The Shawshank Redemption: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

''The Shawshank Redemption'' is a 1994 drama film based on [[Stephen King]]'s novella ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''; it stars Tim Robbins and [[Morgan Freeman]].

* [[Badass]]: Hadley. Though it's apparently subverted in the end, when {{spoiler|Red says he heard he "cried like a little girl" when arrested.}}

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Andy Dufresne himself, of course, {{spoiler|using his knowledge of biology to explain to one of The Sisters why he wouldn't be able to help it if he "bit" after they hit him in the head, and his knowledge of geology to figure out from the weakness of the wall that he could tunnel his way out.}}

'''Andy:''' Read it. You know how to read? You ignorant [[Precision F-Strike|fuck]]? }}

** He's no slouch in hand-to-hand as well, it's obvious that it's only superior numbers that let the Sisters get the better of him, and even then he manages to fight them off a number of times.

* [[Bait and Switch]]: Andy finds a grub of some sort in his first prison meal. As he's examining it, he has the following conversation with a crusty old con who's been in prison 50 years and may or may not have a few screws loose:

'''Brooks:''' Jake says "Thank you." }}

* [[Batman Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Andy played the warden for a chump!}}

* [[Chekhov's Armoury]]: Andy's "one-bunk Hilton" prison cell, starting with...

** The Rock Hammer

** The Bible, in which Warden Norton nearly takes it from Andy and gives it back to him {{spoiler|never knowing that it contained said rock hammer}}.

** The Chess Set {{spoiler|Andy takes it with him during his escape, and mentions it to Red in his final letter before the latter heads to Mexico}}.

* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]: The prosecuting attorney admits that the killing of Dufresne's adulterous wife and her lover, could, if it had been a 'hot-blooded crime of passion' be 'understood ''if not condoned'' '.

* [[Depraved Homosexual]]: The Sisters are a nasty prison gang with a particular love of raping new inmates. As Red puts it when Andy remarks to their gaze that he's not homosexual:

** In the DVD commentary the director details how the Sisters are supposed to represent the depravity of rape in general rather than homosexuality being wrong, seeing as rape in prison is more about domination than physical attraction the Sisters are especially disgusting in this regard.

** In the book, Stephen King is careful to draw a distinction between heterosexuals who just 'come to an arrangement', actual homosexuals and the 'sisters' who are just depraved rapists.

* [[Determinator]]: Andy.

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: After Warden Norton tells Andy that {{spoiler|the man who actually killed Andy's wife and lover is probably gone from the penal system and isn't worth chasing}}, Andy makes the mistake of saying something about it, calling the warden "obtuse", and then bringing up the money laundering scheme:

'''Norton''': [[Berserk Button|Don't you ever mention money to me again,]] [[This Is for Emphasis, Bitch|you sorry son of a bitch!]] Not in ''this'' office! Not ''anywhere!'' ''[Slaps intercom]'' Get in here! Now!<br />

'''Andy''': I was just trying to set your mind at ease, that's all...<br />

'''Norton''': ''[To guard] ''Solitary! ''A '''month'''''! }}

** As if that's not enough, when Andy's unprecedented month-long stay in the hole is almost up, Norton shows up to {{spoiler|tell him about Tommy's murder and how he will never let Andy leave the prison, and threaten to ruin the rest of his life if he doesn't keep working for him}}. Followed by the icing on the cake:

* [[Double Take]]: Heywood gives a nonverbal version of this to Red saying, "[[Badass Bookworm|Guy likes to play chess.]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|Let's get him some rocks.]]" (Andy expressed interest in making his own chess set out of rocks he didn't have.) Heywood nods agreeingly, then turns to look at Red confused.

* [[Down the Drain]]: Andy's escape through a Shawshank sewer pipe to freedom.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Andy and Red

* [[Hidden in Plain Sight]]: How Andy makes off with Warden Norton's {{spoiler|shoes.}}

** {{spoiler|Unfortunately, we as the audience weren't allowed to even notice the man's shoes since it was off camera for Andy's walk to his cell the night he escaped}}

* [[Hope Is Scary]]: Red objects to hope on these grounds.

