Shawshank redemption essay

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Josh French        Media Coursework        April 2009

“The Shawshank Redemption”

Compare the film’s opening sequence with the sequence immediately following Andy’s release from “the hole”.

Evaluate;

  1. The way the director, Frank Darabont, has manipulated the audience’s perception of Andy;
  2. The appropriateness off the film-poster’s caption.

Frank Darabont, the director of “The Shawshank Redemption”, was born on January 28th 1959 in Montbeliard, France. He and his family immigrated to The United States when he was still an infant, and at the age of 20, he became involved in filmmaking. Prior to “The Shawshank Redemption” he directed “Buried Alive” and wrote the screenplay for “Mark Shelley’s Frankenstein”. “The Shawshank Redemption” is his most well known film, and it was given 7 Academy Awards nominations, including “Best Adapted Screenplay”.

         “The Shawshank Redemption” is set in America, in 1947. The main protagonist of this film is Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins. Andy is accused of murdering his wife and the person she was having an affair with. He is sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary, and when he arrives there, he befriends Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, Morgan Freeman, who is known as “the guy who can get things”. Andy asks for a jackhammer, which he uses to tunnel out of his cell. While tarring a roof, Andy helps out Capt. Bryon Hadley with his taxes, and after a while he is the prison’s resident accountant. While this is happening, Andy is also “befriended” by Warden Norton, Bob Gunton, who needs someone like Andy to manifest a money laundering operation. Along the way, a new inmate named Tommy arrives, and claims he has information regarding Andy’s innocence. Norton has Capt. Hadley shoot Tommy, ensuring Andy stays in the prison. Warden Norton also shuts Andy in the hole for an excruciating amount of time, and when he lets Andy out, he is a broken man. At night, Andy escaped through his tunnel, and sends the money laundering accounts to the police. When the police arrive at the prison, Warden Norton kills himself. While all of this is occurring, Red has routine parole hearings, and a couple of years after Andy escaped, Red is granted a parole, and walks out of Shawshank a free man. He then finds Andy on a beach in South Mexico, and this is where the film ends.

        “The Shawshank Redemption” relies heavily on the way Frank Darabont portrays the characters, and the way he manipulates the audience to perceive characters in different ways. The film’s caption, “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free” is very effective, because at certain key moments in the film, it is extremely relevant to the struggle for freedom.

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The film begins with the song “If I didn’t care” by “The Ink Spots”, and while it plays extra-diegetically, the establishing shot of the film is one of a house, at night. This particular scene is very ominous, as it is well known that untoward things happen at night, so this scene is supposed to make the audience feel suspicious. The camera then dollies backwards, before swivelling to the right, focusing on Andy Dufresne. At this point, the camera shot is a medium, side on shot, and the music now turns into the diegetic sound of the car radio. ...

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