“The Shawshank Redemption” is directed by Frank Darabont, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.
“The Shawshank Redemption” is adapted from “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” in the novella “Different Seasons” by horror master Stephen King.
The whole story tells that the young and promising banker Andy went to jail for an unjust case and got the help of his friend “Red” in prison, thus obtaining self-salvation.
The story of digging tunnels in 19 years and finally escaping from Shawshank prison.
The course of this high-scoring film in reality is very much like the plot shown in the film, it is the evolution process from despair to hope.
When “The Shawshank Redemption” was released, the cost of US$25 million only received a box office of US$28.34 million, which was a fiasco.
In the 1994 Oscar Awards, “The Shawshank Redemption” received seven nominations, but ultimately nothing.
Although “The Shawshank Redemption” did not win any awards at the Oscars, it is the only uncrowned king film in the eyes of the audience.
It is precisely because of its legendary experience that people have placed too much sympathy on it, and the desperate plot of this classic work has been selectively forgotten.
Now let me uncover the hopelessness of “The Shawshank Redemption” from three aspects in novels and movies.
01 Despair in reality
No one likes to live in despair, but the truth of the matter is often naked and cruel.
In reality, it may be difficult for us to get real salvation even for the freedom and hope of the soul.
Many people have seen the movie version of “The Shawshank Redemption”, but few have seen its novel version.
Compared with the hope expressed in the movie version, the novel version expresses more despair, a despair that people cannot face directly.
In the novel, the main reason for Andy’s imprisonment was the pressure of public opinion at the time.
The judge wanted to get more support from the public through Andy’s case, and finally the judge made a trial that violated the law and morality.
The novel details many doubts in Andy’s case. For example, when his wife and his lover were killed, the property was robbed at the same time, but they were never brought up in the court trial.
The bartender’s description of Andy’s situation on the day of the incident was also based on the requirements of the public opinion, and even he himself could not remember the real scene of Andy that day.
The gun that Andy threw into the river was not found, and it was determined that it was a lie he fabricated to avoid the crime…
As an innocent person, Andy could have faced the trial of the law with a clear conscience, but his overly calm performance in court was not what the public wanted to see.
In the public perception, Andy is a murderer, he is a sinner, and he deserves the trial he deserves.
He should feel remorse for the sins he committed, instead of calmly facing the trial of the law.
When an innocent person has to be wrongly judged, this is a kind of despair that people cannot face directly.
And Andy has no choice at all, he has no power to resist the pressure imposed on him by reality.
Just like we don’t try to tell others your sadness.
Because people who have not experienced it will sneer, those who have experienced it will say don’t think too much, those who like you will be anxious, and those who hate you will be happy.
Eventually you will feel hopeless.
Our current society is guided by fake news and Internet promoters to make wrong judgments every day.
We are simply unable to resist the decision imposed on us by reality. When a person says that your decision is wrong, you still have a chance to explain it.
But when ten people, one hundred people, or even countless people tell you that your decision is wrong, you may even doubt whether your decision is correct in the end.
What the public wants to see is what they think is right, not what is right in the true sense. This is also the mainstream value of today.
This made the self-determination that should have persisted, and chose to give up persistence in despair.
It is too difficult for a person to persist, even if he is finally rehabilitated, so what.
Afterwards everyone will only say:
Oh, it turns out that the truth is like this, we wronged him.
Then continue to plunge into the next storm of public opinion.
The essays of philosopher Francis Bacon have such a passage: in the long river of human history, truth is as heavy as gold and always sinks at the bottom of the river, so it is difficult to be discovered. On the contrary, those fallacies that are as light as cow dung Floating upside down and flooding everywhere.
It is precisely because the truth is too heavy that people are reluctant to face it.
But those lies do not have a trace of weight, they are floating around us all the time, blinding our eyes, ears, and heart, making us unable to see and hear the real scene. This is true despair.
“The Shawshank Redemption” tells us that there must be hope and the pursuit of freedom.
But the despair in reality is more terrifying than we thought.
When the whole world wants you to admit mistakes that you shouldn’t admit, this kind of despair is like a cold wind deep in the bone marrow, not only freezing our bodies, but also our hearts.
