Widma dawnych wartości. Kryzysy ekonomiczne w filmach o nawiedzonych domach

British and American cinema used a haunted house motif to tell a story about a family in a time of economic crisis. Most of the movies mentioned in the article are found on a similar pattern: not wealthy family is buying or renting a big house; they believe that this is their future dream place, so they spend their last money on house repairs. Though they are broke, they continue to live on their „American dream”. Neoliberal myths instruct them that in American or British society there’s no place for economic losers. By this time house is reviling the symptoms of being haunted by the demons and along with the paranormal phenomena wife, husband and their children are starting to show their demons (they are extremely violent and stressed). Economic problems are linked with interpersonal family drama and the decay of social relations. Haunted house horrors are showing that the only remedy for their problems they can find in the past. Film characters from movies such as Burnt Offerings and The Amityville Horror believe that conservatism and old values are going to help their situation. In the end, it turns out that, this symbolic return to the past is just another form of ideological oppression.

A Review of Big House on the Prairie: Rise of the Rural Ghetto and Prison Proliferation, by John M. Eason

No abstract available.

Book Review: Mitchel P. Roth, Fire in the Big House: America’s Deadliest Prison Disaster. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. 2019.

In his book, Fire in the Big House, criminal justice historian, Mitchel P. Roth provides readers with an in-depth analysis of America’s deadliest penal disaster. The book specifically examines a horrific fire which occurred at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio on April 21, 1930—Easter Monday. Even though 320 prisoners perished in this devastating event (plus two more inmates who died later of gunshots indirectly related to the fire), the author notes that there has never been a scholarly book devoted to this topic. Although this event caused only $11,000 in damage to the Columbus institution, Roth contends that it still ranks as America’s third-worst fire (excluding 9/11).