The Shawshank Redemption
CHARACTERISATION
I. Character:
Generally, in a conventional film, the principle character will possess these qualities:
* We identify with him or her
* They engage us.
I want to be clear here that we do not necessarily have to like the principle character, but we do have to be engaged by the character;
perhaps curiosity is enough. However, in almost every conventional film, the film tries to make the principle character likable. It
accomplishes this through any number of ways:
•The character has suffered some kind of loss, or faces some kind of loss
•The character is the victim of some kind of injustice.
•The character has done good for some other character
•The character experiences unrequited longing
•The character is in some way vulnerable
•The character is playful or funny
•The character has a clear goal and the drive to achieve that goal
•The character has clear motivation for wanting the goal and for being willing to work to achieve the goal
* They are the principle agent of action; generally, they act, or fail to act, and therefore "earn" their dilemma; they act and earn the
resolution.
* They grow in some way, which means that in some ways, they are naïve at the beginning of the film.
With this laid out, let's look at The Shawshank Redemption, and consider how the film draws us to the principle character in a
number of ways:
A. First Impressions
When we first meet Andy Dufresne, he's in distress, waiting outside the bungalow where his wife is having an affair with the golf
pro, and so our sympathies are in his favor. Notice that we don't have to know what he's upset about-just that he is upset. Shortly,
we find that he is under assault in a courtroom. We do not yet know whether he is guilty or not, but because the film first showed
him in distress, and led us to feel concern for him, we cannot shut off that feeling, and so when he's in court, we're in his corner
when he's under cross examination by the prosecuting attorney. First impression is the most important impression as a film works
to draw us to a character. Think about how other characters are introduced in the film-the first thing we know about Red, for
example, is that he's up for parole, and gets denied; we are sympathetic to him, because we are sympathetic toward characters
whom we perceive have unrequited desires. When we meet Captain Hadley, what do we first learn about him? He's no nonsense;
in the screenplay, he beats Andy on their first encounter. In the final cut, he speaks crudely and in a dismissive way toward the first
man off the bus, and then later uses his baton to punish a prisoner who asks an innocuous, if sarcastic, question. The warden: when
we first meet him, we know that he is a hard task master. We also know that he will not make life easier for the prisoners, as he
refuses to tell them all but one rule (no blasphemy). Notice, too, how in our first meeting of these four characters, we see the first
seeds of their function in the film. Andy has to come to terms with himself for being emotionally aloof, and the judge even tells him
this when he passes sentence. Also, we learn almost right away what Andy's external goal will be-to get out of prison. For Red:
eventually, he gains his release, and in our first meeting, the film already has set that arena for us. Hadley's principle role will be to
use violence to move the drama forward-to kill Fat Ass, to threaten Andy on the roof, to rid Andy of Boggs, to kill Tommy-and our
first meeting with him also rests in that arena. The warden will eventually bend the rules to his own benefit, by taking kickbacks
and bribes for his Inside Out program, and in our first meeting with him, he's telling us that he controls the rules.
B. Secondary characters help establish primary characters
It's not enough to create a primary character, like Andy or Red, and give him the traits appropriate and necessary to move forward
the drama of a film. We can make Andy resourceful, smart, caring, emotionally reserved-but it's not enough. We have to have a
measure against which to judge his level of intelligence or resourcefulness or emotional reserve. Generally, in a conventional film,
we'll find a character or several characters who stand in counterpoint to the principle character. This helps to fix the main character
more firmly within the trait in question. Think about the character of Fat Ass, for example. He actually serves three purposes:
•One, he allows us to see Hadley's brutality.
•He also serves as a benchmark against which to judge Andy's strength. If he does not break on the first night, Andy's resolve does
not seem as strong as it might if Fat Ass does not break down.
•His death provides a catalyst through which we can see Andy's compassion. Remember, on the morning on which we learn of Fat
Ass's death, Andy is the only one who asks what his real name was. Remember, Heywood tells Andy it makes no difference what
his name was.
Here, we also use Heywood's insensitivity to help fix Andy's compassion for us. Likewise, the film establishes Red's relative
goodness by contrasting him with Bogs and the Sisters. Their violence helps make Red, Heywood and the rest more acceptable to
us as engaging characters. Remember, what the film is asking us to do is to be drawn toward convicted felons, hardly he kind of
character to whom we're drawn, generally. By placing Red, Heywood, and Brooks at one end of a spectrum and putting Bogs and
the sisters at the other end, the first group of convicts becomes acceptable to us. Likewise: the film wants to establish Andy as
smart; we contrast him with Heywood, who cannot pronounce The Count of Monte Cristo or Alexandre Dumas, and who prefers
Hank Williams to Mozart. The film also contrasts Andy with Bogs: remember, it shows us Andy convincing Bogs not to assault
him sexually in the projection booth by the use of argument rather than force. The film wants to establish Andy as altruistic, we
contrast him with the warden, who wants to take for himself. Likewise, the film wants to establish Andy as emotionally reserved-it
contrasts him with the explosive anger of Hadley.
