The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 movie, written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Red (Ellis Redding).

Themes

Hope

A major theme of the film is hope, symbolized in the music, but contained throughout the story of the film (even more so than the novella). Using a subdued messianic motif, Stephen King uses Andy Dufresne to bring hope and redemption to the fallen world of Shawshank Prison and its convicted felons — especially to Red.

Related Topics:
Theme - Hope - Music - Messianic - Motif - Redemption - Felon

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The character of Brooks is a contrast to Red because the former had become "institutionalized." Red says when discussing Brooks, "These prison walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. That's institutionalized. They send you here for life, that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyways." Brooks had lost all hope and accepted life at Shawshank as normal, was unable to integrate into society when he was released, and consequently commited suicide. (Symbolically, the novella represented this concept with a bird that was raised in captivity but was found dead in the prison courtyard when it was released into the wild.)

Related Topics:
Prison - Society - Suicide

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In fact, Red is headed down the same path as Brooks until Andy changes his course by bringing him hope. Andy is thus Red's redeemer (in the religious sense of the word) because he saves Red from the sad end that Brooks met. In a discussion with Red, Andy links music and hope in a better life: "You need music so you don't forget...that there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. That...there's something inside that's yours, that they can't touch." Red initially resists Andy's admonitions and testimony in the power of hope, but by the end of the film he is convinced. The last line has Red confessing, "I hope," and the film (but not the novella) shows that his hope was well-founded because he finally rejoins his "redeemer" in paradise.

Related Topics:
Redeemer - Religious - Music - Paradise

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Integrity

Some critics, including Roger Ebert http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940923/REVIEWS/40902001/1023, believe that the integrity of Andy Dufrense is an important theme in the story line, http://videoeta.com/news/1842 especially in this situation (prison) where integrity is sorely lacking. Andy Dufresne is an individual of amazing integrity (integrity, here, refers to adherance to a code of morality) among a host of individuals without integrity. It is his deep-seated belief in integrity that provides him with the moral fiber to be a uniquely distinct individual throughout this story.http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2367 This character trait is absent from both the inmates and the staff of the prison at Shawshank. Many believe that it is his integrity that provides the foundation for Dufresne's hope, persistence, courage, and self-esteem.

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