Shawshank Redemption Film Analysis

Red is very reluctant to accept hope, even stating in the film ‘Hope is a dangerous thing; hope can drive a man insane’ and this is expressed through shadows cast on him whilst Andy is shown in the light. This idea of hopelessness exaggerates the redemption of hope expressed later on in the film, an example of this is right at the very start of the film when the man is beaten so badly by the prison guards that he dies, Andy’s asks a key question that nobody can answer; ‘What was his name?’. This hopelessness is then contrasted when the friendships are formed later on in the film, when everybody becomes close, which is confirmed when Andy bargains with the guards and consequently wins three bottles of beer for each of his work mates. Andy’s friends and he are regularly shown laughing together or helping one another to cope, Darabont successfully reflects hope into the eyes of the viewer through these friendships. Gestures such as the harmonica illuminate this point when Red begins to create music.

The other theme of freedom comes in both the film and the story, when Andy Dufresne got beer for all of the crew that tarred the prison's roof. In this example, even Red stated that the break "lasted twenty minutes, the beer-break, and for those twenty minutes we felt like free men."(48) Red recalls that the crew felt such freedom that they "could have been drinking beer and tarring the roof of one of our own houses."(48) This example serves the purposes of both the story's writer and the filmmaker because it shows the reader and/or viewer that this event happened because Andy wanted himself and his 'co-workers' to feel freedom. This event occurred because he made business dealings with "the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at the Shawshank State Prison" (48). Andy was always known to have something different to him, "a sense of his own worth,

At this point the lighting is very bright and natural. This small glimpse of the outside world reinvigorates Andy’s hope and sustains him through his time at Shawshank. “We drank beer like free men” said Red, showing how this small act represented so much freedom for the men. But the light in this scene was bright evening light, the last glimpse of light at the end of the day before becoming darkness. This symbolises that Andy’s hope is only fleeting, soon he must return to the confines of Shawshank,

Anyone can say that “hope is a dangerous thing” and it “can drive a man insane,” but it can lead to joy and yearning as well, which are both upshots that occur in the revenge, justice, and hope themed film, “The Shawshank Redemption.” As people watch the motion picture, many can identify with the three impactful themes of “The Shawshank Redemption,” leading to life advice or simple significances that cause one to not feel left out. Because of the events taking place in “The Shawshank Redemption,” the themes, revenge, justice and hope, are present throughout the film.

The movie, Shawshank Redemption, is about a story of two men, Andy Dufrane and Red Abbott, who spent most of their lives in a prison together going through the ups and downs of prison life. Andy, who was once a vice-president at a bank, was in prison for murdering his wife and her lover, when he caught them in bed together; he was giving life in prison. Whereas Red, also a convicted murderer, got life but with a chance of parole. The two grew close to each other because they were both very educated men and had the same interests. After five years of doing the laundry, the warden thought it would in the prisons best interest to use such an educated man as Andy in the library. So they transferred Andy from the laundry to

The other camera movement that I want to talk about is the shot which shows the frame within the frame. At the scene when Gustave tries to escape from the prison with his prison mates, they slide down through the steam vent and open the wood-paneled door on the ground. At this moment, the camera shows them who are staring down a hole in the wood frame and shows the guards who are playing the card game in the wood frame. Through using this shot, this film allows audiences to feel that they are looking at the painting just like seeing one page of a fairy-tale book. On the one hand, Wes Anderson’s frame within a frame shows the internal psychology and memory of the characters in the film (MCCAUSLAND). The last camera movement that I figure out is employing a symmetrical shot which is perfectly balanced in the left, right, upper, and lower side. This symmetry makes audiences recognize psychologically that they are watching fictional dreamlike world. Because of this balance, on the one hand, audiences can easily understand what they are seeing in each scene, and the symmetry aesthetically amuses people’s

It also demonstrates the same security King creates for Red in his hotel room in the novella, whilst also demonstrating a sense of freedom and solitude of being out in the open. It effectively mirrors Andy’s isolation which Red describes in previous scenes, and how this has naturally influenced his character. This connection is something which has a greater impact being demonstrated rather than narrated, despite it changing the narrative structure.

1. A degradation ceremony is a ceremony in which people are stripped of their personal identities and thrown into a brand new situation; something that they have not experienced before. An example of this from the movie was when the men first arrived at Shawshank Prison at the beginning of the movie. As they were walking in, they were surrounded by the “experienced” convicts and teased. They were then stripped naked, covered in powder to make sure they did not have lice, and then forced to walk throughout the prison with everyone staring at them. No one should have to go through this, the act was humiliating enough. This degradation ceremony was like a welcoming to the new convicted felons, and

dark suit. We next see him on the bus. The camera is set in front of

The creators of this movie used several effective, and often subtle, methods to illustrate the hope found in Andy and his surroundings. Andy was always portrayed as a clean-cut and well-groomed prisoner with his shirt always buttoned and his hair always combed. This self-respect was in great contrast to the other

But before he escapes Andy’s been doing the wardens taxes and he has made the warden rich with dirty money that Andy made clean. One day Andy tells Red about his dream of getting out of prison and moving to Mexico and living by the ocean and fixing up a boat. This shows the subject of happiness because that's Andy’s dream believing in it makes Andy happy. This connects to the theme through happiness Andy found happiness with friends and his dream, later when he escapes, he becomes rich and accomplishes his dream and achieves true happiness when Red gets out he moves in with

When Andy plays music we see the prisoners shown form a bird's eye view, this is another camera angle used to display the prisoners as small and insignificant. The camera angles used by Darabont allow the audience to see the status of the characters. As the audience we get an instant look into who is a in control and who isn't.

Andy appears to be good hearted man, which is what makes us believe he was innocent. He also shows the quiet side of him when he first arrived at the prison. Red is the narrator of this film, a man who had killed someone in his teens. He was also able to smuggle almost anything into the prison from the outside world.

The theme of hope is both displayed in the book and film when Red talks about Andy’s demeanor while in prison. Red states how prison has not changed Andy and how he wears his freedom “like an invisible coat”......“He never developed the walk that men get when their day is over and they are going back to their cells for another endless night,” (King 72). This “invisible coat” is hope. It has helped Andy live on as a free man in his spirit. During his time spent at Shawshank, Andy voluntarily completed many tasks. He took over

While many movies have depicted various areas of the criminal justice system, the Shawshank Redemption is like no other. I first watched the film many years ago on television and since have seen it numerous times on platforms such as DVD and Netflix. The key stars in the production, are actors Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Other standouts that who are featured in supporting roles included actors Bob Gunton and Clancy Brown. The film was directed by Frank Darabont who is known for criminal justice films such as the Green Mile. The Shawshank Redemption was first released in theaters September of 1994.