C. Films also use secondary characters to show us the hazards of the road down which the principle character must travel.
Remember in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, at the point in the cave? The villains have captured Indiana and his father, and
want Indiana to retrieve the Grail for them. Before Indiana sets out on his journey through the trials toward the Grail, we see
anonymous underlings attempting to solve those same puzzles, only to be decapitated. The same mechanism functions in most
conventional films-a lesser character's failure does two things. One, it establishes the possible costs of the hero's quest, but two, it
makes the hero's eventual triumph greater, by the same principle I mentioned above when I talked about how a protagonist's
characteristics are established by the introduction of secondary characters who stand in counterpoint to the hero. In this case, we
have seen how Fat Ass functions in much this same way-to show us how difficult it is to survive the first night in prison without
breaking down. But the character of Brooks also functions here-to show us the hazards of freedom, for Andy but more for Red.
Brooks also serves to foreshadow the end of Act II, after Andy has bee released from solitary. Depressed, he asks Heywood for six
feet of rope; the film intends that we fear Andy will kill himself, and that feeling is heightened because Brooks did hang himself.
Brook's suicide makes the possibility that Andy will kill himself seem all the more likely.
D. Conventional films also always put the principle character in the most extreme straits, and give them little resources with which
to overcome the tests they face.
In the case of Shawshank Redemption, Andy has to face formidable opposition from two fronts-from the sisters and
from official quarters. Note how both camps of opposition are similar, in that each uses violence to gain what it wants. The principle
character must overcome the opposition by standing on his own, through his or her own devices.
E. Many conventional films employ some kind of mentor for the protagonist, for several reasons.
Note here how Andy earns Red as a mentor but then, at the midpoint, moves beyond his mentor, as he must, since a hero must
complete his journey on his own. Films use mentors for several reasons. Practically, to ground the audience in what the hero must
do to achieve his goals. Practically, also, to show the hero the ropes of the world in which he finds himself. But also, films, as we
will see, rely on the use of mile markers, if you will, that allow us to measure the hero's progress toward his goal. One such mile
marker is the mentor. In the beginning, the mentor functions to show us that the hero is naïve or that the hero is unprepared for his
quest; the mentor also shows us the direction in which the hero must move. Note how tight the film is, in the way in which it uses
Red as a mentor. First of all, Red acquires things for Andy-his rock hammer, his poster, his breath of fresh air when he bribes the
guards to allow Andy and the others to work on the roof. Where is it that Andy moves beyond Red? When he is able to acquire
things on his own-in his case, when he acquires the books and assorted sundries for the library. He demonstrates that he has learned
the lesson of the master, and then he can move past the master, which he does-also when he accomplishes something similar to what
Red has done, by bringing a breath of liberation into the prison, when he plays the Mozart. Remember that Red had introduced the
concept of freedom earlier, on page 28-34, when he took every one up to the roof to work out of doors. After this midpoint, Andy
has now earned the right to tell his mentor something, to try to teach his mentor some lesson (of hope) and to give his mentor a gift,
just as his mentor has given him gifts previously. Again, notice how the film stays tight by having the gift that Andy gives to Red
be connected to the moment at which he first asserts his independence-both center on music.
F. The hero must be altruistic and must earn every advance he makes toward his goal.
It's clear that this operates in Shawshank Redemption. Andy acts out of altruism to gain beer for his co-workers, and therefore earns
both the Rita Hayworth poster and the disposal of Bogs, after he has done something to benefit Hadley. Andy earns his way out of
the laundry and into the library after he passes a test in his initial encounter with the warden. He earns the revelation of his
innocence by helping Tommy undertake getting his GED.
G. Generally, a hero will either change or face the possibility of change within the story. A character's journey generally is both
internal and external.
