Shawshank Redemption Poster Analysis

Today, posters are viewed as just an image, a display of the owner’s interests. In the Shawshank Redemption posters are more than just decorations, they are guardians and generators towards one’s soul and hope. While being stuck in a prison for a long period of time, it becomes one’s home, common ground. The outside world changes too fast, leaving the left behind dead. An example includes Brooks, one who has been in the prison nearly most of his life. He did not know how to keep up with the world. The world inside the prison was moving slow, outside world too fast, that when one enters that real world realm, he will age quickly and die faster. Posters stuck with Andy for his time period, shielded his hope from the dark forces. Andy had posters of …show more content…
Andy Dufresne brought out his definition of a poster, that one can just step into the poster, live the moment, feel the fresh freedom light shine on their bodies. The poster is like a portal to another dimension, the outside world. Near the end of the story, it is told that Andy Dufresne learns that he can use his rock hammer to mine a hole into a wall. He covers this hole with posters of woman from Red, last one Racquel Welch. The poster of the woman, literally, protected Andy Dufresne hope, the hole in the wall. Between the novel and film, the delivering of the message were somewhat similar, but the novel had more descriptions and hints towards the posters of women. During the movie, it did not really explain the posters, but only showcased them. During the novel, Red gave descriptions of each one. Red when narrating about the importance of posters in the story, discussed that they were assumed innocent objects and left alone. The prison let the poster be, never realizing the hole, hope behind it. The author Stephen King could have chosen any other object to be on the poster, but he selected women as a