The movie shawshank redemption follows the typical plot line of a mono-myth journey. In the mono-myth journey, the protagonist at some point creates a sacred marriage or bond with another character. In the movie, Andy, forms this bond with Red, a fellow inmate at the prison. When Andy first arrived he was noncommittal about the prison life. Soon, after Red helped him get a rock hammer, Andy began to accept the life he was forced into. From this moment forward, after Red and Andy formed an infallible friendship, their bond only grew stronger. The way that the two of them formed this bond was identical to the type of bond formed in an usual mono-myth journey. Not only did Andy's journey play out in unison with the mono-myth by the way he formed a bond with Red, he also has a "dragon battle." According to the mono-myth journey, Andy would have faced some sort of "battle" with another person in the prison. Well, this does happen. Andy has to deal with a group of guys known as the "sisters." Almost everyday for months Andy is brutally beaten by these men. The primordial reason for these chronic beatings was that Andy rejects a relationship with the head of the sisters. Eventually, Andy creates an alliance with the guards by filing their tax returns. With this, when the sisters attack him so badly that he is hospitalized, the guards retaliate by attacking the head sister. When Andy returns from the hospital the sisters finally begin to leave him alone. The way that Andy must face the sisters and then wins, is parallel to a dragon battle in the mono-myth journey. Not only does Andy follow the mono-myth journey, he can also be viewed as a Christ like figure. This can be said because he is constantly in agony throughout his journey. Not only does he face many physical pains from fights, he is in a state of unremitting emotional pain because he is in prison for a crime he never committed: murdering his wife. For decades, Andy is in pure agony because he was ripped away from his life even though he is innocent. Not only is he innocent, he must now live with the reputation of killing someone he truly loved. It's hard to imagine what that could feel like. Because of his pain, suffering and agony, Andy can easily be seen as a christlike figure.
This was a job well done! I completely agree with all of your arguments but couldn't you also say that Andy also relates to the Christ figure after his escape from prison when he gets through the sewage pipe? He opens his arms and physically resembles the Christ figure by his stature. Other than that I think that all of your relations were spot on!
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Nick Urbaniak
12/21/2014 01:10:48 pm
I think that you did a very good job of describing how the "Hero's Journey" applied to the movie. However, I think you need more concrete evidence for describing how Andy was elevated to a Christ figure. By quoting the characteristics of a Christ figure, you would have greatly solidified your point. But, I still understand perfectly where you're coming from.
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Theo Morris
1/9/2015 01:33:15 am
Hey Laura. You obviously put a lot of thought into your analysis of the movie. I also liked how smoothly you integrated your vocabulary. However, I think your conclusion could use some work. You did a great job in the introduction but then by the end it kind of trails off.
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Stan Urbiel
1/20/2015 10:17:28 am
Right off the bat you had a simple capitalization error, but other than that it was great. You make some interesting points that I would not have thought off and backed your claims up with some concrete reasoning. You could trim it down a little but its still good the way it is now.