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Shawshank Redemption Movie Comparison

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Shawshank Redemption Movie Comparison
A movie the calibre of The Shawshank Redemption only comes along once in a long time. The acting and story stand out in the mind of many critics as the best of all time. The novella written by Stephen King is what the movie was based upon and they are quite similar. Although there are similarities, the movie captivates and grabs the viewer as opposed to the novella, which seems to drag on a bit. Darabont's adaptation of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption turns an average novella into a theatrical masterpiece through the exclusion of unnecessary characters, the addition of an incredible musical score to add to the mood, a perfect adaptation of the setting and major characters, and a slightly different plot that solidifies the view of certain characters.
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In the movie this trait was given to another character that already existed, the librarian of the prison named Brooks Hadlen. This way, the director was able to get rid of an unnecessary character and make another character better. The novella made Brooks a hard-nosed person with little dialogue and no depth, the movie took the Brooks character and gave him different traits that make the viewer sympathize with him. The character of Brooks in the movie was released and later commits suicide, proving to be one of the truly sad moments in the film and also strengthens Red's point about being institutionalized: “They give you life, and that’s what they take—all of it that counts, anyway”. In the novella he was referring Sherwood Bolton, in the movie he instead refers to Brooks Hadlen, who the audience knows better than they would have known Bolton, who was only mentioned for a few seconds in the novella. In the movie, Andy was said to have a cellmate named Normadden, a native Indian who only stayed with Andy for a short time. This really detracts from the character of Andy who had pride in being alone and was always a

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