The Shawshank Redemption

by Mark Kermode

Book Overview

How did a low-key prison movie which was considered a box-office flop on its original release become one of the most popular movies of all time? Mark Kermode traces the history of this unexpected audience favourite from the pages of Stephen King's novella 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption', through the icy corridors of Ohio's Mansfield Reformatory (whose imposing gothic architecture dominates the film), to the television and video screens on...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0027DKQ34
• ISBN13: 9780851709680
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: British Film Institute
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Escape Into Shawshank

The Shawshank Redemption had a number of things going against it at the time of its release: a clunky title, the depressing subject matter of an innocent man in prison for close to two decades, prison rape, suicide. Combine that with being released the same year as Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction and it is no surprise that the movie performed poorly at the time. What is surprising is the movie's history after it went to video. It has been wildly successful, currently ranking number 2 on the internet movie database's list of best movies, voted on not by the critics, but by the general public who actually watch the movies for enjoyment. But even that success is not the full story. The Shawshank Redemption is, for many people, more than just a great movie. It really seems to touch people's lives in a way that other great movies do not. Mark Kermode, the author of this BFI monograph, explores this phenomenon. He sees a great deal of The Shawshank Redemption's attraction in the religious metaphors interwoven throughout the movie. On a superficial level this may seem counterintuitive. After all, the most explicitly religious person in the movie, Warden Norton, is flat out evil. Moreover, he often uses religious icons to facilitate his misdeeds, such as using a framed woven biblical quotation to hide the books he has cooked while using Andy (the innocent man) to facilitate the scam. But underneath this surface is another viewing of the movie. Andy inspires hope of salvation in his fellow prisoners, reminding them that there is something in each of them that cannot be taken away by the stone walls of the prison or the brutality of the guards. In several key scenes, in fact, Andy's arms are spread out, reinforcing the idea of him as a Christ-like personality to his disciples. That Andy's presence lives on at Shawshank among those disciples even after Andy physically escapes and is no longer with them is further evidence still. Along with the main theme, Kermode introduces many lesser themes which also explore ideas of redemption, most of which hit the mark. These include movies themselves as providing a type of secular religion allowing us to escape the confines of our own lives, the music which Andy plays for his fellow inmates as demonstrating the beauty that exists within each of us (and Kermode is correct that the movie would have been better without this particular scene) and the inability of the old inmate Brooks to live without the identity he had formed after being set free. Kermode keeps this book free of the technical lingo that has unfortunately bogged down too many BFI publications. Whether one agrees with him or not, he presents his ideas in a way that is accessible to the lay reader unfamiliar with the details of film analysis. Although most of the BFI books have been at least pretty good, one wishes that more were like this.

It needed six stars but the scale would not accomodate

I was forced to read my first King novel about fifteen years ago (it was the only book I had available still uread) and although I was not a lover of 'horror' novels, his were always such a cut above, that I read everyone since then and they were all good, however Shawshank Redemption is still a cut above them all. I found it in his Four Season's book after having seen the movie, and I was flabbergasted at the literary style and psychological insight of Shawshank. I told everyone: 'this one will be a classic' a hundred years from now. I still believe that to be true. I have read almost all of the classics of many countries, so I think I know the feel of one when I read it. I salute you Stephen King! ........and just think...King was rejected so many times as a new author that he almost gave up, we almost got cheated out of pure genius by the over-cautionary gatekeepers of the literary markets.