The Shawshank Redemption

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In Frank Darabont's cinematic text, The Shawshank Redemption, narration is used as a way to explore the role which narration plays in shaping the audience response towards the characterisation of inmates and prison authorities. By the use of narration, Frank Darabont explores the ways in which the narration effects individual prisoners, prison authorities and inmates as a whole from Shawshank Prison and how they manipulate the audience.
In the film The Shawshank Redemption, narration plays an important role in shaping the audience response towards the characterisation of the inmates and prison authorities. One narration that plays a role in shaping audience response is when Red narrates in the scene where the music can be heard playing that, …show more content…

For example, Red states after the prison escape of Andy Dufresne that, “I have to remind myself some birds are not meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright.” This demonstrates that although the audience knows that Red is only a character they are persuaded into trusting what Red says as he gives a sense of authority about the place. This narration builds the characterisation for Andy. This quote makes the audience feel empathetic towards Andy, as they are persuaded into feeling that Andy should not be in prison. Andy is compared to a bird in the narration which Red says. The audience knows that it is not natural to keep a bird in a cage as it is meant to be released into the world so it can fly and be free, which is exactly how the audience feels towards Andy. From this narration which Red gives, the audience feels a sense of authority from Red and takes his word about Andy, as the audience knows that Andy and Red were close friends while in prison …show more content…

One key example of this is one which involves a narration by Red about the Warden. “The following April Andy did tax returns for half the guards at Shawshank. The year after that he did them all, including the Warden's.” This narration by Red immediately shapes the audience response, which makes the audience have some belief in the Warden, as he is shown to not be as corrupt of a person that the audience may have initially anticipated. The audience is shown the power which the prison authorities give to certain prisoners, such as Andy Dufresne. It may appear normal for this to happen, but the audience later discovers that the prison authorities abused the power which they have, to benefit themselves. During Andy’s first few years, it became known that he was abused by a group of prisoners, known as ‘The Sisters’. Captain Hadley and several other guards, had beaten up the leader of ‘The Sisters’, Boggs, after discovering how they abused Andy on a regular basis. The audience is shown how the prison authorities are willing to abuse their power to whatever extent, as long as it benefits and helps them in some way or another. As the narrator was Red, the audience trusts him in building the character background for the prison authorities. The audience is soon exposed to corruptly run prison and

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