Shawshank Redemption

The genre that Shawshank Redemption fits into the closest would be a mix between mystery and film noir, because it isn’t fully mysterious but it does leave you wondering what will happen next. The film fits into a mystery category but is a flexible genre because it allows for adaptation of the film because there are not any film’s that are about prison life from a third party point of view that involves redemption but not in the way you would expect it. The Shawshank Redemption is more of a sub-genre film, not fitting into any particular genre film. Also it is a film noir which a “Film noir literally means "black film" in French, and applies to stories treating dark themes, shady characters, and more often than not, physically dark settings with much of the action occurring at night. Low–key, high–contrast lighting and strong use of diagonal, expressionistic patterns and odd camera angles are common in noir films.” (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2011, Ch. Mysteries & Film Noir).

Application of at least one approach to analysis and interpretation

The symptomatic content that can be used is the Marxist approach which “would examine how the plot and characters in a film reflect Karl Marx’s sociopolitical views on class conflict, labor vs. management, oppressive governments, and more. Typically a Marxist approach will identify instances of everyday people struggling to survive in the face of some unsympathetic authority.” (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2011 Ch.10.3). Contextualist and structuralist seems the most appropriate to use when analyzing the Shawshank Redemption. The way that contextualist is appropriate is because one of the approaches that is used is the dualist approach. The dualist approach “tries to identify pairs of opposites in a ...

... middle of paper ...

...cting the key points that were discussed were if the director shows technical competence and interior meaning and if the director’s point of view was evident. For Impact we have went over if the film made you feel like you were escaping your own life, as well as were there any scene’s that were censored. In genre we went over which category of genre or sub-genre the film fits closest in and why. While analyzing this film we discussed what approaches to analysis seems the most appropriate to use.” (Formalist, contextualist, structuralist, auteurist, realist, generic).” (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2011 Ch. 10). I hope that if you have seen this film that you also felt all of the different emotions that this film is capable of provoking. If not one can only hope that when you do walk away from this film you will stop to think and realize that maybe your life isn’t that bad.