...aimed at reviewing the movie titled The Shawshank Redemption; we will analyze thepower of hope and optimism of both inmates and warden of Shawshank Prison. The main thing that gives inmates of Shawshank Prison the will to live is Hope. Hope is a deep feeling of expectation towards a certain thing and desire for it to happen. It is usually being optimistic of positive outcomes. Andy is one of the prisoners who is full of hope. Other prisoners like his sense of hope and they believe it is what keeps them going. Hope made Andy survive his 28 years in prison with the idea of escaping which he finally did. With his help, prisoners get beer, which they drink and make them have hope of being free and enjoy it as free men. As years...
Words: 728 - Pages: 3
...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. The idea freedom is presented in the scene earlier in the film, when one of the prisoners ask Andy at the cafeteria ‘are you gonna eat that?’Andy didn’t want the food and handed it over which was fed to the tiny bird in the other mans pocket. The bird symbolizes freedom because when it had fully grown and was able to fly, it was set free by the man who took care of it. Freedom is shown by the production technique, lighting. The event that takes place in a dark jail cell, light shines through the bars of a little window where the bird is set free. We understand the idea freedom when the bird flies out towards the light and freedom and is no longer confined inside the pocket of the man also kept in jail. During the 1940’s, a young banker named Andy Dufresne arrives at Shawshank prison in Portland after being falsely accused of murdering his wife and her lover. In this high security prison Andy experiences isolation and harsh treatment by both inmates...
Words: 1175 - Pages: 5
...Khan Sociology 15 The Shawshank Redemption An important theme in Frank Darabont’s film The Shawshank Redemption is hope. The film demonstrates that hope is a good thing and shows the consequences in having and lacking hope. It is important that Darabont’s film showed the theme of hope as it us also important in our lives today because having or lacking in hope affects people personally, nationally and worldwide. In our everyday lives we are presented with cases of people having hope through our own or someone we knows personal experiences and on the news. In most cases, hope is portrayed in a positive light as it helps people get through tough situations. The film makes its viewers think about how having or lacking hope can effect out lives in reality and makes them conclude that having hope is a good and important thing. In The Shawshank Redemption demonstrates how hope is an important thing to have. We are introduced to Andy du Frense, Red Redding and their fellow prison inmates. Throughout the film Andy has a peaceful and positive disposition and this is because he has hope. Whilst having a conversation with Red, Andy talks about his dreams of what he is going to do with his life when he gets out of prison. Red responds negatively, claiming that “hope can drive a man insane”. Andy replies saying “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing and no good thing ever Galvez 2 dies”. This demonstrates that Andy has hope. A consequence of Andy’s hope is that he manages to escape...
Words: 997 - Pages: 4
...to the heights of nobility. A story about an ordinary person with an extraordinary spirit. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephan King is such a book. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is a novella about two gentlemen incarcerated in the Shawshank Prison in Maine, author Stephen King's home state. It explores the corruption of the prison system, but also the indomitable power of the human spirit and the true meaning of freedom. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption takes place in Maine between the years of 1948 and 1977. It is a first person narrative told by the convict Red describing his relationship and observation of his fellow convict Andrew “Andy” Dufresne. Andy Dufresne was sent to the...
Words: 1372 - Pages: 6
...Analyzing Shawshank Redemption Crystal Gayle Frapp January 31, 2014 Analyzing Shawshank Redemption The film that will be analyzed and discussed is the Shawshank Redemption, which was Director by Frank Darabont and is a Story by Stephen King. It is based in 1946, a man named Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of killing his wife and her lover, and him going to prison and dealing with the struggles of prison life as a truly innocent man. . “He's sentenced to a life term at the Shawshank State Prison in Maine, where another lifer, Ellis Red Redding (Morgan Freeman), picks him as the new recruit most likely to crack under the pressure. The ugly realities of prison life are quickly introduced to Andy: a corrupt warden (Bob Gunton), sadistic guards led by Capt. Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown), and inmates who are little better than animals, willing to use rape or beatings to insure their dominance. But Andy does not crack: he has the hope of the truly innocent, which (together with his smarts) allow him to prevail behind bars. He uses his banking skills to win favor with the warden and the guards, doing the books for Norton's illegal business schemes and keeping an eye on the investments of most of the prison staff. In exchange, he is able to improve the prison library and bring some dignity and respect back to many of the inmates, including Red.” After many years and a pick axe Andy manages to escape from prison threw slowly chipping away at the hole in his cell wall where...
Words: 3132 - Pages: 13
...Sheet Evaluation 15 November 2012 Redemption Within Walls There is something that needs to be said about slavery; no, not the physical manacles that were bounded around ankles and wrists but the imaginative ones given to us by those of higher authority – as William Blake once decried “mind-forged manacles.” Andy Dufresne’s character in Shawshank Redemption offers a brilliant message to any audience – old or young – about the power of resilience under imprisonment. There is more to life than what is inside the walls that surround you; in such, “imprisonment” was merely an imaginative force that is constructed by the mental realms. At least, that was Shawshank Redemption’s attempted conveyance; Dufresne’s character, conceptualized and manifested by the director Frank Darabont, both humanizes as well as critiques the imprisoned and the idea of imprisonment. Set in the 1940s, when Rita Hayworth, an over-the-top sex symbol in the American film industry, was alive and flourishing, Shawshank Redemption takes the ordinary lives of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (Morgan Freemand), Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton), the hotshot Tommy Williams (Gil Bellows), and Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore), and coalesces them altogether to set the stage for one of the greatest stories ever set in the dusty grounds of Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine. Everything from Andy’s imprisonment to his eventual escape was integral events in Shawshank Redemption’s message regarding the...
