer, he begins to lose confidence, and the only way he could’ve overcome these negative thoughts were by showing emotional courage. Paul does not want to execute John, but John’s decision holds him back. The decision of John Coffey wanting to die put Paul into a dilemma and he begins to hesitate. The first sign of hesitation was shown through the quotation, “On the day of my judgment when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That is was my job? My job?” So it is okay to say that Paul has begun to show emotional attachment to prisoners and feared getting separated from a person who cured him.

John and Paul enter the execution chamber, the imagery created by the director is vast, indicating the desolation and separation from John Coffey. Paul was beginning to hesitate as John sits on to the electric chair. There was a long silence before Paul’s final words, as he let the emotions of separation to overcome his mind, which was indirectly causing him to lose his confidence.

The director of the film is indirectly is trying to tell us that emotions can distract an individual from doing what is asked of them. Since Paul is manipulated by the negative effects of separation, he clasps onto John Coffey’s hands, showing his hesitation and lack of confidence. After some time, their hands disengage, symbolically showing that Paul is leaving behind his emotions and do what John wanted him to do. Paul faces a hard decision, but the amount of emotional courage it took him to stick onto the desires of John determines whether he could overcome the feelings of separation or not.

Consequently, Paul was deeply saddened by his courageous act which he showed in the execution chamber. Throughout the end of the film it was told that right after John Coffey died, Paul left his job the other day because he found himself extremely embarrassed, and he held himself accountable for it, as shown through the quotation, “My punishment for letting John Coffey ride the lightning... for killing a miracle of God.” Moreover, the act of John healing Paul’s urinary infection makes Paul live longer than his lifespan, he was shown to be 108 years old in the movie.

The transition from a very enthusiastic scene at the beginning of the film, to “dry and cold leftover toast” around the end, reveals that Paul is trying to numb the absence of his loved ones by showing emotional courage. By the end of the film, we can conclude that Paul is undergoing lots of pain as shown through the quotations “I think about my beautiful Jan, and how I lost her so many years ago,” and, “...if he could make a mouse live so long, how much longer do I have?” From these quotations, we can also conclude that Paul does not want to live anymore, as he is continually seeing his loved ones die. The only way Paul can overcome the separation of his loved one's absence is by displaying emotional courage.

In conclusion, the director of the film Frank Darabont is trying to inform the audience that the only way the negative feelings of separation can be fought is by pure emotional courage. Throughout the film, we are shown that there are many negative feelings of separations such as loneliness. The main character Paul encounters these feelings as he was granted more life from an innocent man named John Coffey, which he executed. Him having a big lifespan indirectly tells us that having an immortal life can be painful as they are bound to see their loved ones die. At the beginning of the film, Paul is full of emotional courage, but when Paul finds the truth about the real killer of the two girls which John tried to help, his emotional courage was challenged. Yet, he does maintain his emotional courage, which leads him to make a decision which he does not want to make, such as letting the execution of John Coffey roll.

An important theme which was shown in the film was that separation from an individual can be necessary for some scenarios and the only way to overcome the negative feelings of separation are by displaying emotional courage.