If you look at the two primary characters in The Shawshank Redemption, it's clear that each undergoes an internal
journey. Both Red and Andy have grown by the film's end-interestingly, both are the only prisoners (aside from Tommy) who
acknowledge their guilt. Andy acknowledges that, although he did not pull the trigger when his wife died, his lack of engagement
caused her to leave him. Red tells Andy that he is the only guilty man in all of Shawshank Prison. It's clear too that Red has changed
by the end of the film-his third parole hearing clearly reveals that (see below, on repetition). This is the pattern that most
conventional heroes follow-he or she much first undergo a necessary internal change before he or she can earn the external change.
II. Structure
Generally, conventional films fall into three acts:
* Act I: Exposition
* Act II: Development and Movement Toward the Hero's Primary Goal
* Act II: Consequences of the Hero's Decision to Act and of His/Her Achievement of Goal at the End of Act II; Resolution
In a conventional screenplay, the first act occupies roughly the first 25 percent of the film, the second act occupies the middle 50
percent of the film, and the third act occupies the final 25 percent of the film.
In the first act, we learn who the protagonist is and what he or she wants; we learn the obstacles he/she must face, and the
protagonist either makes a decision or is forced into some circumstance that will lead him/her on his/her life-changing adventure.
(Some call this the first plot point.) In most conventional films, we see the former-that is, the hero will decide X and that results in
the road down which he/she must travel. Here, clearly, Andy does not decide to go to Shawshank Prison, and yet Act II begins when
he arrives at the Prison.
In the second act, the hero moves toward his or her goal. Often the act will end with the hero having achieved his or her initial goal,
but the hero will find that either:
a. achieving the initial goal had complications he or she did not anticipate
b. his or her goal has changed and become larger, the thing he or she will puruse in Act III, and he or she will make another decision
to continue his journey
In most conventional films, the decision the hero makes at the end of the second act (the second plot point) generally echoes the
decision he or she made at the end of the first act.
In the third act, then, the hero will then cope with the consequences of what he or she achieved at the end of the second act, or will
pursue his or her greater goal.
Additionally, at about halfway in the film, another major event occurs that in some way echoes the events/decisions at the first and
second plot points. Some call this the midpoint; others call it the place of no return, because the decision the hero makes at that
point in some way changes his or relationship to the story and other key characters so that he or she has no choice-it is now
impossible to return to the previous relationship or circumstance.
In Shawshank Redemption, we can break the film down like so:
On one level, the film is about liberation, and we find this reflected at both plot points and the mid point.
In act I, we get Andy's story, Red's story, and come to understand Andy's goal and his obstacles. By the end of Act I,
roughly page 30 in the script, Andy is in a hell of a prison. He is under assault by Bogs and the sisters, and seems to have no way
out. But at the end of Act I, he gains an opportunity-to work outside, on the roof of the plate shop. There, Hadley complains about
an inheritance he gained from a dead brother, and Andy decides to offer him financial advice. This decision at first puts him into
peril (remember, whenever a hero makes a gain, he or she must face some potential cost) but then shifts the film to the next level,
sending him on a new journey. This is his first step toward achieving his freedom, and note how the film reflects this-for the first
time, for example, Andy works outside; also, the dialogue refers to this. At the midpoint, which occurs around page 60, Andy
receives the shipment of books and records from the state. Defying the warden, he plays the Mozart aria over the loudspeaker-again
reflecting the idea of freedom, but also foreshadowing the end, when he will defy the warden in a larger way. At the end of the
second act, roughly page 90, Andy escapes from Shawshank-and the third act, then, plays out the consequences of Andy's decisionthe downfall of the warden and Red's redemption.
Additionally, another feature of the structure of a conventional film is that, every fifteen pages, something significant happens-some
call these pinch points.
In Shawshank:
(Approximately)
Page 15: The encounter between Fat Ass and Hadley
Page 30: The encounter between Andy and Hadley on the roof
Page 45: The warden sends Andy to the Library
Page 60: Andy receives the books from the state, plays Mozart, defies Warden
Page 75: Tommy arrives at Shawshank
Page 90: Out of solitary, Andy begins arc toward escape; suicide concern
Page 105: Andy takes money, fall of warden
Repetition
Another structural device that films employ is repetition. This functions in a couple of ways:
1. Benchmarking
If we think about a film as a journey, both internal and external, one of the things that must occur in a plot is a clear sense of
progress on the journey. Partly, the script achieves this by what I call "benchmarking." A character will encounter the same or
similar circumstances, for example, and on each subsequent encounter, the film invites us to recall the first time the character made
the encounter. For example, in the beginning of The Patriot, we meet Mel Gibson's character as he is trying to build a rocking chair.
