The Shawshank Redemption is a prison movie that is based on a book by Stephen King and directed by Frank Darabont. The movie is not the average bloody horror movie; instead, it takes you to a place where your worst nightmares come alive. The tremendous performance by Morgan Freeman and other actors has truly brought this film to life. The emotions characters portrayed were so real that every one could feel compassion toward them. The Shawshank Redemption, a contribution to the working man, illustrates the dark side of the prison and the power of hope within that helps a prisoner to survive.
The Shawshank Redemption depicts the working class man that shares qualities of a hero. Andy Dufresne is an average character on to whom other characters can depend. According to Richard Armstrong, Andy is the “traditional American hero” (80). Andy uses his resources of intelligence and “resilience” to survive the harsh prison life. Similar to every other movie or life situation, each man has to prove his innocence. The hero has to use his qualities not only to survive, but also to restore his reputation (Armstrong 80). From the beginning, the viewers are not sure if Andy is truly guilty. He declares his innocence, but so does every one else in prison (Steyn 35). Every task that Andy overcomes leads him closer to his master plan that will eventually free him (Armstrong 79).
His first plan is to initiate protection from other inmates, such as a gang of rapists, and to build up trustful relationships. When Andy first arrives to the prison, escape is not the first thing on his mind. In fact, the first thing he asks of Red is to be provided with a rock hammer. Andy’s intentions were not to use it to dig a tunnel; instead, he wished to continue his work in geology and to make the best of his time (Armstrong 81). Andy helps the head guard and the warden financially through the investment secrets he gained from his profession. By helping them with their taxes, he earned beer for his fellow inmates, was allowed to establish a library, and received the right to provide education for the prisoners (Avella 16).
Since The Shawshank Redemption is written by Stephen King, who writes typical horror stories, it is surprising that this film does not follow the typical horror flicks of blood and gore. There is some violence in...
... middle of paper ...
...ost. GALILEO. Georgia Perimeter College Library, Dunwoody, GA. 3 Feb. 2005
Avella, Richard. “Adjusting to Hell.” Commonweal 4 Nov. 1994: 16-19. Academic
Search Premier. EBSCOhost. GALILEO. Georgia Perimeter College Library, Dunwoody, GA. 7 Feb. 2005
Bovens, Luc. “The Value of Hope.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 59
(1999): 667-681. JSTOR. Georgia Perimeter College Library, Dunwoody, GA. 23
Feb. 2005
“Morgan Freeman Stars with Tim Robbins in Heartfelt Prison Drama ‘The Shawshank
Redemption’. ”Jet. Chicago 17 Oct. 1994: 56-60. Research Library. ProQuest. GALILEO. Georgia Perimeter College Library, Dunwoody, GA. 7 Feb. 2005.
Rike, Jennifer. “Foundation of Hope.” Christian Century 22 Nov. 1995: 1-3. Academic
Search Premier. EBSCOhost. GALILEO. Georgia Perimeter College Library, Dunwoody, GA. 7 Feb. 2005.
“The Shawshank Redemption.” Frank Darabont, Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins.
Castle Rock Entertainment, Columbia, 1994.
Steyn, Mark. “The Other Side of Life.” The Spectator. London 18 Feb. 1995: 35.
Research Library. ProQuest. GALILEO. Georgia Perimeter College Library, Dunwoody, GA. 7 Feb. 2005.
Writing 2 Aidyn Ogilvy: Writing Portfolio I am going to write about a scene from the movie The Shawshank Redemption. I will be using figurative language to put the audience in the shoes of the main lead character Andy Dufrense. My audience will be people who like Stephen King. The scene will be when he escapes the prison. The lights have been turned out.
We were the lords of all creation. As for andy he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer." This quote shows how little things teh prisoners get can make them happy.Another example would be when he used the hammer to escape from prison. It started when he asked Red to get him a rok hammer, which he said he would use to shape rocks. He calms Red's conscious as he tells it would take him a thousand years to break out of prison with a rosk hammer.When he received the rosk hammer he started to shape rocks as soon as he could and hidden that hole with a poster.After he had the hole big enough to crawl throught, he asked Heywood for a six-foot piece of rope.
Hope is a huge recurring theme in both of these movies, most of which happened in a similar manner. Andy Dufresne, during his 28 years at Shawshank prison,
The Shawshank Redemption is an inspiring story about Andy Dufreine and his efforts to maintain hope in horrible situations. The directors used many effective methods that displayed signs of hope in such a horrible place. Andy maintained hope by distracting his mind and always staying occupied. Andy was also inspired to survive by helping others find hope in life.
Stephen King published his novella “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption in 1982. In 1994 this novella was turned into a movie called The Shawshank Redemption. Frank Darabont wrote the screenplay. A good adaptation will capture the same overall essence of the written book or novella. Darabont did a wonderful job of adapting this novella into a movie. He captured the overall essence in a way that makes a heart rejoice in happiness and relief. The adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption is very well done.
