Shawshank Redemption

In Frank Darabont’s film Shawshank Redemption, the themes of isolation and hope are used to underscore the effects of imprisonment. However, the main characters Andy and Red perceive prison life and freedom very differently. First off, one of the key reasons Andy survived in prison is due to the hope he held. On the other hand, Red lost all hope of getting out of prison. Furthermore, life for both characters became quite different once they are released from prison.

The principal theme of the movie remains around the life of a prisoner, Andy, and tells us about the various circumstances and adversities faced by him and how does he manage to go through all this. The movie skillfully integrates the representation of harsh realities of the prison world and remains successful to a large extent in conveying the intended message to the viewer as to how brutal and harsh a prisoner’s life can be.

When Andy first arrives at Shawshank, he gets of the bus with a nice suit on and appears frightened and cold. The prisoners watching the new inmates take bets on the new men and Andy. Red, a main character perceives Andy as just a rich and probably weak man, so he bets Andy will have an emotional breakdown the first night. Andy’s behavior doesn't reveal much in the beginning. He is quiet and keeps his distance from people, Red even describes him as a “Cold Fish”. The guards first impressions of Andy seem to be that he is just another criminal who killed his wife. Andy is very compliant and doesn’t give them any trouble. A dangerous group of prisoners, the sisters, prey on weaker prisoners and target Andy early on. We can see that people's perceptions of Andy were based on his physical appearance and stereotypes they believed.

Survival is the key struggle in The Shawshank Redemption. This film takes place in the corrupt Shawshank State Penitentiary where mental and physical abuses inflicted upon prisoners are the hard realities of the system. For the prisoners of Shawshank, life is often bleak and violent. However, the will to survive is what keeps the characters motivated to retain their humanity and challenge the institutionalization of Shawshank. In particular, the film’s main protagonists, Andy Dufresne and Ellis “Red” Redding, exemplify the struggle for survival in the face of a corrupt, frightening, and oppressive prison system. In order to survive the harsh realities of the world, people adapt with personal traits like courage and resourcefulness in addition to forming community with other people.

In the film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ by Frank Darabont, it informs us about the hardships in the prison of Shawshank and hopes to achieve freedom. The characters in Shawshank Redemption present a variety of social issues. Throughout Andy and Red’s sentence in prison, issues of identity, motivation, and anxiety are brought about within the film. Darabont shows us the affects of prison life during and after a prisoner’s sentence in prison. Shawshank Redemption portrays these social issues through the movies’s theme of finding freedom.

There have been various prison related films from the past. The Film “Shawshank Redemption” directed by Frank Darabont, is one of these movies that has shown the true intensity and lifestyle in a prison in great depth. The Film is about a man called Andy who is claimed to be guilty for the murder of his wife and lover, he was sent to Shawshank Prison for 2 life time sentence and undergoes many events that will test him until he breaks. The only thing Andy could do is hope for a day he would be free once again. The intentions here is to find how hope brought him such a long way, which will be done by looking at 3 key scenes where hope has been represented in a way that we can relate to.

In spite of his apparent weak physical structure, Andy has been continuously stood up to every challenge he is faced with, such as the dreadful beatings he took and the mind-blowing escape he executed. Andy’s pre-prison life consisted of his marriage and his job, a vice-president at a Portland, Maine bank, while his prison life composed of him running the prison library and being the accountant for basically the entire prison, including the warden. To physically describe Andy is not enough; his character is much more profound than his appearance. Andy is a mystery, a paradox to his inmates, never being fully analyzed by anyone, not even Red. I believe Andy is the anomaly of Shawshank, and the only reason why he did not become ‘institutionalized’ like all the other prisoners is because of his hope.

