Shawshank Redemption

1. Shawshank Redemption A PowerPoint by: Carrie Hess

2. Characters • Andy Dufrasne played by Tim Robbins. • A New England banker accused of murdering his wife and her lover. Claims he is innocent, but everyone is innocent in Shawshank. • Likes to collect rocks, read, starts a library, and dreams of building a boat at the Pacific Ocean. • Close friends with Red and Brooks. • Works Cited: www.movies.yahoo.com/shawshankredemption

3. Characters continued. • Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding played by: Morgan Freeman. • Fellow inmate and prisoner in Shawshank. Imprisoned as a young man he has almost been entirely institutionalized. Very close friends with Andy and dreams of being free someday. • Works Cited: www.dvdanswers.com/ images/screenshots/shawshankredemption

4. Characters continued. • Warden Norton played by: Bob Guntan. • The warden is a very religious man who on the side is hiding money in false bank accounts and using Andy so his crime can’t be traced to him. • He enjoys using sadistic means to torture his prisoners such as throwing them in the “hole”. He is very powerful and exerts immense influence on the prison. • Works Cited: www.dvdanswers.com/ images/screenshots/shawshankredemption. • www. timmargh.net/.../the_ shawshank_redemption_3.jpg

5. Characters continued. • Brooks Hatlen played by: James Whitmore • The prison librarian, Brooks has been in Shawshanks for almost all of his life. • He is known for his caring personality( takes care of a baby crow Jake), but eventually is released. • He gives into institutionalization and commits suicide because he can’t live in the real world. • Works Cited:www.theboxset.com/images/ reviewcaptures

6. Characters continued. • Tommy Williams played by: Gil Bellows • A young man in and out of prison his whole life, Tommy came to Shawshank for robbery. • Has a wife and child at home, so he enlists Andy’s help in learning how to read and write so he can get a high school diploma. • Was in prison with the man who killed Andy’s wife and her lover. • WorksCited:http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/Raketnet/Drama/ShawshankTommy.jpg

7. Theme • Institutionalization is a major theme in Shawshank Redemption. Many prisoners have been in the prison for so long that they have been institutionalized, which means the only life that they know is the one within the prison walls. Ex: Brooks lived most of his life in the prison, so when released he does not know how to live in the outside world. Things have changed so much while he was in prison and he even thinks of crimes he could commit in order to be thrown back into prison. He eventually commits suicide because he cannot handle life in the real world. • Works Cited: www.dvdbeaver.com/.../ shawshank/11336a.jpg

8. Symbols • The Holy Bible: To the warden, the Bible is sacred and to be followed at all times, so it is a rule book. • To Andy he hides his rock hammer in the Bible going against the rules completely. • Embroidered “His Judgment Cometh and that Right Soon”a symbol of the warden’s faith, but ironic because his own judgment will come when Andy anonymously tells on him. • Works Cited: www.moviedeaths.com/ images/grabs/shawshank

9. Symbols Continued • The music symbolizes hope and especially Andy's hope that he will someday be free and living on his own again. The music can be in his heart and mind and the warden cannot take that away from him. • The harmonica is a symbol of harmony and it shows the harmonic relationship between Andy and Red because Andy gives it to Red. It also symbolizes hope. • www.theboxset.com/images/ reviewcaptures, www.silentrunningaudio.com

10. Technical Shots • Aerial shot:A shot taken from the air which is often used for large crowds or to emphasize how expansive and large something is. • Close up:The camera focuses in very closely upon a person or object to emphasize the importance of an expression or meaning of an object. • Works Cited:thewebshite.net/ ~off/images/shawshank.jpg • www.americanrhetoric.com/ images/shawshank4

11. Technical Shots continued • Two Shot: Shows the relationship of two people by body language and their discussion when it is only them in a shot. • Long Shot: This type of shot emphasizes size and the enormity of a setting. It also can emphasize the quantity like in this case the amount of prisoners Shawshank holds. • Works Cited: www.smh.com.au/ffximage/ 2004/09/23/shawshank • www.geocities.com/ aaronbcaldwell/Shawshank04.jpg

12. Background Information • Shawshank was the quietest film to be nominated for seven academy awards. It did not win any. • In 1995, a year after it came out in the theaters, Shawshank became the top video rental of the year. • Based on the book Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by: Stephen King • An actual correctional facility was used that had been shut down for cruel and unusual punishment. • The original Red was a white, Irish man with red hair, but Morgan Freeman was chosen because his personality matched perfectly. • The last scene on the beach was almost left out of the movie, but it was too important that they be reunited for the audience’s sake. It showed the love story between two friends who transcend life and space in order to remain close. • Shawshank Redemption shows that with hope and persistence, everyone can find their own place in the sun. • “Get busy living or get busy dying”- it’s important to have hope and to live for something or else it isn’t worth living.