The film of ‘Shawshank Redemption’ was made in 1994, directed by Frank Darabont. The film was based on the Stephen King novel Different Seasons, subtitled Hope Spring Eternal. The book was made 12 years before the film’s release. The film in my personalised opinion is very well set on the basis of the topics we’ll be covering, as it shows all of them through a lot of very well thought out ways, as will be said. I like the way it was conveyed and presented and all of the ideas that were kept throughout all the film in similar and different ways. The themes, or issues, that I will be displaying today are the process of hope, the inhumanities of the prison in the film, and the recurring theme of redemption.

To begin with, we have the theme of hope in the film. This in particular is the most central theme in Shawshank Redemption, since there are many ways that this could be conveyed. The message in this paragraph is how hope can be conveyed through the effects and dialogue of three characters who had found, or tried to find hope, those being Brooks, Andy and Red. In Brooks’ case, after he had left Shawshank after many decades, he struggled to cope with the outside world, and hope was a thing he could have kept if he had left what he had called his home. It soon leads to the point where there is no hope for Brooks on the outside world and he eventually kills himself, giving us the idea that he lost all hope. Andy and Red are different to Brooks, since hope had lead them to being together in happiness, and that is an ending that is a completely different to Brooks’ one. This can be derived from Andy’s quote of “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing”, and it clearly does here. Andy’s real hope is to be free from the chains of prison and to return to a more normalised lifestyle, and him escaping from the Shawshank prison achieves that hope.

The next topic is on the issue of how horrible the Shawshank Prison is. Prisons in general are pretty brutal, police giving no forgiveness to the people who have committed illegal acts, and in this film, Shawshank is quite easily no exception. From the first few scenes of the film we can quite clearly tell that this prison is extremely brutal, a given example to why is the fat man who came into prison along with Andy, was killed after crying over the fact he wants to see his mother since he admits to the policemen that he didn’t do anything wrong, even if it clearly looks like he did. The quote “These walls are funny. First you hate ‘em, then you get used to ‘em. Enough time passes, you get to depend on ‘em. That’s institutionalised.” is showing how the prison gets to the people over time, and the more they go along, the more they have to rely on them.

The last topic is on the subject of Redemption, the core theme of the whole film. Redemption as a theme in this film is basically how do people get relieved from them grasps of their evil. For Andy’s sake, from him going to prison, he wants to retain his freedom and gain his redemption. He used his hope to keep him sane and give the spirit to gain such redemption. This happens by him having to one up the Warden and as such escape from prison. For Red, he has lived in the prison for longer than Andy and once he is free from prison, he feels hope and redemption in his life has sprung forth and he has made it away from the chains of guilt and evil, and joins Andy in their own joint freedom, filled with hope and enginuity. The Warden, in return for Andy’s insane escape from prison, gains karma for his actions, which eventually ends up with him killing himself. Personally, the theme for me gives off the overall structure of the film, and since it does it makes it super interesting and well thought out.

Overall, the film is quite unique given the overall shading, techniques and personality that it provides, showing different sides to the outside and the inside of Shawshank Prison. It gives of that sort of serious vibe that makes it very worthwhile to watch. In terms of a Year 12 audience, due to the constant amount of vulgar language, it may be too offensive to some viewers, but some may not really take the language that much. All in all, the film is basically how the themes and issues are incorporated into the film, those being how hope is conveyed in the film, how the Shawshank Prison has inhumane conditions, and how the theme of redemption is mixed into the film. That is what I believe makes up the film of Shawshank Redemption.