(Assignment #6) Shawshank Redemption: Book VS Movie

    

I have both read the book ‘Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption’ and watched the movie ‘Shawshank Redemption’. The book and movie are both evaluated as great pieces. They both delivered the theme of institutionalization and hope effectively and beautifully, and have impressed many readers and audiences. However, the book and movie have many differences, and I prefer the movie to the book.

     The characters, especially Red, are described in different ways in the two pieces. In the book, Red is a white man with red hair, and his age is similar to Andy’s. In the very first part of the book, he introduces his cruel crime in a cold and unbiased tone, and gives an image of a cold-blooded murderer. He often shows impetuous attitude in the story. However, in the movie, he is a black man and is about twenty years older than Andy. He seems to be a clever man with lots of experience and wisdom. His crime is not introduced.

      The story among Andy, Tommy, and Norton is expanded in different ways in the two pieces. In the book, after Andy fights with Norton to clarify his innocence, Norton deals with Tommy and sends him to a prison with better conditions to block Tommy from helping Andy prove his innocence. However, in the movie, Norton kills Tommy. The movie portrays Norton as a more evil character and Tommy as a more pitiful character.

     The theme of institutionalization and hope is more clearly shown in the movie than in the book. For example, the book does not show what happened to Brooks, the former librarian, after he was paroled, in detail. However, the movie describes his daily life briefly. He seems to be unsuccessful in adjusting to the life outside the prison. Finally, he commits suicide. Brooks shows the audiences how dangerous institutionalization can be. In addition, in the movie, Andy broadcasts the song ‘Le Nozze Di Figaro’ to the whole prison without permission, while the book does not show such scene. Music is not approachable in the prison but is abundant in the outside. Therefore, music symbolizes hope. In the scene, the movie delivered the theme of hope effectively to the audiences.

     Finally, Andy’s escape is portrayed more revengefully, therefore more delightfully in the movie than in the book. In the book, Andy’s friend prepares a false identity and invests all Andy’s assets in the false identity before he comes in the prison. Andy plans to act as the being of the false identity and withdraw all the money after the escape. However, in the movie, Andy hoards Norton’s money to a false identity to wash out his money. Then, after the escape, he snaps all the black money away. Moreover, he tells on a newspaper company about all the cruelty and corruption of Shawshank. Eventually, just before the police capture Norton, Norton commits suicide. Unlike the book, Andy has a revenge on Shawshank in the movie, so the delight is more intense. I also liked the part when Norton opens the Bible and notices the hole for the rockhammer. He reads the note, “You were right. Salvation lay within.” This scene was so cool and incisive. Considering that the book did not mention where Andy hid the rockhammer, the movie seems to have more logic and probability.

    Although there are differences between the movie and the book, the best parts and phrases are exactly the same. The movie adopted the parts that best expressed the theme of hope from the book. For example, the letter from Andy says, “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies”, both in the movie and in the book. In addition, the last phrases Red narrates in the movie are: “I hope Andy is down there. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.” The last five sentences in the book are exactly the same.The movie and the book are  both undoubtedly great pieces about hope.