At a glance, the movies The Shawshank Redemption and Forrest Gump could not be any more different if they tried. But, once the audience is immersed in the hidden meanings and secret messages of the movies you find that they are quite similar. The movies revolve around the same character type: a man who is a victim of his surroundings, trying to fight against the odds to prove himself, while the cinematography takes full advantage of color and lighting. The people who are striving to prove others wrong are the two main characters from these iconic films; Forrest Gump and Andy Dufresne. They both struggle to fight against people’s conception of them. Forrest, throughout the movie, is trying to prove to people he is not stupid. He is not …show more content…
While lighting is an important factor in any movie so is the wardrobe choice and colors. The audience can sense the effect of these choices in The Shawshank Redemption more so than in Forrest Gump. In the Shawshank prison everyone is kept in the same uniform. Dull colors are found everywhere, except on the art some prisoners are allowed to keep on their walls, and even then they are dulled by the filming style they used. Even the books in the Shawshank library are worn and dull. The designer’s use of all neutral colors can make the audience feel one or two ways. The dull colors could cause them to feel sad, therefore making them feel empathy for the prisoners. On the other spectrum, the unemotional colors could make them feel unattached to these characters. While in Forrest Gump they use a lot of cool colors, such as blues and greens. These cool colors are an exceptional choice for this movie. The color blue is a color that symbolized trust and tranquility. On the other hand, using green makes movie goers feel calm and refreshed, green represents nature. Color choice and wardrobe go hand in hand. Everyone is dressed differently showing their individuality. The writers use some warm colors, like red or yellow, here and there to make the audience feel intense or happy. But Forrest Gump is always dressed in blues or greens, no matter what scene it is. Cool colors are designed to make a person feel
One of the best things about this movie is its portrayal of prison life. There are many movies that deal with prison and the life of prisoners while incarcerated, but Shawshank I feel does the best job of giving you a real feeling of what prison life
While the film is in color, sometimes it appears to be in black and white. There are no bright colors in the film. Most of the colors are either browns, beiges, whites, blacks, and grays, so that even when the characters are outside or in daylight, there are contrasts between lights and darks. For example, at the beginning Mr. Gettes is seated in a somewhat dark office, yet he is wearing an all-white suit. Later, when he goes to examine the dried up river bed, his black suit contrasts with the bright sunlight and light colored sand.
The two texts, On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan, and The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, both exhibit a protagonist that is plagued by their sins and desperately seeks redemption. Through Terry Malloy’s life on the Hoboken waterfront of 1950’s America, and John Proctor’s in the Puritan society of 1962 Salem, it is clear that the act of expiating our wrongs is demanding and difficult but finally satisfying. Both texts show similarities but also differences in how the characters have sinned and betrayed their conscience and loved ones. The taxing journey of redemption is full of obstacles in which each texts’ protagonist deals with in their own unique but alike manner. Despite these unavoidable hardships, both Proctor and Malloy ultimately receive their desired redemption and gratifying outcomes. Thus, both texts show how life’s uncertainties, confusions and wrongdoings should be dealt with humanity and a clear conscience instead of fulfilling individual needs.
People are always under pressure to do the right thing, the thing that is not right for them, but what is right for others. We hurt the ones we love to protect them, whether it is from ourselves or others, it is whatever is seen as the better choice for us. Choices and sacrifice displays hurting loved ones accurately by taking examples from Forrest Gump, My Sister’s Keeper, The Great Gatsby, The Crucible, and The Divergent. The reasons that people hunt loved ones is because of the internal conflicts that will ultimately affect them and their decisions they make. As to show selfishness or protection of themselves.
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” Forrest Gump is the portrayal of a man that has been alienated from society, not because he is unintelligent or dimwitted, but rather because he is not restricted by the conventional ideals which are embedded within his culture; thus, Forrest challenges the conformities and principals that most people are accustomed to. The contrast that Robert Zemeckis, director of the film, is attempting to convey through the character of Forrest Gump is how most people are too smart for there own good; and thus, try to escape the realities and actualities of life. While other characters in the story are suppressed by society’s conflicts, Forrest remains blinded
The film has some additional storytelling that I would like to discuss. The Shawshank Redemption is done in chronological order, but there are some parts when the characters flash back to earlier times in their live so you can understand what is happening in the film. This is done so the viewer still has an easy way to follow the movie. The characters of the film face both internal and external conflict. The internal conflict is should I continue this life when I know I am innocent, and the external conflict is from the prison, the prisoners, and the prison staff. The film does contain symbolism. An example of the symbolism is when the warden learns of his fate and his last judgment by reading the morning newspaper of himself and the prison being corrupt. Additionally, symbolism is used with the holy bible the warden reads; when he finds the hammer that Andy uses to dig out of the prison. There is a passage from Exodus that is used to symbolize the warden’s salvation and Andy’s escape. Also, there is a metaphor that I remember and it happens when the librarian (Brooks Hatlen) is freed from jail and he takes his own life. At the same time he hangs himself his bird (Jake) fly’s away and is freed. The metaphor is that the librarian is free of his lifelong nightmare of being told what
American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused are both nostalgic, coming of age films that comically portray the characters interpersonal struggle and transition from their teenage, high-school years into adulthood. Both films are period pieces that take the audience back in time, to a time when life seemed much simpler than it is today. These types of films are almost always hits because of their relatability to the audience. The soundtracks featured in each of these films plays a significant role in the storylines.
