The Film “The Shawshank Redemption” shows a common theme which seemed to be the effect of hope in grim circumstances. Hope for something better, hope to keep your head up when you’re locked in a call for a crime, hope for a better future.The film tells a story of Andy Dufresne the main character, a banker who is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife and her lover, despite the claims of innocence. While in prison Andy just like many others uses hope has a way of survival. Andy viewed hope as an important tool. He believed that hope was a positive thing and that it never dies. The trials and tribulations that he suffered on the inside attempted to break him apart but he holds himself together and what he believes to be
In a world that is so unpredictable, sometimes there is nothing else that a person can do to make a situation better besides hoping for a good outcome. Hope can have a big impact on the way people view the world, and can potentially save lives. Hope is communicated in many ways, including a variety of art forms, such as literature. Some examples of literature that show how powerful having hope can be are the novel Soledad Brother by George Jackson, the short story Salvation by Langston Hughes, the short story Superheroes, Just for Each Other by Peter S. Goodman and the article Man Needs Hope to Live, by Christopher Kaczor. These literary works show that even the smallest bit of hope can help a person make wiser decisions regarding his or her future, but having no hope for the future leads people to make choices that are ethically wrong.
In 1994, Frank Darabont’s film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ received a poor reception when released; it only made a $0.3m profit. More recently the film has become known as one of the greatest movies of all time, it has inspired hope in many people, helping them to lose weight, leave abusive marriages and such like. The film is based mainly upon two convicts, and the idea of hope. Andy Dufresne is a ‘Hot Shot Banker’ imprisoned with two life sentences, for the suspected murder of his wife and her lover and ‘Red’ (Morgan Freeman) whom Andy redeems hope in, along with the other convicts, saving them from institutionalisation.
Directed by Frank Darabont, The Shawshank Redemption tells the Story of Andy Dufrane, a man who has been wrongly convicted of murder and must endure life inside the harsh and corrupt Shawshank prison, but despite this he never loses hope of finding freedom. Hope is an important inspiring idea in this film, as it is what sustains him during the long and difficult years within the prison, and it is the result of this enduring hope that Andy finally finds freedom. There are many visual and oral techniques used throughout the film to portray the idea of hope. This includes the hope that Andy holds, and
Adversity is an inevitable component of human’s lives. Without it, individuals would glide through their existences without any mishappenings along the way and life would be nearly perfect. While this situation seems ideal, it is unrealistic and actually detrimental to personal development. The obstacles people face play a key role in shaping who they become. Without difficulties, individuals will not be exposed to real, purposeful problem solving skills. They will not receive the opportunity to face adversity head on and potentially come out victorious, all while learning a lesson and improving themselves along the way. If people become apathetic to their troubles, they are actually admitting a defeat. They will not get the chance to experience the satisfaction that is a result of besting misfortunes. In order to do this, individuals must use the pressure that these troubling times cause to their advantage by holding onto hope and the value of life. In The Shawshank Redemption, the text creator develops the idea that anyone can overcome the most terrible of situations if they remain patient, optimistic and logical. When Andy Dufresne is imprisoned as a result of false accusations, he uses his fortitude to inspire hope within other prisoners and eventually escape the harsh confinement. On the other hand, Red is transformed from a spiteful convict to an optimistic man upon meeting Andy. When individuals are placed under immense pressure over a long period of time, then they
Hope is something that was similar between the characters in chapter six of Stevenson’s book and Andy Dufresne in the film. A quote that involved hope that was very important to myself was when Mrs.Jennings said “...But if we don’t expect more from each other, hope better for one another, and recover from the hurt we experience, we are surely doomed (Stevenson 126).” One can see how in the young boy Charlie’s situation hope had to be present whether some say it was before or after Mr. Stevenson visited the boy in the county jail. Charlie was going to be tried as an adult for murdering his mother’s boyfriend George after George had previously severely abused his mother. Related back to the quote from Mrs.Jennings, she talks about how if people don’t hope better for one another then they are surely doomed. Mr.Stevenson was not going to take Charlie’s case until he had knew that he had been sexually assaulted the nights before. Stevenson left the jail angry about what had happened and who allowed this act to take place. I believe that both Charlie and Mr.Stevenson both had to hope for the best and Ms.Jennings hoped for something better in Charlie’s life. Hope is also something that Andy Dufresne also had during his time at Shawshank prison. An example of Andy’s hope in Shawshank Redemption is when he played the woman’s music over the intercom. All of the men felt free and felt hope just as Andy had when they listened to the woman’s beautiful voice. In the film, Red makes a comment saying “It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.” This quote signifies hope because for that brief moment they felt something they they hadn’t felt in so many years after being locked away. The feeling was like an awakening of hope
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
A man by the name of Andy Dufresne was convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in Shawshank prison. He was an obvious black sheep among the prisoners, but as time went on he grew relationships with the crooks and realized the injustice in the justice system. In the creation of friendship between Red and Andy, hope was spread throughout the prison. While many themes are present in the film The Shawshank Redemption, hope, friendship, and injustice are also relevant in the world today.
