The Shawshank Redemption Essay Example

The movie the Shawshank Redemption, based on the book by Steven King, I believe is one of the best movies ever made. The portrayal of prison life in the movie is the best I have seen and a star-studded cast including Morgan Freeman supports the characters and brings to life the everyday struggles of life behind bars. In this paper I will relate topics from class to the movie and discuss information we have learned through out the semester.

One of the best things about this movie is its portrayal of prison life. There are many movies that deal with prison and the life of prisoners while incarcerated, but Shawshank I feel does the best job of giving you a real feeling of what prison life is all about. Shawshank brings forth many situations that occur in prisons such as corruption, the circulation of contraband, educational programs, government funding, time in the yard, prison jobs and concept of institutionalization.

Throughout an inmate’s stay in prison, they have to deal with many situations that may arise during their sentence. Inmates have to deal with racism, interracial fighting, gangs and homosexual acts to name a few, not including the stress of serving out their sentence one day at a time. There are many scenes that show the inmates out in the yard, having a catch or lifting, doing anything they can to make the stay more comfortable. In the movie, Andy gets a job doing laundry for the prison but ends up in an embezzlement scheme with the warden. During his sentence Andy and Red become close friends, building a library from government funds, helping inmates receive their high school diplomas’ and Andy’s secret “rock sculpting” to help make time pass. In the film the inmates used cigarettes as money, a way to get things in the prison, a feat that seemed easily accessible in Shawshank at the time, due to the guards taking bribes from delivery drivers and the inmates themselves. It seemed to me that all of Shawshank was corrupt in its ways.