Movie Journal 1 : Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption

             Since it was the second time I watched this film, frankly I did not concentrated much on the film itself. Rather, I got lost in my daydream about social hierarchy. Watching the film of “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”, I thought that the prison looks like a small miniature of society. There is a clear social hierarchy from the prison wardens to the prisoners. There are even classification within the prisoners – Red, the leader, the Sisters, the gang, Brooks, the deliver and Andy, the novice.

             These characters reminded me of a cliché, “Position makes people.” Indeed, every character, except Andy, acts just as what he is expected to be. Norton is a typical greedy prison warden, Hardley is a typical harsh prison guard and prisoners are typical prisoners whom people generally imagine. These characters also reminded me of a documentary film I watched a few years ago.

             To briefly summarize this video, people are dominated by the situation they belong. For instance, people do not get out of subway, full of exhaust, solely because the driver broadcasted that the train is safe. In another example, people do not hesitate to make a wrong choice even though the right answer is obvious, because others around them argue that the wrong choice is right. I thought the characters in Shawshank is not much different from people in the above video film. They behave as they are expected.

             However, Andy is the only one who could go against the power of situation. He tries to mount the social hierarchy of Shawshank despite his lowest initial position. He succeeds in protect himself from the Sisters, by making a negotiation with prison guards. Ultimately, he gets out of Shawshank, where he should have spent his life although he is not a criminal. I believe this bravery of Andy, brave enough to conflict with situation, plays a vital role in Andy’s infectious hope.