Shawshank Redemption Essay - Institutionalisation - Prison Setting - DRAFT

Analyse how at least one setting helped you better understand one or two characters or individuals. !! In the film, The Shawshank Redemption the director, Frank Darabont, uses the prison setting to help the audience to better understand the inmates of Shawshank State Prison. Darabont uses an array of film techniques to illustrate his purpose of institutionalisation and the importance of hope. !! The nature of the prison is cold and oppressive. The prison is lit by blue/grey lighting that complements the blue and grey backgrounds of the walls, adding a claustrophobic ambience to the already disheartening prison. Darabont cleverly uses the prison setting in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart Scene to help the audience understand how the inmates have become institutionalised from everyday prison life. Not only does this scene uncover institutionalisation, but also how the prisoners respond to the feeling of hope and therefore exposing its importance. Andy Dufresne, a former vice president of a bank who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife and her lover, is shown excitedly going through a box of records. He comes across a certain album, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, he pulls it from the stack and plays it on a phonograph. Andy works up his courage and broadcasts the duet to the entire prison.!! Darabont effectively uses the technique of soundtrack to convey how the inmates have become institutionalised to benefit the audience's understanding. Soundtrack enables the audience to understand the toll prison has had on the inmates, as said by Red Redding, a longtime inmate of Shawshank State, "they send you here for life, and that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyway." We understand that the inmates feel that they are defined by the walls of the prison and have accepted that there's "no way" they're "going to make it on the outside" as quoted by Red Redding. As the music plays, the inmates stop still, hypnotised and overcome by its beauty. Inmates