How Does Red Change In The Shawshank Redemption

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In the film “The Shawshank Redemption”, directed by Frank Darabont, the character of Red changes quite a lot from the beginning to the end. At the beginning, he is very institutionalised and doesn’t have any hope, but towards the end he starts to gain hope and realises there is a life outside of prison for him. Darabont uses film techniques to give the viewers the idea of hope and institutionalisation relating to Red’s character. At the beginning of the film, Red is the con-man of the prison, the go-to guy who can get you almost anything you want. He is a very institutionalised man as his whole life is based around the prison and he doesn’t seem to think he will ever get out. Every time he goes to the prison wardens to see whether he can…show more content…
We also see what he is like outside of prison, where he doesn’t have a role or responsibility anymore to keep him busy and determined. This idea of hope and a new beginning is shown through the head on camera shot when Red is leaving the prison. This shot shows Red with the prison behind him which shows the viewer that Reds life is changing and will start to become a lot different. It also shows how Red will start to become a different person and will have to change the way he spends his life. We first see this when we see Red travelling around looking like a lost person who doesn’t know what to do with his life. The one thing that kept Red going was that Andy had told him while they were in the prison to go to a tree in the area of Buxton as there was something he wanted Red to have there. This kept Red going as it gave him hope and made him feel like he had a responsibility again, which Andy knew would prevent Red from going crazy. This is different from the beginning in that Red didn’t have any hope and he was the main man, whereas now outside of prison, he has hope and still has some form of responsibility and has something to keep him going. We see this hope as he says “I hope, I hope, I hope” in a voice-over, which shows the viewers that Red has belief and hope outside of prison that he can mean something and be of some

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