First, Andy preserves his self-respect by fighting or defending himself from the rape squad of Shawshank Prison known as “The Sisters”.
The movie Shawshank Redemption depicts the story of Andy Dufresne, who is an innocent man that is sentenced to life in prison. At Shawshank, both Andy and the viewers, witness typical prison subculture.
One morning when the guards are checking the cells, they discover that Andy is not in his cell. The warden throws rocks out of anger and throws one at the poster of a female Andy had taped on his cell wall. The rock goes straight through once they take down the poster, they see a hole in the wall. Andy had been digging this hole for twenty long years and used it to escape the prison. In the film, there is a scene of Andy in which he stands in the rain with his hands in the air as a free man. He takes in the rain on the other side of the prison and we see the happiness he feels knowing his plan worked. This scene shows us the success and accomplishment he feels knowing that due to his hard work over the years, he is now a free man. Once Andy escapes, he goes to Zihuatanejo, Mexico to start a new life, like he had told Red earlier on in the film. Once Red is granted parole, he is sent to the same hotel as Brooks and works at the same grocery store as well. The difference between Brooks and Red is that Red has a reason to keep going once he is out of the prison. He states “Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy.” (). As he sits in his hotel room. This shows that Andy left a lasting impression on Red and also instilled hope in him to not give up like Brooks had. In the prison, Red was a man who had nothing to look forward to and gave up on ever getting parole but after being exposed to Andy and his beliefs, Red changed his thinking. When Red goes to finally meet Andy in Mexico, he says “I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams … I hope. “ (). This shows that someone who had said that hope is a dangerous thing now hopes for so many things, all because of Andy and his
This defiance is what makes his character so likable. Red is a good man that did a terrible thing. He gives gifts to Andy and is a good friend to him when he needs him. He is very smart, not ever getting caught while smuggling everything in. He is a likable man because of his sincerity. At the start of the film he can even be considered the archetype of the wise old man. The wise old man of a film “possesses knowledge and often serves as a mentor to the hero” (Seger 392). He becomes Andy’s mentor and takes him under his wing, shows him the ways to do things and teaches him how to survive behind bars. He gets him what he needs from the outside world, like the hammer and the posters, and he gives him valuable advice. The stereotype of the African American is not seen as a respectable man, nor as an individual who bears intelligence and charm, as Red does. Andy Dufresne helps Red grow as a person and to defy the stereotype that he was born by the color of his skin. This sort of African American image can be seen in other movies as
is the old lag, a “man who knows how to get things”, a man who knows
The film stars Tim Robbins as Andrew 'Andy' Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding. The film portrays Andy spending nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison, a surreal house of correction in Maine and his friendship with Red, a fellow inmate, which gradually develops over the years. Consequently the three reasons that the director wanted to produce this movie are to reveal hope, despair and integrity. Red describes the reasons eloquently: “All I know for sure is that Andy Dufresne wasn’t much like me or anyone else I ever knew. . . . It was a kind of inner light he carried around with him.”
'Shawshank Redemption' directed by Frank Darabont is a compelling film about the life of one of its prisoners, Andy. many film techniques were used through out the film as a clever way of conveying main themes. This essay is going to examine how Darabont used camera angles and colour effectively in this film to portray the idea of power.
Stephen King is often considered to be one of the most skilled horror authors of all time. King has shown his ability to write successful horror novels time and time again, having written such classics as Cujo, The Shining, and Pet Sematary. However, if one should seek to see a true testament to King’s skill at writing, then look no further than the two outliers in King’s work, Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Though King Primarily focused on horror novels ,these two stories deviated from that focusing more on drama than horror. Truly, Stephen King’s ability to take both Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile and have these stories stand on their own despite their similarities is a testament to King’s skill as a writer.
addresses the process of adaptation used when converting a literary hypotext to the film medium; The Shawshank Redemption (Darabont, Frank) is the film adaptation of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (King, Stephen). The story follows characters Red and Andy who serve life sentences in Shawshank Prison. Over many years a strong bond develops, and Andy, wrongly convicted, inspires many at the prison. After Andy escapes, Red decides to follow him upon being granted parole. The story privileges themes of hope, freedom, institutionalisation, friendship, time, and brutality. The film is similar to the novella, however, some aspects differ from the hypotext. Within the novella, Brooks is a minor character, Tommy Williams doesn’t die, and Warden Norton merely retires. Through altering the story, the film modifies the essence of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption for film audiences and utilises film language to convey meaning. By adding certain scenes, the text takes on stronger themes of hope, institutionalisation and brutality. This draws attention to the themes within the hypotext and thus enhances the parallels between texts.
This gripping series begins with ""Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,"" in which a prisoner unjustly imprisoned a strange and surprising seeks revenge, the basis for the best picture Academy Award nominee Shawshank Redemption. The next is ""Summer of corruption,"" the inspiration for the film of the same name on the top high school student Todd Bowden