He fails, as the chair collapses under his weight. Later in the film, when he goes to meet Wellington, he has to wait in Wellington's
study while someone goes to fetch the British general. In the corner is a rocking chair; Gibson studies it, sits down and shrugs when
it does not break beneath him. It is a small moment, but one designed to allow us to reflect on the distance he has come since the
first time we saw him appraising a rocking chair.
In Shawshank Redemption, we see several instances of repetition-the most obvious is Red's parole hearing, which occurs three
times, at important points. The first is just before Andy is to arrive at the prison. The second is just after the midpoint, when Andy
has received the books, and played the Mozart, defying the warden. The third is just after Red has finished recounting the aftermath
of Andy's escape. Here, the repetition performs two functions:
* It allows us to measure the progress of Andy's journey
* It allows us to measure the progress of Red's journey (more on this later)
Other repetitions that serve to benchmark Andy's journey:
* Andy's arrival and departure from Shawshank are accompanied by a cleansing
* We see two holes in a wall-once when they break down the wall to expand the library, and once when the warden rips away the
poster covering Andy's escape route
* Hadley kills a prisoner twice
* The warden visits Andy's cell twice
* Andy winds up in solitary twice
* The convicts work outside twice-on the plate shop roof and as part of the works project
The Rule of the Seconds
Another way that films employ repetition is the allow us to accept action as inevitable rather than merely coincidental. The rule of
the seconds goes like this:
No element can move a film forward in a signifcant way the first time it appears in a film, but only on the second or a subsequent
appearance.
We talked a little in our first class about how important it is for us to believe in a film; you've probably heard the phrase, "willing
suspension of disbelief," that is, a film depicts a fictional world but, if we're to be caught up in it, we must accept it as real. One of
the ways that films achieve this is by carefully constructing the necessary elements of the film's universe. In a way, we can think of
a film story as a piece of construction (Gustave Flaubert described the composition of a novel as being akin to building a pyramid),
but before we can build something, we first need all the parts. We have to, in a sense, go to our dramatic Home Depot and bring
home all of the lumber, sheetrock, nails, paint, and so on. What a film does, then, is introduce an element, say to the audience, look,
this piece is part of this universe. Then, once we accept the element as belonging to the universe, when the film takes it out to use in
a significant way, we accept the action. If we try to force it, however, and we use an element to move a film forward on the first
occasion, the audience will not accept it so readily, and the film will seem to move forward more for the convenience of plot rather
than as an organic result of the combination of character and circumstance. As a corollary,
films must move from small to large, and not the other way round.
Some examples from Shawshank Redemption:
* When Andy arrives at Shawshank, Hadley beats a prisoner standing in line, after the prisoner asks, "When do we eat." Later, he
beats Fat Ass to death. Before we could accept that Hadley would beat someone to death, we must first understand that nearly
unprovoked violence is a part of this universe.
* In the second shower scene, Bogs approaches Andy, asking is anyone had gotten to him yet; on Andy's second encounter with
Bogs, Bogs and the sisters assault and rape Andy. (The film has even carefully employed the rule of the seconds in regards to
showers-first we see that public showers are a part of this universe, and then something significant can happen in a public shower.
* We see reporters several times in the film. First, when the warden introduces his "inside-out" program, next after Andy escapes,
and then after Andy reveals the corruption and violence to the newspaper after his escape
III. Emotion in a Film
One of the most important things a film seeks to do is to manipulate our emotional response. Partly, they accomplish this by giving
us an engaging character and then making that character suffer, but films also accomplish this through structure, mostly through the
contrast of highs and lows. One way to think about this is to imagine a film being built backwards from the ending; a scriptwriter
could ask, "How do I want to leave my audience?" If he/she wants to leave his/her audience feeling triumphant, then the triumph
must be preceded immediately by some kind of defeat, and that defeat must be preceded immediately by some kind of victory.
Obviously, since films build toward the end, the final defeat/triumph must be the lowest low and the highest high. So let's look at
some of these pairs in Shawshank:
Low: Andy is beaten and raped by Bogs and the sisters.
High: Andy gets to go out on the roof with Red and the gang
Here, the film wants us to share Andy's sense of relief at being outside, but in order for that to happen, we must first
have a sense of the claustrophobia of being inside.
Low: Brooks commits suicide
High: Andy gets books for the library
Here, the film wants us to celebrate what really is a small achievement-that the prison library got books; by contrasting it
with the death of Brooks, the film does succeed at making it seem like a triumph.