Based on the 1982 Stephen King novella titled Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont’s film adaptation The Shawshank Redemption was released in 1994 and become a remarkable motion picture in the history of American cinema. The film tells the story of prison life, focusing on the mutual trust, friendship and growth prisoners experience together set against the intolerable hardship and despair of prison life. Moreover, the movie portrays the nearly twenty-year friendship between two imprisoned men, Andy Dufresne and Ellis “Red” Redding, and how their self-concepts gradually change and their behaviors adjust to life behind bars. In 1948, a young and well-off Boston banker named Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) comes to Shawshank prison

Shawshank showed various themes throughout the movie. Freedom and injustice showed the most throughout the movie. Andy wanted his freedom as soon as he walked into prison but, at the same time he started doing injustice actions. Freedom is a very valuable asset to life. We fail to realize how precious freedom is until its taken away. To be free at one moment and then to lose your freedom the next is a hard adjustment. When your free you can do whatever you want when you want but, as soon as its gone people don’t know how to

The scene of Andy’s arrival introduces us briefly to several important characters and Darabont uses with the aid of reds dialogue to give the audience insight of what there opinions of Andy was on first arrival. “he was just a little turd in prison grays. Looked like a stiff breeze could blow him over. That was my first impression of the man.” The arrival of Andy in Shawshank Prison was the point of no return for him. Darabont uses this scene as a reality check for Andy which makes him feel extremely small quickly. Darabont does this by using high angle shots of the guards high up with guns showing how insignificant Any is now compared to them. This is also shown in the close up shots of Andy showing his concern and his darting eyes trying

“The Shawshank Redemption” movie demonstrates how cruel prison can be. It illustrates how life is unfair, and sometimes the criminal obtains freedom, and the upstanding citizen pays the price for the criminal’s deeds. Andy Dufresne exhibits that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. This movie is jammed packed with life lessons, but you will just have to view it for yourself.

The Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont is a film based a character named Andy who is in the Shawshank Prison for two life sentences as he is sentenced for murder of his wife and her lover. This film shows us how Andy gets moments of freedom and and give hope

The Shawshank Redemption is more than just a film outlining the burden of isolation and imprisonment. It is an insight into the minds of imprisoned men, who have to face terrible hardship while trying to live out their days doing hard labour. It shows us the power of hope, friendships and determination and it never failed to keep me on the edge of my

“The Shawshank Redemption” directed by Frank Darabont is an exceedingly powerful movie, which demonstrates the ability of possessing hope in a prison using film technique. This consists of camera shots and angles, music, lighting, setting, and themes which are crucial in establishing the emotional states of characters and demonstrating the growth of hope in the individuals. Darabont influences the audience to recognize hope portrayed in the film by virtue of the characters Brooks, Red, and Andy Dufresne. Three scenes in particular effectively demonstrate Andy’s ability to permeate faith throughout the jail and directly influence each of the characters.

Andy walked into Shawshank as a nerdy looking man lacking the general qualities of a hard time criminal, he didn't seem to fit in like the rest of the inmates. However, as time passed in prison Red and the other prisoners opinions of him changed drastically, in a good way. Stephen King uses similes to describe Andy's mystique qualities that Red picked up on from the beginning, “as neatly as a good magician does a card-trick. He was a man who adapted fast.” Andy already knows that Reds a man who knows how to get things in prison and he adapted fast by meeting Red and getting straight to the point by asking him for a rock hammer, then passes Red the money smoothly just like a magician doing a card trick and not being seen. Andy knows what he's doing and is good with money from his previous banking job which works in his favour throughout the rest of the story. An odd smart looking man with knowledge of money is pretty much the complete opposite of how you’d generally see men in prison doing time, and this was just the start of it. Most prisoners at Shawshank who didn’t look as ruthless as others tended to meet the sisters. “They like to size you up before they make their real move, like jackals finding out if the prey is as weak and humstrung as it looks” Andy was a strong hearted man inside, but lacked the masculine qualities on the outside. However, Andy did all he could to fight off ‘the sisters’ from all the trouble they caused him, and although he failed multiple times, he found a way with his special powers to end it all. “I don’t think you understood me, I’m going to bite whatever you stick into my mouth.” Andy was a smart man with all kinds of tricks up his sleeve, although he nearly got beaten to death after this escapade he finally decided to utilise his money skills to really stop this by paying off the poorly paid guards to beat Bogs Diamond up. The rest of Diamonds crew backed off by Andy at this point… “he was a banker in the straight world - a man who understands better