The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is regarded as one of the most profound and classic movie that Hollywood presents to the audience since 1995. There are standard ways to stage a prison film and standard ways to tell a story by Stephen King. But The Shawshank Redemption, based on a King novella, succeeds in avoiding the familiar.

The movie applies a Hollywood artistic manipulation—dramatically narrative pattern, to present the whole story. Like Forrest Gump, there is also an explicit narrator in The Shawshank Redemption. Red, who acts as the narrator, relates a dramatic story about a young banker, Andy Dufrense, victimed by circumstantial evidence, resulting in a conviction at Shawshank prison. But he miraculously escapes from the prison after 20 years and regains his freedom. The narrator’s recollection is the clue of the movie. Besides, while the progress of Red’s narration, all the elements, including the scenes, actions, montage provide additional and valuable information. The “omniscient narrator” not only makes the story more coherent and logical, but also gives the audience a fantastic impression.

I hold the view that The Shawshank Redemption is more than a tale with a surprising degree of loving care, it is also a fable with many implicative themes and meanings. There are some wonderful images metaphors in the movie, like small hammer, high walls and so on, which help convey the theme. In the special world of Shawshank, the high walls separate prisoners from the free world. Just as Red says,“First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so depend on them, that’s institutionalized”. The high walls is a metaphor for powerful institution. The color in the movie is dark and monotonous, which indicates a black and oppresses world. People inside are squashed to transform and institutionalize. Most of the prisoners, as well as Red and Old Brooks, are institutionalized, except Andy. He keeps fighting with evil power and harbors hope. He broadcasts the Italian opera, gets ice cold beer at the risk of being punished, persists in establishing the best library of prisoners. In his heart, hope is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies. From Andy’s story, we can see a hero’s revolt of his destiny. Despite his imprisonment, suffering the agony, his spirit never dies. Not only does he redeem himself, but also other prisoners. The most spectacular change is that Red finally arrive the destination of hope—freedom. Actually, Red represents those who are once institutionalized but ultimately break the fetters of institution. What’s more, the movie also conveys the importance of camaraderie and holding onto a sense of personal worth, which still have realistic meaning in modern society.

The power of classic is endless. This movie somehow has the power to make the audience set through all 142 minutes without for a moment of getting bored. It just likes a worthwhile book which needs to be tasted repeatedly.

Rating：★★★★