"They can't ignore me forever." - Andy Dufresne
The Shawshank Redemption is the story of a hopeless character named Red who's relationship with Andy Dufresne leads him to change his mind and heart.
It is also the story of Andy Dufresne who struggles to come to terms with how the hell he ended up in prison.
The movie contains two thematic questions. For Red it is, "Is Red rehabilitated?" And for Andy it is, "Is Andy Guilty?" (From a writer's standpoint these thematic questions are important, while archetypes are useless.)
The main thesis characters for Red's thematic question are Brooks and Andy.
Both Brooks and Andy illustrate two ways to be set free, to be redeemed.
Red remains in the middle until he must choose a thesis at the end.
At the start of the story, Red, from an intellectual stance is rehabilitated but from an emotional stance he is not. He is institutionalized. He needs to be redeemed, i.e. set free.
The Webster dictionary defines redemption as To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum. Red needs to recover ownership of himself. To Redeem means to set free. Andy helps to redeem Red.
He must witness Andy's actions and learn what it is to Hope in order to be rehab'd emotionally. He must witness Brooks, a character who seems like he's rehabilitated(he's a kind old man), he must witness, hear about, Brooks killing himself. He must learn that a rehabilitated man must have hope in order to be truly rehabilitated.
Red has a problem. He's stuck in prison and he's lost all hope. In fact he sees hope as a dangerous thing to have. When put in front of a parole board he "says all the right things." He looks to others for his freedom, his salvation, he looks to others to tell him when to eat, sleep, and piss. He's institutionalized. He needs to be redeemed.
This is an "Observational" Story-type. One in which the main character observes another character, argues with that character and either changes for the better or remains the same and deals with those consequences.
They're story-types that share a concept in which it is as if the main character is saying to you, the audience, "Here's a story about this guy who changed my heart and mind."
Unique to this type of story is that the protagonist and antagonist "battle" it out while the main character witnesses the events.
These story-types make writers confused in terms of who is the protagonist, who is the main character, who is the hero - but don't worry about labels. Labels won't make you a stronger writer. Understanding thematic questions and how they are explored will.
Other stories like this are "The Great Gatsby" and "Au Revoir Les Enfants."
Hero's Journey archetypes don't seem to flesh themselves out as clearly in this type of story. Probably because the observational character is not actively seeking a goal.
Archetypes:
Observational Character - Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, he's Irish. But really Red is short for REDemption. Ask Steven King.
Protagonist - non-existent in this story. Now if this was a story in which Andy tries to rally the prisoners to breakout and getaway - okay.
Antagonist - non-existent in this story
Shapeshifter - Warden Norton
Mentor - Red - teaches Andy how to get things. How life in the prison works.
Attractor - Andy - teaches Red how to stand up for himself.
Sidekick - Tommy, Heywood
Trickster - Elmo Blatch
Dark Sidekicks - Three sisters, Parole board, Hadley
FUCK you. Fuck all of you!
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