Low: Tommy thinks he failed his GED test
High: Tommy reveals truth about Blatch
Low: Andy ends up in solitary
High: Tommy earns his GED
Lower: Tommy is killed
Lowest: Andy may commit suicide
Highest: Andy escapes from Shawshank.
Shawshank Redemption Outline
(numbers in parentheses indicate page numbers in script)
The trial, intercut with scenes at the bungalow (1-6)
Dramatic goal: To introduce us to Andy, to engage us in his story to set up major thread of suspense: will he be
convicted, did he kill his wife
Character goal: Andy-to avoid being convicted; prosecutor-to convict Andy
Red's first parole hearing: (7)
Dramatic goal: to introduce us to Red; suspense: will he be paroled
Character goal: parole
Andy Dufresne arrives at Shawshank: (8-13)
the bet
Cleansing
Dramatic goal: to introduce us to other characters, to show us the hardness of the warden and the violence of Captain
Hadley; suspense: what are they betting on? How will the bet turn out?
Character goal: to win the bet, to survive the first night
The first night, fishing: (13-16)
Fat Ass gets beaten by Hadley
Dramatic goal: How will Andy fare? To begin the connection between Andy and Red. Suspense: Who will break first? How will
Capt. Hadley respond? Will Fat Ass be quiet
Character goals: To survive the night; to win the bet
Breakfast the next day: (16-18)
What's his name
Brooks asks for insect, feeds Jake
Dramatic goal: To increase connection between Andy and the gang, esp. Red; to begin to show Andy as being set apart from the
rest. Suspense: what happened to Fat Ass? What will Brooks do with the insect?
Character goals: To collect on the bet, to feed the bird, to avoid being humiliated too much
Getting into the system: (18-19)
Bogs in the shower (19)
Dramatic goal: To connect Andy with Bogs for the first time; suspense: what will happen with Bogs and Andy
Character goal: Bogs comes on to Andy, Andy wants to avoid him
Andy gets acquainted with Red, asks for rock hammer, acquires hammer (19-25)
Warned about Bogs, dialogue about innocence of everyone, prison break suggested, hammer delivered
Dramatic goal: to advance relationship between Andy and Red; to begin thread of prison break; to lay out who Bogs is, foreshadow
his attacks
Character goal: Andy wants a rock hammer
Encounter with Bogs&Co. in laundry, and subseuqent encounters (26-28)
Dramatic goal: Make the character go through hell, as it's only by taking a character through hell that a character can
change; suspense: how will the encounter come out
Character goal: Andy wants to avoid the assault
Roofing job (28-34)
Andy's encounter with Hadley over the money, the beers, first liberation (31-3)
Dramatic goal: move Andy from victim to agent of his redemption; being Andy and the other "good "good" prisoners together; to
provide a dramatic up after a down; suspense: What is the solution the Hadley's problem; will Hadley throw Andy off the roof
END ACT I
Andy asks for rocks for his chess set (34-5)
At the movies, asks for Rita Hayworth (36-7)
Encounter with Bogs in projection room (37-38)
Bogs in solitary and then beaten on his return (38-41)
Andy's reward--rocks; horse apple--and Rita Hayworth (41-42)
Tossing the cells; first encounter with warden (42-45)
In warden's office; offer of better job (45) (pinch point)
In the library with Brooks; guard and trust fund (45-7)
Andy decides to work for better library; does guard's taxes (47-51)
Brooks' outrage at discharge; his discharge and suicide (51-58)
{Jake's death and burial 58-60}
Andy gets books for the library, plays Mozart (second liberation) (60-64) (pinch point)
Red's second parole hearing; Andy gives him harmonica (65-66)
More money from the state and the library builds (66-68)
Outside program, beginning of graft and Andy's bookwork for him (68-74)
Reveals fictional recipient of the funds
Tommy arrives and joins the prison gang, studies for GED (75-80)
Tommy reveals the story of Elmo Blatch (81-82)
Andy tries to convince Warden to allow him to seek a new trial, warden kills Tommy (83-8)
Andy and Red converse about Tommy and hope and the outside (88-91)
Cons concern for Andy as a possible suicide, Andy at warden's office (91-94)
END ACT II
The next morning: Andy's gone (94-97)
Discovery of escape (97-99)
Revelation of how he escaped (99-106)
Repurcussions of Andy's sending evidence to newspaper (106-108)
After Warden's demise; postcard; regaling newbies with stories about Andy (108-9)
{Red's dream 109-111}
Red's third parole hearing (111-112)
Red on the outside, repeating Brooks' experience (112-116)
Red goes to the meadow at Buxton (116-18)
{Red plays harmonica with street musicians 118-9}
Red leaves, goes to Mexico (119-121)
Write for the Medium You are Writing For
One final bit of discussion about Shawshank Redemption:
The film was adapted from a novella by Steven King, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption." As we often see when
someone adapts a piece of literature for the screen, there are a number of differences-some slight, but some rather significant. By
considering those differences, we might gain some additional insight into what might make for an effective film script.
