How Do You Believe Brought Them Together?

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INT: Hello, I’m here with Lucy Brown who has just viewed, The Shawshank Redemption for the first time, and is willing to answer a few questions. Firstly, what qualities of Red and Andy’s characters do you believe brought them together?

Brooke: Fantastic question. I believe that Red and Andy’s friendship developed majorly throughout their time in prison. Both Red and Andy started out as complete social opposites, Red from a poor background and Andy from a privileged white background. They both ended up learning new things from each other. Red takes Andy under his wing and shows him the way to do things in prison. Both characters gain mutual respect for each other whilst being in prison. Red and Andy struggle to survive the horrors of prison, but in the end, help each other escape. Stephen King uses a close up of Red while he explains to Andy that he doesn’t think he could, “make it on the outside” without him. I believe this shows how much Red relies on Andy and how much he needs him by his side. When Red and Andy are talking, it is seen that they are not in the same scene, which shows that they are in different mind spaces at that point of the movie. While Red and Andy are talking there is a quiet non-diegetic piano sound playing in the background. Throughout the movie, both characters develop grey hair, which indicates the change in era and shows how long they have been in prison for. I believe the ending was very powerful as it displays an unbreakable bond between two characters. When Red and Andy reunite, the director uses a close up, to demonstrate their friendship while they hug. This symbolises how their friendship has grown through the movie. I thought that the ending of the movie was admirable as it relates to the friendships in my life, as we would do anything for the special bond that we share. INT: Yes, I agree with you on that one. Red and Andy are true friends that learn a lot from each other while being in prison. Do you think the bird symbolises hope and freedom for the inmates? Brooke: That’s a great question. Yes, I do believe that the bird symbolises freedom and hope for the inmates as they all need something that they believe in, that will help them get out of jail. I can relate to this, as I have a bracelet that symbolises hope for me. Brooks has his caged bird, Jake, that he believes gives him hope and freedom. When Red says, “I have to remind myself that some birds are not meant to be caged, their feather are just too bright and when they fly away…. but still the place you live in fills dark and empty now that they are gone”, the camera pans along all the inmates while they are eating. While Red is saying the
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I definitely think that the most moving scene would have to be when Andy escapes from the prison at the end of the movie. I thought it was very creative how Stephen King chose to have a close up of Andy, with his back to the camera while he was using an axe to make a hole in the wall. I believe this shows how much he is willing to go through to try and escape. I liked the extreme long shot of Andy crawling towards the camera, through the hole he made. You could really see his facial expression and the struggle on his face, as he made his way through the hole. It was a really good choice made by Stephen King, when he chose to have an extreme long shot of the prison with the diegetic sounds of lightening and rain in the background. My favourite part of this scene would be the long shot of Andy struggling to run through the knee-deep water, ripping his shirt off while raising his hands in the air as he celebrates his successful escape. I found this scene very moving and emotion, because as a viewer you are hoping that he escapes successfully without being caught and taken back to prison. I found it funny when Red said that, “Andy through a river of shit and came out clean on the other

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