Words: 1660 - Pages: 7
...Close Viewing 91107 The Shawshank Redemption – Norton’s Introduction at the Line-Up The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, is an intriguing film in the ways that Darabont has incorporated visual and verbal techniques to show underlying themes within the film. Numerous techniques are applied in the scene ‘Norton’s Introduction at the Line-Up’ (11.58-14.45), such as lighting, dialogue, cinematography and voice-over. The first techniques the couple together are lighting and dialogue, whilst voice-over and cinematography also combine together effortlessly. Darabont said in an interview that the film “works gorgeously as a metaphor-everybody who sees it can project their own trials and tribulations, and hope for triumph into it.” Darabont employs the technique of lighting and couples dialogue together in this sequence ‘Norton’s Introduction at the Line-Up’. When the prisoners march inside of Shawshank, they line up and face the Warden Norton. Windows behind the prisoners create shadows that stretch across the painted line on the concrete floor, as well as darkening the prisoners’ faces, making it difficult to see their expressions. Also, Darabont manipulates the lighting behind Norton, as it is very dark, however his face is well lit and the audience can clearly see his facial expressions. The additional technique is dialogue, expressed when Norton says, “I believe in two things, discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord...
Words: 1192 - Pages: 5
...Hope is what binds man and his dream. What shoots through your mind when you are in a trying situation, incapable of digging your way out of it? One word, hope. Hope is like that ray of positivity that states that anything can truly be possible if you have enough of it to push you through any dire predicament; another synonym of hope is the word faith. Without any of these qualities instilled within a person how would they learn to move past obstacles thrown at them in life? Surely, without hope, one would be a lost, wandering soul with no aim whatsoever in life. In the movie, Shawshank Redemption by Frank Darabont, it determines hope being a vital thing. It proves to us that every day that we live is based on the hopes of doing better, the glimmer of faith that brightens our dullest moments and paves our ways to success especially during times of stress and misfortune. After watching the move, it got me thinking just how pivotal hope is and how it could vastly affect our everyday lives. Shawshank Redemption centers around 3 prisoners, Andy, Red and Brook who’ve bonded over one common dream through one common quality – it was to get out of prison with hope. Andy was faultily convicted for life for a crime he allegedly didn’t commit, which was for the death of his wife. During his time in prison, he’d experience bouts of loneliness and isolation but them comes to the realization that with hope and a little tactful thinking, he’d get out of jail. Andy becomes friends with the...
Words: 1060 - Pages: 5
...Anthony Soluren SOC 440 Ken Morris Shawshank Redemption Red (Morgan Freeman) recounts how he planned and carried out his wife’s murder and accidentally killing a neighbor and child as well and earned him a life sentence at Shawshank Prison. Red also remembers the arrival of an inmate named Andy Dufresne, whose tenure at Shawshank affected the lives of everyone at the prison. Andy was sent to Shawshank for life for the cold-blooded murder of his wife and her lover, a pro tennis player. Despite the damning evidence placing him at the scene of the crime on the night of the murders, Andy has always maintained his innocence, which Red eventually comes to believe in as well. Andy has some initial difficulty adjusting to prison life, especially because many of the other prisoners think he’s a snob. A gang of men known as the Sisters frequently attack and rape him in the laundry room while the guards look the other way. Andy fights the Sisters, even though it always lands him in the infirmary and sometimes solitary confinement. Despite these hardships, Andy never complains or loses his confidence. Soon after arriving at Shawshank, Andy approaches Red and asks him to get a rock hammer because he’s interested in rock collecting and carving. After a while, he also pays Red to smuggle in a large poster of pinup Rita Hayworth. A new inmate arrives at Shawshank and tells Andy that he served time in another prison with a man who privately admitted to killing a pro tennis player and his mistress...
Words: 1091 - Pages: 5
...1951 and the challenges that would impose each of them personally as well as time and one’s future. This poem firmly supports the generalisation of a physical journey leading to unexpected encounters and destinations. It is most evident with the use of visual imagery in the line ‘Like a guillotine/ Cutting us off from the space of eyesight’ that suggests the intensity and uncertainty of the final destination and expectations of the persona in this poem. Skrynecki uses this line to emphasise on another generalisation of a journey encompassing sudden changes as this line illustrates the swiftness of the alteration of their journey, as well as the use of juxtaposition of that event to that of “along glistening tracks of steel’ symbolising hope and freedom. This creates a powerful effect through the sudden contrast of two intensely different situations. Immigrants at Central station also portray the notion of inner journeys, more so than physical journeys. The use of alliteration “Dampness that slowly Sank into our thoughts’ renders physical aspects of the environmental into emotional effects, depicting the despair situation of the migrants as they face uncertainty and fear. To enforce this even further, Skrzynecki uses pathetic fallacy to render the surrounding area “All night it had rained”, setting the mood and...