I won't discuss every difference, but I do want to look at a few of the major ones and just one or two of the minor ones.
1. Novella: Several wardens come through Shawshank Prison during Andy's time there. Several of them are involved in various
illegal scams.
Film: One warden rules during Andy's entire stay at Shawshank.
Conclusion: Films work best when they're more tightly focused. You've read perhaps in some books on effective writing: Don't use
several words where one will accomplish the task. In scriptwriting, don't use several characters where one will accomplish the same
thing. Sure, it's more believable that over several decades a prison will see several wardens, but if we use several instead of one we
diffuse the focus. When you're writing films, remember that your audience's emotional response needs to be your primary concern;
you want to tell your story in a way that gives it the greatest emotional impact. By collapsing those several wardens from the
novella into one, Norton, we give the audience a clearer target for our anger, for our sense of injustice. A single evil villain is better
than several.
2. Novella: Bogs is one of the sisters, but is not singled out.
Film: Bogs is the primary villain in that thread of the story.
Conclusion: See note above regarding the value of a single villain.
3. Novella: Bogs gets beaten and never bothers Andy again-the novella makes the suggestion that Andy bribed the guards to beat up
Bogs.
Film: Bogs gets beaten by Hadley, but the suggestion is that Hadley's repaying Andy for straightening out his financial dilemma
from his inheritance. Bogs gets sent away for good.
Conclusion: In a conventional film, which centers on its emotional impact on the audience, it works best if characters are flatter,
more uni-dimensional-that heroes are heroic and villains are villainous. If Andy bribes Hadley to beat up Bogs, he is implicated in
the event, he becomes, in a way, like Bogs. That he earns this by his act of largesse and doesn't ask for it allows us to consider him
as innocent. Also, King can just dismiss Bogs in a line-he never bothered Andy again-but in a film, when we can see everything the
camera shows us, if Bogs is still around, and that thread is not snipped off, once and for all, it leaves a lingering question: what
about Bogs.
4. Novella: Tommy takes a transfer to a minimum security prison in exchange for his silence about Blatch.
Film: The warden has Tommy killed to keep him silent.
Conclusion: A couple of points here: one, see my note about uni-dimensional characters above. Two, films work best when they
give us wide emotional swings-the greater the better. Three, at crucial points-as I have said-when we need a character to take a
clear and definite action that is a reversal of direction or which results in a significant change of their circumstance, it works most
effectively if the character seems to act in response to audience desire and not just out of their own desire. Desire lies internally and
in a film you must find a way to make the internal external. Killing Tommy makes us want the warden to get his just desserts and
also pushes Andy to the point at which he must act. In the novella, some years pass between Tommy's departure and Andy's escape.
5. Novella: Andy just escapes when he's able to.
Film: The film first suggests that Andy may kill himself and then Andy escapes-almost immediately after Tommy's death.
Conclusion: See my notes about emotional involvement in a film and how screenwriters achieve this partly by juxtaposing highs
with lows. It is far more a triumphant moment if Andy escapes if we think he's dead, after the earlier downer of Tommy's death,
than if he just leaves. As I say, the greatest emotional swings in a film must come nearest the climax.
6. Novella: Brooks is a minor character, dealt with in a few paragraphs, who ends up getting paroled after a long sentence and then
goes off into the world to die destitute.
Film: Brooks is a central figure who commits suicide after his parole.
Conclusion: Again, think emotional impact, emotional impact, emotional impact. The film-for a number of reasons that we have
already discussed-wants to make Brook's departure as dramatic as possible. It wants to use his suicide to set up the possibility of
Andy's and later Red's killing themselves. Also, it helps if the audience knows something about a character who comes to some
tragic end, if the audience feels some sort of attachment-that increases the emotional impact of that tragic event.
7. Novella: Andy comes up for parole several times but is denied.
Film: Andy never comes up for parole.
Conclusion: Again, films work best with extremes. If we have the prospect that Andy may be paroled, his incarceration does not
seem as extreme. In the film we never have any indication that he could be released and so he seems all the more shut up.
//www.webster.edu/~schustjm/shawsh.htm