The Shawshank Redemption
I can’t even count the number of times I’ve seen The Shawshank Redemption. Underappreciated at the time of its release, it’s become a classic on video. When I lost my DVD copy on a train trip (along with a jacket of other DVDs), I HAD to repurchase it.
In addition to being an extremely well-made film, it’s also a testament to the power of friendship, a message that would be appreciated by the likes of Rhaina Cohen and Marisa Franco, authors who argue that friendship should be placed on the same pedestal as romance, if not higher.
The filmmakers would agree (and if Stephen King weren’t a matrimaniac, I’d even credit him as the story’s original author). The plot revolves Andy Dufresene’s imprisonment for a crime he didn’t commit, the murder of his wife and her lover. At first, he’s targeted for assault by a group of predators, but he’s able to use his knowledge of numbers and the banking system to help a vicious guard keep is inheritance by informing him of a loophole that allows him to gift said inheritance to his wife without any tax penalties (when I give my “Singles Studies 101” presentation, I cite that scene as an example of how married folks are privileged by the tax system).
From there, he develops a friendship with Red, a “lifer” who serves as the unofficial black market coordinator for his fellow inmates, getting them various items from candy to booze to a rockhammer for Andy. And because the warden sees Andy as an asset (“a convicted murderer who provides sound financial planning”), the predators are “taken care of.”
After twenty years, Andy escapes through an ingenious method. Red is paroled not long after, and like most prisoners who enter the outside world, he has trouble adjusting. But his friendship with Andy keeps him going, unlike with Brooks, the elderly prison librarian who had been “institutionalized” by prison life. At Andy’s “dark night of the soul” moment, he makes Red promise that if he ever gets out to get in touch with him. Nevermind that his instructions on how to do are so specific that I’m not sure how anybody could remember them. But hey, suspension of disbelief. And if it promotes the power of friendship, I’m on board.
In addition to being an extremely well-made film, it’s also a testament to the power of friendship, a message that would be appreciated by the likes of Rhaina Cohen and Marisa Franco, authors who argue that friendship should be placed on the same pedestal as romance, if not higher.
The filmmakers would agree (and if Stephen King weren’t a matrimaniac, I’d even credit him as the story’s original author). The plot revolves Andy Dufresene’s imprisonment for a crime he didn’t commit, the murder of his wife and her lover. At first, he’s targeted for assault by a group of predators, but he’s able to use his knowledge of numbers and the banking system to help a vicious guard keep is inheritance by informing him of a loophole that allows him to gift said inheritance to his wife without any tax penalties (when I give my “Singles Studies 101” presentation, I cite that scene as an example of how married folks are privileged by the tax system).
From there, he develops a friendship with Red, a “lifer” who serves as the unofficial black market coordinator for his fellow inmates, getting them various items from candy to booze to a rockhammer for Andy. And because the warden sees Andy as an asset (“a convicted murderer who provides sound financial planning”), the predators are “taken care of.”
After twenty years, Andy escapes through an ingenious method. Red is paroled not long after, and like most prisoners who enter the outside world, he has trouble adjusting. But his friendship with Andy keeps him going, unlike with Brooks, the elderly prison librarian who had been “institutionalized” by prison life. At Andy’s “dark night of the soul” moment, he makes Red promise that if he ever gets out to get in touch with him. Nevermind that his instructions on how to do are so specific that I’m not sure how anybody could remember them. But hey, suspension of disbelief. And if it promotes the power of friendship, I’m on board.