* [[Hope Springs Eternal]]: The subtitle of the novella. It's found in ''Different Seasons,'' a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|collection of season-themed stories]].

* [[Hypocrite]]: Along with being a hypocrite in general, the Warden has a very subtle moment of this {{spoiler|after Andy's escape}}. Compare this line from Andy's arrival at the prison...

** ...to this one near the end.

*** That isn't even the start of it. His "[[Villainous Breakdown|IT'S A CONSPIRACY]]" rant at the end is obviously a case of projecting his own conspiring nature onto everyone else.

* [[Incriminating Indifference]]: Andy comes off as an icy and remorseless killer at his trial. {{spoiler|This is because he is in fact innocent.}}

* [[Invented Individual]]: Andy creates "Randall Stevens" to be the fall guy in case his shady financial transactions for the Warden are detected by authorities. {{spoiler|Andy ''becomes'' Randall Stevens after he breaks out, and takes all the warden's ill-gotten money.}}

* [[Ironic Echo]]: After Andy claims he's innocent, this exchange happens:

'''Heywood:''' Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me. }}

** Later this exchange,

'''Andy Dufresne:''' Me? My lawyer fucked me. Everybody's innocent in here. Didn't you know that? ''(Everybody else starts laughing)''. }}

** A sort of almost-echo occurs a bit later, after Tommy has revealed what he knows.

** At one point, Norton hands Andy back his Bible, assuring him that "Salvation lies within". Just before {{spoiler|escaping}}, Andy leaves the Bible in Norton's safe: when Norton opens the Bible, he finds a [[Badass Boast|note]] from Andy assuring Norton that salvation did indeed lie within - {{spoiler|Andy had hollowed out the Bible to hide his rock hammer}}.

*** The Boast here was twofold - {{spoiler|the hollowed-out pages where the hammer was stored begin on the first page of the Book of Exodus}}.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: The actual murderer of Andy's wife. {{spoiler|He was apparently locked up in another prison for an unrelated crime when he confessed to doing it. We don't find out what became of him afterwards.}}

* [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]]: Hadley, the leader of the guards, ambushes and severely beats Boggs, who screams and cries for help the whole time. Seeing as ambushing and severely beating people was what Boggs took sadistic pleasure in, one can't help but feel satisfied when Red sums up the end result...

* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Everybody gets their share in the climax.

** Climax nothing, some characters get what was coming to them earlier on. {{spoiler|Boggs will swallow what they give him to swallow from now on.}}

** Also, the look on his face when {{spoiler|he sees a bible with a hole in it [[Book Safe|in which Andy hid the rock hammer with which he dug his way out, likely implying that Norton realized the connection between Andy having escaped and himself being busted]]. Bonus points for being so shocked that he dropped his bible.}}

* [[The Old Convict]]: Red, to an extent, but more certainly Brooks, an elderly man who finds he is unable to adjust to life outside prison walls. Brooks was in prison for so long, since 1905, that when he's released in the '50's, it's a world he can't recognize. For one thing Brooks remarks that when he went in, he'd only seen one car, when he was a boy.

* [[Once More, with Clarity]]: When Andy leaves the warden's office, it seems like {{spoiler|he's given up hope and planning to kill himself.}} A few minutes later you see the same sequence of events with a few more details {{spoiler|showing how he was putting his escape plan into action.}}

* [[Only Known by Their Nickname]]: Red.

* [[Road Apples]]: Or horse apples. Either way, not rocks.

* [[Running Gag]]: Apparently everyone at Shawshank is "innocent", and just had "a lawyer fuck them".

* [[Shout-Out]]: Many to [[The Count of Monte Cristo]] ("by Alexandree Dumbass").

** Two of Red's friends in prison are named 'Heywood' and 'Floyd'. Heywood Floyd was one of the main characters in ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]''.