02 500 US dollars
Compared with the life of Andy in Shawshank Prison in the novel, what is shown in the movie is a seed full of hope.
If the scene in the novel is truly restored, then the film “The Shawshank Redemption” is a desperate movie.
It makes people desperate to give up their beliefs and the courage to live, it will never become a classic, because creating hope is more difficult than creating despair.
In the novel, Andy stuffed 500 US dollars in cash into his anus when he was in prison, and this 500 US dollars is the guarantee of his survival in Shawshank prison.
Without this 500 US dollars, he would not have the capital to let the prison guards “sodize” his three sisters until they could not take care of themselves.
Without this 500 dollars, he couldn’t let Reid get him a flat-mouth hammer for digging tunnels.
Without this 500 US dollars, he would not be able to buy posters. Without this 500 US dollars, he would not be able to be friends with “Red” and the others. Without this 500 US dollars…
This is the despair shown to us in the novel. Prison is a small society full of evil. Everything is no different from real life, and money is needed.
Without money, Andy is at best a professional who is proficient in banking.
Apart from providing professional financial services to prison guards free of charge in exchange for their protection in prison, he has no hope of getting money in return.
In the novel, Andy’s protection is only protection that does not endanger his life, because he has no right to choose, he is just a prisoner.
It was precisely because he understood the cruelty of the prison that he desperately brought the money in so that he could have the hope of living.
Before he goes to prison, he will sell all his property and exchange it for stocks, so that when he is released from prison, he will also have the opportunity to spend his old age.
The same is true in real life. Without money, you simply can’t do anything in this society.
Without money, you may not even be able to guarantee three meals; without money, you may not be able to even get married; without money, you cannot even give your children a good school.
The current society’s excessive pursuit of money is a kind of shackle imposed on us.
To a certain extent, money also determines a person’s status in society.
Most people are still enslaved by money. This is a kind of realistic despair. We can’t compete with mainstream values at all.
03 Tommy’s death
When many people watched the movie version of “The Shawshank Redemption”, they must have been impressed by Tommy’s death. It was Tommy who gave Andy the hope of life.
But Tommy’s final death gave Andy the final despair, and he made up his mind to escape from prison with unknown risks.
In the movie, Tommy told Andy the true situation of Andy’s case, which gave Andy the hope of regaining his freedom, but in the end he was destroyed by Warden Norton.
In order to make Andy give up Norton and even kill Tommy, all this seems to be a desperate scene, but it is full of hope.
Because in the novel, Tommy’s final ending is to accept the conditions of the warden, to be transferred to a relatively easy-to-manage prison, and to receive a certain amount of compensation.
This setting in the novel is desperate. No one will sacrifice himself for the benefit of others.
If Tommy does not accept Norton’s conditions, he may not survive in Shawshank Prison, and his choice is also in line with the most primitive human instinct.
Every one of us is selfish from the bottom of our hearts, and even saints will sacrifice a small part of their interests to a certain extent while preserving the interests of most people.
On the moral level, we can accuse them of their ruthlessness, but on the real level, we simply cannot accuse them of their actions.
Because we may be vested interests.
We all hope that the world will be peaceful and the people will live and work in peace and contentment.
But reality often makes us have to make decisions that go against our conscience and morals. Sometimes these decisions may touch the bottom line of the law.
But most of the time we have no choice at all. If we go against the mainstream values of the general public, we may not even have the opportunity to resist and we will be obliterated by public opinion.
Summarize
There are many more desperate scenes in the novel version of “The Shawshank Redemption”.
If you really tell them one by one, I don’t know what impact it will have on everyone, and will it defeat most people’s illusions about hope.
But I have to uncover part of the truth, because this society is far less beautiful than what we have seen. Although there is still a seed of hope, it is slowly decreasing.
Just like Stephen King by describing the dark side of human nature, by describing the process of human beings on the verge of collapse and destruction due to their own sins, to alert people to cherish everything they have.
I hope my article can let everyone see a real world, even if we live in despair, we are also real.
Instead of living in the fantasy hopes that others have woven for us, that is the most desperate.