Hope and humanity are two very important aspects of human nature and without it, life would be very catastrophic to mankind. Cormac McCarthy is the author of The Road. The Road is a dystopian story of an adventure of a father and his young child over a period of several months, over a scene impacted by an unspecified disaster that has demolished a large portion of human advancement and, in the mediating years, all life on Earth. The Road, is plagued by absence such as an absent hope and absent humanity. These absences reveal that without hope and humanity people can’t survive. Cormac McCarthy argues that without hope and humanity, humans can't continue to survive because when people lose hope, they lose their ability to dream for the future and humanity as a universal emotion, people must it have in order to survive for a long time.
“The Shawshank redemption” is a film in which Andy Dufresne is wrongfully given two life sentences for the murder of his wife and her lover and is sent to the Shawshank prison where Andy is subjected to a variety of different beatings by the guards and other inmates, even being raped by other inmates. After getting involved with doing the guards taxes the crooked warden forces him to hide his many untaxed revenues. After Andy escapes he leaves the jail in scandal by giving evidence to the press surrounding the warden’s dodgy dealings. This paper will be analysing how the director, Frank Darabont uses stylistic features to present the idea of hope in the film. The primary features used in this film was symbolism but there is the use of lighting
that he had to fight for himself to survive and that everyone wsa responsible for themselves. He became
Andy’s hope of escaping Shawshank prison to Mexico is used by King to show the reader how hope can be a positive quality to have, such as Andy who uses hope as motivation to not become institutionalized. Andy is persistent writing letters to the state, asking for more money for building a better library. This shows that Andy is hopeful for additional funds for his library, which not only gets him on better ground with the
The theme of hope is both displayed in the book and film when Red talks about Andy’s demeanor while in prison. Red states how prison has not changed Andy and how he wears his freedom “like an invisible coat”......“He never developed the walk that men get when their day is over and they are going back to their cells for another endless night,” (King 72). This “invisible coat” is hope. It has helped Andy live on as a free man in his spirit. During his time spent at Shawshank, Andy voluntarily completed many tasks. He took over
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Essential Questions: b How does having a belief (in something or someone) help us to conquer fear and keep hope alive? Having belief in something or someone helps to conquer fear and keep hope alive because our beliefs outweigh our fear of something happening. This is because sometimes with these beliefs you have a greater hope. Is rehabilitation possible?
While both Anton Chekhov’s short story “The Bet” and Frank Darabont’s film The Shawshank Redemption use themes of isolation, hope, and education to underscore the effects of imprisonment, the main characters Andy and the lawyer, perceive life differently when they are no longer incarcerated. For example, the lawyer in “The Bet” took on imprisonment with no other reason but to prove a point but he came out with a completely new perspective on life. On the other hand, Andy spent over ten years of his life preparing to get back out of prison and to do things he had always dreamed of. Moreover, in Anton Chekhov’s short story, the lawyer had taken on a brazen bet with a greedy banker.
But first off what is “hope”? From Google dictionary hope is defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen or a person or thing that may help or save someone or grounds for believing that something good may happen or just the feeling of trust. These definitions define the type of hope that is portrayed in Shawshank which is the hope for something better or the hope to keep your head up when you're locked in a brutal prison for a crime you didn't commit and spend your days getting harassed. This is about Andy Dufresne who becomes a figure of hope later in the film as he has a sheer determination to maintain his own sense of self-worth