What The Green Mile (1999) Can Teach Men about Masculinity

 

The Green Mile is an adaptation from Stephen King's novel of the same title.

Whenever I hear about the atrocities men commit to women, children, and each other, I watch this movie to heal. 

I watched it again to get over the R@PE ACADEMY reports. Now, I want to show men what they can be: GOOD.

Maybe I could show men that hurting women - the women of your home in a vast, organized way, teaching each other how to not get caught is neither brave nor masculine.

1. John Coffey (the late Michael Clarke Duncan)

John is alleged to have r@ped and murdered 2 girl children and is a prisoner on death row - he's huge, very muscular - but not violent. Slowly, the prison guards on the green mile discover his mysterious powers, learn of his innocence, and work to do him justice. 

Not only John has miraculous powers to cure people, he can also bring the dead to life - provided he does it immediately after death - as he does to Mr Jingles, another prisoner's pet mouse.

John had been trying to revive the r@ped and murdered girls, sobbing uncontrollably when he was found and wrongly arrested. 

The girls were beyond help and were actually r@ped and murdered by Wild Billy (a representation of the manosphere).

What John Coffey can teach those men in the manosphere:

• Be sensitive to the suffering of others
• Help if you could, never harm
• Punish bad men instead of protecting them
• If you feel heavy inside, share it
• Crying and feeling are deeply human and essential

2. Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks)

Though a death row prison guard, Paul has deep empathy - he doesn't wrong anyone - not even the prisoners. After being cured of an UTI by John and witnessing Mr Jingles, the mouse's resurrection, he goes the extra mile to find out if John was truly guilty.

Paul's quiet compassion and integrity rub off 3 other prison guards: the lofty Brutus Howell (Brutal), Dean Stanton, and Harry Terwilliger.

Paul wanted to help Warden Hal's (James Cromwell) terminally ill wife through John and he got all the of the boys' to help. Note: they cooperated to help a woman, not hurt her.

Paul and his colleagues use threats and deception to get Percy Wetmore, the sadistic prison guard with connections lay off of the prisoners. 

Percy is the coward who shows his strength to a mouse and sabotages the execution of Delacroix on the electric chair, causing the prisoner an agonizing death by electrocution.

Paul and the boys organized a ruse to help Melinda, the warden's wife through John. Despite being white - they never thought to exploit the black John's miraculous powers. 

Instead, they tried their best to convince John to accept their help. Especially Paul Edgecomb.

But John is so saddled by the evils of the world, he is so tortured by the ugliness of people that he feels physically - he wants to die. He asks for John's help to let him die.

During John's execution, these hardened men fight back tears. Dean weeps as he straps John to Old Sparky. After John's death, Paul and Brutal couldn't oversee executions anymore - they took jobs at a boys' correctional facility - catching and fixing em early.

The Green Mile also depicts the type of men in the manosphere: Wild Bill Wharton (Sam Rockwell) and Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison)

Wild Bill is the one who r@ped and killed the girls - John learns about it when Wild Bill grabs his arm as he was leaving to help Hal's wife. Later, John shares the truth about what Wild Bill had done to Paul through his tactile power.

Wild Bill isn't only bad - he is also racist and entitled. He demands John's cornbread, then says that white men shouldn't sit on electric chairs sat on by "n*ggers." 

As Del dies a horrifying death, Wild Bill rejoices while John is overwhelmed with pain - he could feel Del's suffering.

Yes. Not much different than the manosphere who train to attack women who may reject them - Wild Bill and Percy have the same entitlement.

John Coffey knew that he couldn't go without punishing Percy and Wild Bill for what they've done. He gives the illness he sucked out from Melinda to Percy.

Then, seemingly in a trance, Percy shoots Wild Bill, releases the disease from his mouth, and ends up catatonic, cooped up in an asylum.

The Green Mile also highlights that men like Wild Bill and Percy, who love to bully and hurt ones weaker than them - are the biggest cowards.

Every time Wild Bill is dragged for solitary confinement, he begs for kindness - kindness he doesn't show others. 

Percy wets himself when Wild Bill grabs him, holds him in a chokehold, and calls him a "p*ssy he'd f*ck." 

Percy sabotages Del's execution but is unable to stomach the monstrosity he created. Paul forces him to watch Del burn to death.

Takeaways

• Use your strength and ability as men to do good - just like John Coffey, Paul Edgecomb and his 3 colleagues.
• Have a moral compass and integrity so strong, you'd never wrong those as strong as you.

• Use your muscles for good cause, not to body slam a girl who wouldn't give you her number.
• Relearn masculinity - masculinity isn't about running podcasts justifying men cheating and how men can bully and exploit those weaker.
• It's about respecting everyone, practicing equality, being tender-hearted, and sensitively strong.

Instead of watching Animal, watch The Green Mile. It teaches you how to be a good human.