The Shawshank Redemption and Sociology

The movie “Shawshank Redemption” is a movie about the struggle of a man named Andy Dufresne, who is a banker in Maine that gets convicted of killing his wife and her lover. He claimed he was innocent, but because of his cold and sheltered personality no one believed that he was truly an innocent person, so he was given two life sentences at the Shawshank Prison. A month later Andy approaches another character who they call Red, and Red is the guy you go to in the prison when you need something from the outside world. Andy wanted a hammer to work on his rock collections. Red assumed this hammer was going to be used by Andy to escape, but once he saw the hammer he thought there was no way it was possible. Andy started working with laundry, but then he attracted the attention of certain guys, so he was beat and raped daily. Eventually he got the job of working on the roof with a several other men. He over hears the one guard talking about his taxes, so he offers to help him since he was a banker in his former life. Eventually he expands the prison library by getting the warden to allow him to write letters to the state asking for money to complete the project.

Eventually he gets enough money that he turn the tiny room into a full sized library. He worked side by side with the character Brooks, who was one of the oldest inmates. He begins teaching the other prisoners because many of them never received their high school diploma and many of them wanted too. The one new inmate named Tommy became really close with Andy and they would tell each other many stories. The one story Tommy tells is the story about the person who killed Andy’s wife and lover. The guards find out that Tommy knows who really did it, so they killed him and told the other prisoners that he tried to escape. The one morning when they are called to wake up and they step out of their cells Andy is missing. Red later receives a post card in the mail with nothing on it and this makes him realize that Andy made it safely across the border. The whole movie discusses the struggles that Andy faces while in prison, and shows all the things he needed to do in order to escape the prison without being shot. The movie is filled with shocking events and show different types of sociology.

The first way that sociology is shown in the movie “Shawshank Redemption” is how Andy experiences culture shock. Culture shock in the book is shown as a confusion people may encounter when coming in contact with a different culture, and “can no longer depend on their taken-for-granted assumptions about life” (Henslin 37). Going from living a normal everyday life as a banker in Maine, to being forced to live in a prison would cause a sense of disorientation because joining a prison would be like joining a different culture. He could no longer assume anything because at any point in time the guards could decide that they do not like what he is doing and could beat him. Andy had to learn the new social norms of life inside of the prison, like not asking for food or when they will be receiving food, because if they had asked they learned rapidly that they would be punished, and being beaten was the common punishment. Subculture is defined as, “a world within the larger world of the dominant culture” (Henslin 48).

The Shawshank Prison is considered a subculture because the related behaviors of the prisoners, like murder, distinguishes the members from the larger culture that they are normally from. The guards are like the law of the outside culture and the inmates are the normal people. All the members in the prison did something wrong or were accused of something wrong, so they were put into the same place. The Shawshank Prison could also be considered a total institution. A total institution is defined as, “a place that is almost totally controlled by those who run it, in which people are cut off from the rest of society and the society is mostly cut off from them” (Henslin 82). The guards in “Shawshank Redemption” use brutality to control the prisoners. The prisoners are kept inside the walls of Shawshank at all times, or else they could be killed. They have almost no connection with the outside world, except when Red takes advantage of the guards to get stuff to be brought into the building, like the poster and the tool that Andy wanted.

When people are put in prison it is always for doing something illegal, so the prison guards will put the prisoners through a degradation ceremony. The guards will strip the prisoners of everything they are used to in the real world. When the prisoners were put into their cells at night time they were expected to be quiet, but the night when the new group of prisoners arrived one man was taking being in prison very hard and kept crying and being very loud causing attention to himself, so the prison guards pulled the man from his cell and beat him till he died. This man was not doing what he was expected to do so he was punished. The prison guards took each inmate’s identity from them and forced them to behave how they wanted.

The social norms of life outside ofprison and inside of prison are completely different. Outside of  prison rape is not something that should be expected to happen, but for Andy rape and brutality was something that happened daily, so it became a norm for him. It started when he was working with the laundry, and a group of guys had their eyes on Andy, so they would rape him. One day the main guy doing the assault was punished by one of the guards and was paralyzed, so from that day on no more people messed with Andy. When the men including Andy were working on the roof a social norm was broken by the guard received financial help from Andy. Guards never respected the inmates and Andy was respected at times by the guards. Andy wanted something in return for helping with their taxes. He said he wanted beer for all of the men working on the roof, and the guards gave them his wish. Red felt that Andy did this because it could give them the sense that they were free for just a short period of time.

When I first watched the movie “Shawshank Redemption” I really enjoyed the movie, but now knowing that it has so many sociology aspects to it I really want to watch it again at the end of the class to see all the different types I can find. It never really came across to me how much sociology is involved with our everyday lives, but now seeing how much is in just one movie is really interesting to me.