Words: 745 - Pages: 3
...Analyse how symbolism was used to highlight the purpose of the visual or oral text(s). In the film The Shawshank Redemption by Frank Darabont, symbolism was used to highlight the importance of holding onto hope. Darabont's use of different symbols at different points in the film educates the viewer in the importance of holding onto hope. "Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies". Shawshank Prison was represented as a place of hopelessness at the start of the film. However it was through the opera scene, the libary and the symbol of water that that the viewer could get an insight to how "hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Shawshank Prison was represented as a place of hopelessness. The conditions and brutality set about to dehumanise the prisoners and destroy their hope. During Andy's arrival at Shawshank, the symbol of the prison yard is highly symbolic, reflecting how it is imposible to escape, how crushing the system is. The system and forebidding. The prison yard is shown with a helicopter travelling shot revealing the massive Gothic towers and high walls, the immense area of the compound, in comparison with which humans are puny and insignificant. It also gives the reader an insight of the "high security" intimidating nature of the surroundings. This is shown with surrounding stell mesh fencing, grey walls, a bleak sky, ruthless guards, gates guarded, tight security, guards...
Words: 1538 - Pages: 7
...The Shawshank Redemption Directed by Frank Darabont Hope: In Shawshank most of the inmates are afraid to hope. Red says “hope is a dangerous thing”. Andy is the only prisoner who believes that hope is paramount in a place like Shawshank, “you need it so you don’t forget that there are places that aren’t made of stone”. Andy tries to give hope to others through education, willingness to provide a better way of life inside the prison and by talking to Red about the future. It is Red who Andy instils hope into at the end “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things”. By journeying to Mexico Red chooses hope over despair. The idea Darabont is trying to show the audience is that hope is the saving grace in the prison. Those who have the ability to hope are those, in the end, who will be redeemed. It is strongly contrasted with the idea of despair which so many of the prisoners face. Andy, initially, is the only one with the ability to hope and he tries to teach the others how to do this. Only hope has the power to redeem the human spirit. Tagline: Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. Symbols of hope: harmonica, music, bright light Institutionalism: Red defines being institutionalised “These walls are funny. First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes you get to depend on them. That’s institutionalised”. His analysis of Brooks foreshadows the man he may become by the end of the film. Red must choose whether or not he...
Words: 488 - Pages: 2
...ASSIGNMENT 1 –ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY The Shawshank Redemption In 1946, a banker named Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of a double murder, even though he stubbornly proclaims his innocence. He's sentenced to a life term at the Shawshank State Prison in Maine, where another lifer, Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), picks him as the new recruit most likely to crack under the pressure. The ugly realities of prison life are quickly introduced to Andy: a corrupt warden (Bob Gunton), sadistic guards led by Capt. Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown), and inmates who are little better than animals, willing to use rape or beatings to insure their dominance. But Andy does not crack: he has the hope of the truly innocent, which (together with his smarts) allow him to prevail behind bars. He uses his banking skills to win favor with the warden and the guards, doing the books for Norton's illegal business schemes and keeping an eye on the investments of most of the prison staff. In exchange, he is able to improve the prison library and bring some dignity and respect back to many of the inmates, including Red. Based on a story by Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption was the directorial debut of screenwriter Frank Darabont. After a long discussion, we have agreed that Andy’s act in helping Warden Norton to launder his money is ethical because he has to follow the orders given in order to keep himself from being hurt and to survive in the prison. For example...
Words: 811 - Pages: 4
...The Shawshank Redemption "The Shawshank Redemption" is directed by Frank Darabont and was released the 14 October 1994 in the USA. It has Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd Redding (also called Red) in the leading roles. Morgan Freeman is known for his slow, deep and peaceful voice, and have been the narrator in many other series and movies, and that is why he of cause also are the narrator in this movie. The character Red tells what there happens in the movie in the time it's happens, so you not only get to see what there happens, but also hear it and what Red is thinking about it. The director and screen writer have been good to show the different persons from all their sides, so you really get the feeling of that you know the persons, and know what there will happened, but yet he still surplices you the one time after another. And specially giving Morgan Freeman space to show his full potential, that he also do. Witch also are the reasons that it have been nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Morgan Freeman for best actor in a leading role, and best writing and screenplay by Frank Darabont. This movie have giving many meracebles quotes, but there are three there stand a little out: (Andy Dufresne: [in letter to Red]) "Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." (Andy Dufresne:) "Get busy living, or get busy dying." (Red:) "Same old shit, different day" These quotes are someone that almost any...
Words: 378 - Pages: 2
...her loved one's death. The DA asks Andy, “Do you mean to tell this court that your wife did not recognize your brand-new Plymouth sedan behind Quentin’s car?” Andy had calm responses to majority of the many questions the DA was asking. Andy was found guilty at the end of the case on a snowy Wednesday afternoon. Andy was sentenced his life to prison. He was taken into the Shawshank...
Words: 796 - Pages: 4
