In the Executioner's Shadow

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On April 11th I attended a showing of In the Executioner’s Shadow. This is a documentary created by American University’s own Richard Stack. The film is follows four people as they deal with the emotional and moral issues of the death penalty.  Following the April 11th showing viewers were joined by the four unique perspectives: Jerry Givens, Vicki and Syl Shieber, and Karen Brassard. Viewers were also joined by Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Diann Rust-Tierney.

Each person has a complicated and real relationship with the death penalty. Jerry Givens is the executioner himself. He committed 62 executions in his lifetime. He deeply believed that what he was doing was right and explained it as being God’s will. At a young age Givens witnessed the murder of a grade-school crush and in many ways becoming an executioner was an emotional coping mechanism. However, Givens turned against the death penalty when a man he was preparing to execute was taken off of death row and found to be innocent at retrial.

The Shieber’s have an emotionally complex journey of their own.  The parents of Shannon Shieber are deeply religious. Catholics are supposed to be morally opposed to the death penalty according to the Vatican. However, the couple’s faith was tested when Shannon was raped and murdered. While for many this would have resulted in a change of heart towards the death penalty the Shieber’s are fighting for the life of their daughters killer.

In contrast, Karren Bassard does believer her assailant, the Boston Bomber should receive the death penalty. Bassard’s story is one of coming to terms to with what happened to her and her family. She ultimately decided that the death penalty was fitting of the Boston Bomber’s crime. She bravely spoke this opposing viewpoint to a room people who do not support the death penalty during her talk.

Diann Rust-Tierney is not a “main story” in the film. However, she offered a lot of credibility during the panel. As the executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Tierney offers factual evidence opposed to emotional testimony in the film. While speaking at the event post clip screening she offered tangible calls to action for the audience.

This documentary’s social media is run by grad-school students at American University. It has a Twitter and a Facebook page. However it does not have an Instagram. The hub of information on this film is their website intheexuctionersshadow.com. This website offers links to other information on the topic and it offers contact links to the films directors. It also offers links to a blog that acts as a community space and a donate button acting as a call to action. However, it is missing crucial pieces of a good campaign.

The primary thing wrong with the website is that there is no place for a viewer to put in their email. Allowing visitors to put in their email would build a network where information is easily disseminated. This would be helpful as the film get closer to actual screening time. These emails could call people to action to see and promote the film thus growing the community and spreading the message. Furthermore, the campaign should at least own its Instagram page name and ideally be posting content there to grow their community. Furthermore as discussed in the manufacturing communities class e-mails play a crucial role in mobilizing. E-mails link those who expressed interest with tangible things to do while building a base. Furthermore, this campaign completely lacks shared symbols not giving viewers anything to rally behind.

Where this campaign lacks in mobilizing and building a community it succeeds in storytelling. As, this is a documentary storytelling is the chief aspect of disseminating the message. As discussed in the Storytelling class,  “storytelling is a device for explaining a campaign via a cause and effect relationship.” The Shieber story is particularly effective at using their emotional content for persuasion. The viewer rightfully must ask themself: if a family whose child was raped and murdered are against the death penalty why I am not?

However there is not just emotional pull in the film. Diann offers a rational and logical argument against the death penalty. She cites the disproportionate amount of people of color who are sent to their death via the justice system and the high cost of death row.

Overall, the campaign is falters at seeming basic things such as collecting email address to disseminate information. However, the film does a great job with storytelling balancing both pathos and logos. This provokes the view to ask themself tough questions about their own view of the death penalty. The discussion following the film the reminsent of this spirit of the film.