Gollum the symbol of detriment effect of the prison setting. This painting which was in the office of a social worker in a Hungarian prison, was made by a Romani (Gypsy) prisoner. Romani prisoners are over-represented in Hungarian prisons. The Romani is the largest ethnic minority in Hungary.
The most controversial character in the Lord of the Rings is undisputedly Gollum. In the story he suddenly finds a ring, and the possession of this ring changes his mind and turns him to a monster. But his older self survives the transformation and the conflict between the two personalities results a special level of consciousness: he becomes dissociative. The ring influenced self is sly and the good one is exhausted. This symbolizes the bipolar question of the inmates: Am I a beast, a target of the society or am I just a fallen angel?
The other quite important aspect of the character of Gollum is his deprivation from his all property, the almighty ring. Prisoners are not only deprived from their liberty in the blocks, but also from their basic needs like sexuality, movement, intimacy etc. The latter deprivations are immanent, it means that these are not described in the legislation word by word, but they are implications of the law. Of course there are compensations in the prison: homosexuality, sex with staff members for sexual deprivation, weight lifting for moving and gangs and drugs for intimacy.
The addiction is also important in the interpretation of the symbol of Gollum. He was severely withdrawn from the ring, and this was the cause of the exhaustion of his Sméagol self. He is a resemblance of a heroin addict.
The most important issue of the Gollum/prison harm similarity is the slow malicious effect of the setting and mental state. Gollum changes in the story almost unnoticeable but later he was hardly recognizable. This is the worst side of the prison: the slow destruction of the mind and body, this is the detriment effect of the prison.
Finally I do not say that the creator of this painting was aware of the above mentioned conclusions, may be he just saw the movie in the television, but I am sure, that he realized the similarity between Gollum and himself.
Gollam. Félig hobbit, félig szörnyeteg, akit megbénított a hatalom gyűrűje. A Gyűrűk ura egyik legellentmondásosabb karaktere. A képet egy roma fogvatartott készítette.
A börtönben rendkívül sok ellentmondás van, talán ezt próbálta ábrázolni a fogvatartott; de lehetséges, hogy Gollam rendkívül hosszas metamorfózisa hatotta meg. Gollam Szméagol néven éppen olyan ártatlan hobbitnak született, mint Frodó, azonban a Gyűrű megtalálása után egyre jobban kezdett leromlani a jelleme.
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