Examples Of Functionalism In Shawshank Redemption

For this assignment, I chose to watch and analyze the movie “Shawshank Redemption”. This movie is about a man, Andy Dufresne, who gets convicted of murdering his wife and her lover even though he claimed he was innocent of the crime. The movie takes place inside the prison where Dufresne is sentenced. In observing the movie, I used a functionalist mindset. Functionalist view society as a system in which all parts work together to create society as a whole. They see all societies as having important jobs and tasks that need to be carried out and those positions need to be filled by qualified people. Functionalists only focus on the function of society rather than focusing on the disfunction of the society. Along with this, they believe that
For example, the majority of the movie takes place within the prison walls of the Shawshank State Penitentiary. The penitentiary, where the functionalism occurs, is an example of a total institution. A total institution is an organization where the participants, or inmates, have a controlled lifestyle and where total resocialization has occurred. Andy experiences a degradation ceremony the minute he steps foot into Shawshank. He is stripped of his old life and is basically given a new identity and role that he has to play. He goes from having the freedom of doing and wearing whatever he pleases to being told what to do and when to do it. This is also an example of him experiencing a culture shock. The sudden drastic change to his life is something that he would have to get used to. Andy also experiences a dominant group. This is referring back to the previous examples of his encounters with The Sisters. They were a dominant group that had a negative impact on his life, but then the dominant group switches once he infiltrates the guards. His group, that included Red, Brooks and a few other men, then became the dominant group that was portrayed. Also, an authoritarian leader and a hierarchy of authority is shown in this film. Naturally, the warden is the authoritarian leader. He makes all the rules and oversees the guards that are enforcing them. He is also at the top of the hierarchy of authority. Underneath him are the guards and then obviously the prisoners are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Something that was experienced by all the inmates was the idea of conformity. Every one of the prisoners had to conform to the lifestyle of imprisonment. They had to understand what was expected of them and know that they had no choice but to do what was asked of them. This also includes conforming to the different types of