The movie “Shawshank Redemption” is a movie about the struggle of a man named Andy Dufresne, who is a banker in Maine that gets convicted of killing his wife and her lover. He claimed he was innocent, but because of his cold and sheltered personality no one believed that he was truly an innocent person, so he was given two life sentences at the Shawshank Prison. A month later Andy approaches another character who they call Red, and Red is the guy you go to in the prison when you need something from the outside world. Andy wanted a hammer to work on his rock collections. Red assumed this hammer was going to be used by Andy to escape, but once he saw the hammer he thought there was no way it was possible. Andy started working with laundry, but then he attracted the attention of certain guys, so he was beat and raped daily. Eventually he got the job of working on the roof with a several other men. He over hears the one guard talking about his taxes, so he offers to help him since he was a banker in his former life. Eventually he expands the prison library by getting the warden to allow him to write letters to the state asking for money to complete the project.

Eventually he gets enough money that he turn the tiny room into a full sized library. He worked side by side with the character Brooks, who was one of the oldest inmates. He begins teaching the other prisoners because many of them never received their high school diploma and many of them wanted too. The one new inmate named Tommy became really close with Andy and they would tell each other many stories. The one story Tommy tells is the story about the person who killed Andy’s wife and lover. The guards find out that Tommy knows who really did it, so they killed him and told the other prisoners that he tried to escape. The one morning when they are called to wake up and they step out of their cells Andy is missing. Red later receives a post card in the mail with nothing on it and this makes him realize that Andy made it safely across the border. The whole movie discusses the struggles that Andy faces while in prison, and shows all the things he needed to do in order to escape the prison without being shot. The movie is filled with shocking events and show different types of sociology.

The first way that sociology is shown in the movie “Shawshank Redemption” is how Andy experiences culture shock. Culture shock in the book is shown as a confusion people may encounter when coming in contact with a different culture, and “can no longer depend on their taken-for-granted assumptions about life” (Henslin 37). Going from living a normal everyday life as a banker in Maine, to being forced to live in a prison would cause a sense of disorientation because joining a prison would be like joining a different culture. He could no longer assume anything because at any point in time the guards could decide that they do not like what he is doing and could beat him. Andy had to learn the new social norms of life inside of the prison, like not asking for food or when they will be receiving food, because if they had asked they learned rapidly that they would be punished, and being beaten was the common punishment. Subculture is defined as, “a world within the larger world of the dominant culture” (Henslin 48).

The Shawshank Prison is considered a subculture because the related behaviors of the prisoners, like murder, distinguishes the members from the larger culture that they are normally from. The guards are like the law of the outside culture and the inmates are the normal people. All the members in the prison did something wrong or were accused of something wrong, so they were put into the same place. The Shawshank Prison could also be considered a total institution. A total institution is defined as, “a place that is almost totally controlled by those who run it, in which people are cut off from the rest of society and the society is mostly cut off from them” (Henslin 82). The guards in “Shawshank Redemption” use brutality to control the prisoners. The prisoners are kept inside the walls of Shawshank at all times, or else they could be killed. They have almost no connection with the outside world, except when Red takes advantage of the guards to get stuff to be brought into the building, like the poster and the tool that Andy wanted.

When people are put in prison it is always for doing something illegal, so the prison guards will put the prisoners through a degradation ceremony. The guards will strip the prisoners of everything they are used to in the real world. When the prisoners were put into their cells at night time they were expected to be quiet, but the night when the new group of prisoners arrived one man was taking being in prison very hard and kept crying and being very loud causing attention to himself, so the prison guards pulled the man from his cell and beat him till he died. This man was not doing what he was expected to do so he was punished. The prison guards took each inmate’s identity from them and forced them to behave how they wanted.

The social norms of life outside of prison and inside of prison are completely different. Outside of prison rape is not something that should be expected to happen, but for Andy rape and brutality was something that happened daily, so it became a norm for him. It started when he was working with the laundry, and a group of guys had their eyes on Andy, so they would rape him. One day the main guy doing the assault was punished by one of the guards and was paralyzed, so from that day on no more people messed with Andy. When the men including Andy were working on the roof a social norm was broken by the guard received financial help from Andy. Guards never respected the inmates and Andy was respected at times by the guards. Andy wanted something in return for helping with their taxes. He said he wanted beer for all of the men working on the roof, and the guards gave them his wish. Red felt that Andy did this because it could give them the sense that they were free for just a short period of time.

When I first watched the movie “Shawshank Redemption” I really enjoyed the movie, but now knowing that it has so many sociology aspects to it I really want to watch it again at the end of the class to see all the different types I can find. It never really came across to me how much sociology is involved with our everyday lives, but now seeing how much is in just one movie is really interesting to me.

Works Cited

Darabont, Frank, dir. Shawshank Redemption. 1994. Film.
– – -, dir. Shawshank Redemption. 1994. Film.
Henslin, James M. Sociology a down to Earth Approach. 11th ed. N.p.: n.p., 2010. Print. – – -. Sociology a down to Earth Approach. 11th ed. N.p.: n.p., 2010. Print.