In this lesson, we learnt about particular elements found in the prison genre and how similar elements are used in shawshank:
Using the table above as a summary of the features of the prison genre films detailed above, we see how The Shawshank Redemption (“Shawshank”) has similar conventions compared to the typical prison genre.
Story– In Shawshank, Andy the protagonist is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife even though he says that he is innocent. We don’t know whether he is. As Red says “everyone is innocent in here “which we know cannot be the case.We also see his day to day life working, beatings for instance with the sisters and the prison wardens. This therefore lead to Andy developing a few enemies. Andy also develops a lot of friendships in his time in prison, this is especially exemplified through his relationship with Red and Brooks. Andy is able to better his life in prison by providing financial advice to prison guards. This provides him with a special status and an element of protection. This is signified when Andy gives the wardens free financial advice, in exchange for a new library for the inmates and protection. Later in the story we find out that he was in fact innocent, but he is not listened to. During all this time he is plotting his escape, which he manages to pull off and escapes to a life of freedom in the sun.
- Themes- The main themes are freedom, self-identity, friendship and hope.
- Freedom – is taken away from Andy by his imprisonment sigified at the start of the movie, but he achieves freedom in the end. Also moments of freedom e.g. when he arranges for the prisoners to have beers on the roof and when he plays the music on the loudspeaker.
- Self-identity – most of the inmates identify as prisoners – e.g. Brookes cannot cope on the outside and ends up committing suicide. Andy identifies as an innocent man which gives him the focus to pull off his escape.
- Friendship – the relationship between Andy and Red is important and is an emotional pull for the film which the audience relate to.
- Hope is a key theme and is the driving force for Andy to get through this awful experience of an innocent man and ultimately executing his escape plan. He says to Red “you can get busy living or get busy dying”.
Characters- particular characters are portrayed as having different status. For instance, the wardens have power over the prisoners and are often violent towards them but then there is also a different status between the prisoners. For example. the “sisters” are very violent and prey on prisoners whom they consider to be weak. The key focus is Andy the protagonist and his friend Red who is the primary narrator in the film. Even though they are convicts, we identify them as being morally better than the wardens as ironically they seem to be the “good” people.
Setting- The film is set in the period of 1947 – 1967 in Maine in the US. The prison is portrayed as a dark, damp unappealing place with high walls and everything is grey and there is little colour. This is the same in the particular rooms like the dining hall, cells and a courtyard. The contrast to this is the warden’s office which is light and has warmer colours and then when Red leaves the prison and goes in search of his friend which is brightly coloured and full of sunshine signifying the key theme of “hope”.
Mise-En-Scene – The film immediately places us in a 1940s prison and progresses over 20 years. During the court scene at the beginning, the men wear typical clothes of the time. Small details such as the cigarettes smoked help to place the film in history. The Inmates wear grey jumpsuits and the prison itself has is an old building, surrounded by barbed wire, metal bars making it unmistakable as a prison setting. Even the clouds/ bad weather link with the depressing atmosphere portrayed in the prison. We see the passing of time through the change of the pin-up posters on Andy’s wall.
Production techniques – Much of the film uses low key lighting which creates a sense of depression and oppression. High key lighting signifies more light hearted and hopeful moments, such as when Andy plays the music on loudspeaker and when Red is reunited with Andy. The use of low angles such as when Andy arrives at the prison and the camera pans up to the high walls of the prison entrance this gives the sense of vulnerabiltiy and oppression. High angles, such as when Andy escapes and looks up to the sky with the rain falling intensify the sense of freedom. Particular shots are used such as mid shots when Andy and Red are talking together and panoramic wide shots to signify the expanse of the prison. There are also close ups of characters which build intensity.
Narrative:
Red (Morgan Freeman) does most of the narrating in the movie. Red tells the story of particular characters rather than himself, primarily the story of Andy. We therefore see Andy’s story from Red’s first person point of view rather than Andy’s own perspective which means that we do not know what Andy’s intentions were until during the end of the movie. This builds suspense and enables the audience to be as surprised as the other characters when we discover that Andy has escaped.
Red narrates in first person, which means that either Red or Andy could be seen as the main protagonist. We see Red’s point of view on how Andy copes in prison and it is therefore Red’s interpretation which leads to how Andy is portrayed in the movie. In my opinion I think Andy is the protagonist, as Red is mostly telling a story on how he eventually escapes prison, which is forshadowed later in the movie.
Having Red as the narrator in Shawshank makes it seem less depressing as his voice is soothing and matter of fact. This means that the darker moments in the movie are not as melancholy and help to feed into the theme of hope.