The Shawshank Redemption: Theme

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The Shawshank RedemptionTheme

• Directed
• by Frank Darabont

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Themes and Issues

• Many themes are explored in the film , however
  some of them are not typical of a stereotypical
  movie.
• Themes explored Hope
• Institutionalised
• Justice and Injustice
• Freedom and Imprisonment
• Redemption
• Humanity
• Friendship

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Theme Hope

• Hope is set against its opposite despair. Most
  of the inmates are afraid of hope because they
  think it will destroy them. In contrast Andy wont
  surrender hope. He believes hope gives people a
  reason to live, a sense of freedom.
• He not only maintains hope himself but tries to
  give others the hope that life can and will get
  better, even in prison.

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Theme Hope

• Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you
  free.
• The discussion between
• Andy and Red reflect this.
• Red dismisses Andys
• desire to go to Mexico.
• Get busy livin
• or get busy dyin.

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Theme Hope

• After Andys escape his legend grows, and he
  still gives hope to others. The idea of hope is
  linked to institutionalised and redemption. Those
  who lose hope are more likely to become
  institutionalised, where as the power of hope
  redeems.
• Red must learn the importance
• of hope in order to stay alive,
• he needs to find a reason
• to live, this is fulfilling
• the promise he made to Andy.

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Theme Hope

• Remember Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe the
  best of things. It never dies. I'm hoping this
  letter finds you well.
• By journeying to Mexico, Red chooses hope over
  despair. He hopes to be reunited with Andy and to
  have a future.

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Theme Institutionalised

• The film looks at the effect on the individual
  adapting to prison life. Once the convicts
  conform they lose the ability to survive beyond
  the prison walls.
• The inmates become too used to having everything
  decided for them. Brooks was a excellent example
  of a man being afraid of the outside world.
• In prison he was an
• important man, an educated
• man.

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Theme Institutionalised

• When Brooks learns he is about to be paroled he
  threatens Heywood with a knife. Brooks release
  from prison and his experiences foreshadow Reds
  journey from prison.
• But Red has hope, as a result of his relationship
  with Andy.

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Theme Redemption

• The movie shows the triumph of the human spirit
  which can occur even in a place like Shawshank.
• Red and Andy are both redeemed of their sins.
• Andy felt guilty for driving his wife away. Red
  gives him absolution, and tells Andy he was not
  to blame.

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Theme Redemption

• Reds redemption comes when he learns to have
  hope.
• Hope and friendship
• have the power to redeem
• and are linked to the
• imagery of rebirth and
• resurrection.

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Theme Humanity and Inhumanity

• The film explore the idea of good and evil. The
  1st half shows the inhumanity of Shawshank, where
  many officers and prisoners have lost their
  inhumanity.
• The prison routines work at de-humanising the new
  arrivals by stripping them makes and reducing
  them to a number.

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Theme Humanity and Inhumanity

• Andy represents the humanity while the warden,
  Hadley and the sisters represent the inhumane
  world of prison life.
• Individual interests, music and knowledge are a
  number of things the men sustain to help them
  maintain their humanity.
• The most important force in the film is
  friendship.

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Symbols and Motifs