Favorite Movie

My Favorite Movie

In the 1880s, the first silent movie, titled ‘Roundhay Garden Scene’ was produced by Louis Le Prince in the United Kingdom. Since then, movie making technology had progressed and the methods of storytelling became more interesting. There are a variety of movie genres nowadays, but the genres do not necessarily reflect the true quality of a movie. For example, a person could be entertained and learn more from watching a comedy movie, in which the values of friendship, honesty and teamwork are shown rather than watching a clichéd horror movie that has no positive values at all. I believe that a good movie such as ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (which is my all-time favorite movie) should not only entertain and able to relate to all audiences, but also promote good values as the ones mentioned above. Therefore, I would like to share the positive values I had learn from the movie, explain how those values affected my life and raise my readers’ awareness about the noble values that a movie can teach.

‘The Shawshank Redemption’ revolves around a banker, Andy Dufresne who is wrongly convicted of killing his wife and sent to the Shawshank prison to serve life sentence. The rest of the movie describes Andy’s life in prison and his eventual escape 20 years later. When I first heard about this movie, I did not pay attention because I thought it was just another violent prison movie. However, I did watch the movie and the experience gave me a new perspective on life. There were a few personal reasons for that. First of all, I learnt about the effects of real determination, and I believed that the character of Andy really helped me to change my attitude, from being lazy and unmotivated into a completely determined person. Although wrongly convicted, Andy was able to survive 20 years in the prison. In order to escape, Andy dug a hole inside his prison cell (which he covered with a poster) using a very small hammer he obtained from his best friend, Red. Then, he had to walk 500 yards through a sewage pipe before escaping. For me, that was real determination. Prior to watching the movie, I lacked the will power and the motivation to complete a specific task, like assignments and house chores. I waited until the very last minute before finishing my work. Most of the time I failed, and even if I achieved success with the work, I was not happy because I knew I could have done better if I had spent more time on it. However, I learnt from the character of Andy that success came with a cost, and hardwork and determination are necessary to succeed in whatever I do.

From the movie, I also learnt about the true value of friendship, regardless of race and religion. Before I watched ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ I did not have a clear idea of what a true friend would look like, especially in terms of his/her character and attitude. In prison, Red saved Andy from being beaten, helped Andy to blend in with the other prisoners, and listened to all Andy had to say. In return, Andy arranged for Red to stay with him when Red got out of prison. For me, the relationship between Red and Andy thought me to identify the characters that should be present in a person to become best friends. I have a lot of friends, but not all are true friends. Some so-called friends only stayed with me if when I was happy and financially stable, but left when I was feeling down or did not treat them. After seeing the relationship between Andy and Red, I knew that best friends have to support each other in whatever situation, and always ready to help when one is in need.

Lastly, I learnt the importance of being grateful through the character of the warden in the movie. Although Andy helped the warden with his taxes and office work, the warden did not want Andy to leave. It was because Andy brought in a lot of money into the prison fund from his work as a tax advisor at the prison. However, the warden did not stop harassing and mocking Andy, and Andy decided it was time for him to escape and eventually, the warden committed suicide due to embarassment. That was the price the warden had to pay for his ungratefulness and from that I realized that I should be happy with what I have at the moment and control my anger. For example, if there was not enough food on the table, I would throw a tantrum. Sometimes I would scold anyone who tried to change the television channel when I was watching. I did not realize that my actions not only disappointed others, but showed how ungrateful I was. I did not think about the people in the third world countries who were suffering to live, yet I was still complaining despite all the luxuries.

From the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ I can conclude that movies play a big part in shaping my life. However, I do believe that others could also learn about noble values from the movies that they watch. Although some movies do not possess any positive values that could be learnt, it is up the audience to make their own choices about what kind of movies that they would like to see. Good movies with positive values will be remembered forever, whereas bad movies with negative values will be forgotten. In addition to this, I would like to know more about the following issues, related to how movies could impact people’s lives: 1) How American movies influence the behavior in Asian culture? 2) What do young and old Asian people think about American movies, especially movies that portray Asian culture and stereotypes? Hopefully with these questions, I could learn more about the impact of movies in the society.