The Shawshank Redemption has been the number one film on IMDB since 2008. It has long been my favorite film, too. However, for as much as I truly love it, I didn’t realize how great the film was and on so many levels until I began to teach the class The Shawshank Hero’s Journey.
It falls under the category of Cinema Therapy (CT). In brief, we use CT to help participants engage with a film in a way that helps them open up to and explore their own stories. In other words, what is the film showing me that can reflect pieces of my own life? Roger Ebert famously said that movies are like a machine that generates empathy. We can understand both others and ourselves if we allow ourselves to be affected in such a way.
The Shawshank Redemption is a great film for this work, which is why it was the first film in our full time Cinema Therapy offerings and has been the most popular course we’ve run. You are welcome to find out more about the program, including when our next class will be by visiting our website.
Andy’s heroism lies in a few specific domains that are very relatable and make him very easy to cheer for:
He’s wonderfully human from the start - by that, I mean flawed. Drunk and angry - on the verge of murdering his adulterous wife. The stakes are piqued. He’s also smart and cool in how he handles it - displaying an unnerving cool that suggests there’s more to what he’s letting on, maybe even more than he knows.
Despite his icy demeanor, he shows us the pain of his conviction. The way he moves through this terrifying new concrete world, where everything is stripped away, shows us who he is, long before he allows any of us in. It is his mystery, and the fact that we get to know him through the brilliant Red, that drives us forward.
When he finally opens up, approaching Red in the yard, we see a peaceful, earnest man who wishes to go about his life without harming anyone else. As Red tells him, that may not be possible. Even with that information, Red notes that Andy has a quiet way about him "like a man in a park without a care or a worry in the world, like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place.” While this coat won’t spare him the indignities of rape, beatings and even two months of solitary confinement, Red is right on the highest level. Despite all of the incredible pain and loss, Andy never loses hope. And it is in that incredible characteristic that we understand his lasting value.
I hope you’ll join us for our next Cinema Therapy class so you can see what Andy and The Shawshank Hero’s Journey have for you. Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Robert Cochrane, PhD
This Cinema Therapy program was developed and tested in an Interdisciplinary Health Sciences program. It is open to everyone.
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