The area of the criminal justice system that is showcased in the Shawshank Redemption is the prison system. By following the story of the main character Andy, both the problems and realities of the system are highlighted. Throughout the film, the characters are portrayed in many ways. The most alarming ways that the prisoners in the film is as lower class citizens. By making this point, the writers are eluding to the fact that the system is corrupt because of the subculture that exist within it.
Forrest Gump: Movie vs. book written in 1986 by Winston Groom, than later became a movie in 1994. They both talk about a man named Forrest Gump and his long life journeys, and events around the world. Even though the book and the movie explore the character Forrest Gump they both differ in various ways.
Moreover another production aspect used to show us this idea is music. Music is used to create mood and help us understand what a character is going through. We hear violin and string instruments as Andy arrives to Shawshank Prison. Violin and string instruments are used in movies a lot to make the viewer feel sad about something happening or about to happen. We first hear Orchestral Music when we are shown Shawshank Prison we hear it playing in the background low volume and slow tempo and this increases in volume and tempo to create a sad mood for Andy’s arrival and emphasise that the prison is a dark and depressing place to end up. It suggests to the viewer that the prison is a sad place to end up in and that it is a corrupted place too. It makes us worried for Andy who seems like a good guy.
They are victims. A victim is someone or something that is hurt by some unpleasant occurrence.The books To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men both depict several instances where people are victims. Both of these books tell a story in which the characters live through these tough conditions every day, from having no money to being victims of racial discrimination. To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men convey considerable understanding of an unstable era in American history through common events and lifestyles of people that lived through these times.
Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont and published in 1994 centres around a man by the name of Andy Dufresne who is sentenced to two consecutive life sentence for the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy serves his time in Shawshank Prison where he struggles to persevere and maintain hope even under appalling conditions. Hope and perseverance are some of the most important themes in the film and are central to the storyline. These themes are portrayed through the use of a variety of film techniques such as the lighting, the music and the colour scheme.
"Once again King fascinates me in a way only he can. Even more so this time I didn't get a single long story but four different ones which has its charm.
This paper will explain the insight of one of the most popular scenes from the highly acclaimed film, Forrest Gump. The scene was titled, “Run, Forrest, Run!” and the famous quote, “Run, Forrest, Run!” also came from this scene. The plot of the scene is that Forrest & Jenny just met and were quickly became friends. Around this time, Forrest had just begun schooling and he has a pair of corrective braces on his legs. Toward the end of the scene, he and Jenny were getting chased by some of their peers. It was at this point when Jenny said the famous words, “Run, Forrest, Run!” Forrest started to run and his braces fell off too. All of the elements of this scene fell in just perfectly to add on to the movie’s initial mood.
This is a story of a man who is highly naïve, some would say slightly mentally challenged, who travels the world and is involved with many political events that occurred from the 1960’s to 1990’s. He faces hardships and overcomes adversity. In the final scenes devastating news is given to Forrest; the conclusion in this movie really pulls the whole movie together and makes it very satisfying. The exposition of this movie is right out the box with this film. It starts with a feather floating high in the shy aimlessly, drifting down towards the ground. At first the audience thinks nothing of it, however, as we later on see, this feather floating and landing on the ground in front of a dingy, worn pair of running shoes, is a symbol of the story. It is a symbol of the life of Forrest Gump, a man who drifts everywhere and becomes a part of many cultural events. We then come to realize that Forrest is a little slow and does not perceive the world as the majority of people do; with this we find a lot of verbal irony on Forrest’s behalf. The set-up is that Forrest is pushed away by his peers except a little girl named Jenny. Forrest is the protagonist in this film and his friend Jenny is the antagonist. Goodykoontz and Jacobs describe a protagonist as the main character in a movie; they also describe the antagonist as the character in conflict with the main character