but what's the point of punishment if she can't remember it and there is no rehabilitation
I believe the fact she can't remember, and the slow, nightmarish reveal about why she is experiencing this horror, is exactly the point.
It is one of the worst forms of torture imaginable. Every single day she wakes up in a living hell, in fear for her life and safety every minute, until the end when it is revealed she is being punished and tortured publicly for the brutal crimes she committed. She learns she is a despicable criminal and did something unspeakable, unimaginable to a little girl. She sees the hatred, and probably wonders deep down, "did I really do this? Is this what I deserve?"
The fact she can't remember these crimes is part of what makes it so brutal, in my opinion. This episode really disturbed me as I could imagine what it would feel like to live through that scenario and slowly begin to realize these people hate you and think you are a monster, and wonder if you really are. I think the fact it repeats daily is merely for the public's benefit, and the peace of mind knowing she is being endlessly tormented for her crimes. To Victoria this probably makes no difference since it will only ever feel like one nightmarish day for her as her memory is wiped at the end of each session.
Or, maybe this is more about how society views punishment and this form of punishment satisfies their anger.
I think this is probably the biggest underlying statement the writers were trying to make in that episode.
White Bear examines our society's obsession with retribution and punishment for crimes, rather than a desire to understand what drives people to commit crimes, and focus on rehabilitating these individuals to benefit society as a whole.
Our obsession with punishment is a deeply rooted tradition that goes back thousands of years, despite clear and overwhelming evidence that it does nothing to deter or prevent crime, scare other individuals into not committing crimes, and "correct" behaviour of criminals that enter our criminal justice systems and are punished for their actions.
Look at a big country like America, for example. The United States locks up more of it's citizens per capita than any other country in the entire world (even higher than dictatorial or authoritarian states), and with far longer and severe sentences for crimes than most countries. But does this work? Not even close. The United States also has the highest rate of recidivism in the entire world.
And the U.S. isn't the only country that operates with a similar justice model. We are so blinded with our obsession for punishing criminals that we are unable to see how pointless and unproductive the system is. People enter the churning, revolving door of the justice machine to be punished, only to be spat out the other end to reenter society in a worse state than they were in before, where they are even more likely to commit more crimes.
An example scenario:A young drug addict enters the system to be punished for theft (to support his habit) and drug possession. He is treated like a dangerous criminal and locked up for years, failing to address the personal and social problems that lead him to commit his crimes in the first place.
In prison, he receives little to no resources and education to kick his addiction. His personal and mental issues are not addressed, nor does he learn the skills he would need to be successful and the world and deal with mental and emotional problems he has encountered in the past that drove him to use drugs and become dependent on them. On top of all this, there is also an abundance of drugs inside prison so this addict probably continues to use during the duration of his punishment.
Despite knowing all this, we release this man when he completes his sentence and we expect him to be magically "cured" and able to reenter his community as a functioning member of society. This man is still a drug addict, and now in an even worse place than he was when he went into prison. His job prospects are severely limited, and the addict almost immediately relapses back into crime (often more severe crime & with greater criminal connections after being in prison) in order to scrape by.
How does this make any sense at all? Of course there are some criminals who really do deserve this kind of punishment, criminals who are so far beyond the scope of rehabilitation, and without whom society is much safer. These men are lost causes and deserve to be punished accordingly. But do the vast majority of criminals entering our prisons fall into this category? I personally don't think so.
It completely baffles me that people are unable to see this "revolving door" that we create and feed. WE as society are the ones who lose out in this scenario, not the criminal we lock up. It is a self-perpetuating cycle that just goes around and around and around, and yet we just can't figure it out.
I don't want to bash other people's political beliefs, but in my opinion, in countries like America this is largely due to the huge amount of conservative, backwards thinkers.. These people's beliefs and values are so deeply rooted in antiquated traditions and archaic ways of thinking and solving problems, to the point where they are just incapable and unwilling to see how our system is broken and does nothing but bite us in the ass over and over again.
If you add money into the mix, and the fact the private prison industry generates billions of dollars for year for the wealthy elite, then the situation for the future of our society looks even more bleak, possibly like the theme-park like business attractions we saw in White Bear. But I will save that rant for a whole other post.
All in all, I thought White Bear was a brilliant, and uncomfortable social and political commentary about our sick obsession with crime and punishment, and the dark places it could eventually lead us.
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