Self-Made Man: The Shawshank Redemption

Self-Made Man: The Shawshank Redemption

In this Article Analysis, I will be analyzing Richard Armstrong's article on the movie The Shawshank Redemption. In the article Armstrong construes the movie mainly by making connections to the American society at the time movie was released, explaining how the movie reacts to it and other stereotypes and issues of the time. He also analyzes the roles, and especially the protagonist as "The traditional American male," and how those roles embody the labels of Hollywood's descriptions of masculinity.

The first thing that catches the reader's attention in the article is that Armstrong skips the plot of the movie, expecting the reader to have seen the movie already, preferably multiple times. The majority of the article focuses on imprisonment and the effects it has on the human mind, and what kind of mentality it establishes both among the inmates and the audience. Armstrong successfully describes the prison world as a microcosm of the outside world with similar problems and structures, only aggravated. As he states:

The Shawshank Redemption explores criminal guilt in such a way that it resonates with our own lives. Deploying religious sentiments and imagery, it uses prison setting to reflect upon the condition of we 'sinners' in the audience. (Armstrong 80)

Armstrong also sees in the movie several references to real world problems in America at the time. He connects certain scenes in the movie with the Bush administration, as well as some to the Clinton administration. Like Armstrong states himself, " . . . Hollywood films are careful not to proclaim political partisanship, it is tempting to watch The Shawshank Redemption by the light of these historical developments"(Armstrong 81). The connections Armstrong makes give him credibility as a writer, as he is giving a picture of himself as being conscious of the politics and concerned about society. Still the connections seem a bit clumsy and irrelevant to the context. Armstrong also has many references to the Bible in his article, again giving him credibility and this time more effectively. These relations between real world issues, religion and the movie might seem far-fetched at first, but they certainly let Armstrong give a picture of himself as an intellectual individual able to make connections outside of the common paradigms, thus using ethos. Another way he is using ethos, is his multiple references to other movies. Almost every time Armstrong makes a claim, he uses an example of a classic movie, almost like leading the reader by hand saying, "This is what I mean, got it?" All the examples and references he makes, also start to turn against him. You have to prove you are distinguished only so many times. Excessively bringing it up can begin to make it worse and the reader starts to question if he is compensating