Cold Feet

In the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside," a man tries to convince a woman (presumably his significant other) to spend the night at his house since it is so cold outside.  At first, the woman politely rejects.  Rather than give up, though, the man begins asking her for smaller things, such as if she would like "a half a drink more."  The woman accepts this request, and soon after, she also decides to stay for another cigarette.  All the while, the man is persistently reminding her of how cold it is outside.  At the end of the song, it is implied that the woman decides to spend the night, seeing as how they both agree that it is far too cold outside.  This is a perfect example of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon, or the "tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request."  Similarly, Andy uses this technique in The Shawshank Redemption with what he requests from Red.  He starts by asking for a rock hammer, and slowly works his way up to a large poster of Rita Hayworth.  Both examples here are prime displays of this phenomenon at work.

Foolish Fakery

"Im With Stupid" Episode

In the Spongebob Squarepants episode "I'm With Stupid," Patrick's parents come to visit him.  In order to impress Patrick's parents, Spongebob agrees to act "stupid" so that, by comparison, Patrick's parents will view Patrick as a genius.  Once his parents arrive, Patrick begins making fun of Spongebob constantly.  At the 7:00 mark, Spongebob pulls Patrick aside to ask him to stop insulting him so harshly.  Here, it is clear that Patrick has let his role of a genius affect his thoughts.  He actually views Spongebob as "stupid."  This can be compared to the life of Brooks in The Shawshank Redemption.  It is stated that Brooks was once a typical man who happened to do a few bad things that sent him to jail. Over the subsequent fifty years, though, Brooks takes on the role of a prisoner.  By the time he is released on parole, Brooks is completely incapable of mentally adjusting to "normal" life.  Both of these characters clearly show the drastic effect role-playing can have on one's thoughts and feelings.

"Lightbulb."

In 2010's Despicable Me, Gru (Steve Carell) plans to steal a superweapon from his rival super villain, Vector (Jason Segel).  However, all his attempts at stealing this weapon turn out to be massive failures. That is, until he has a moment of insight, as seen in this clip.  From here, he begins coordinating his nefarious plot.  This is quite similar to the moment of insight Andy has in The Shawshank Redemption. Both of these characters are attempting to solve a problem when they are struck by a "novel realization of the solution."  There was no warning that they were about to arrive at an answer.  Rather, both Andy and Gru were struck with solutions without even expecting it.

The Shawshank Redemption: Summary and Critique

            The Shawshank Redemption narrates the story of an innocent man’s stay and eventual escape from prison despite all obstacles in his way.  Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), is convicted of murdering his wife and her adulterous lover in the beginning scenes of the film.  Sentenced to two consecutive life terms in jail, Andy arrives at Shawshank Prison.  For weeks, Andy remains quiet, reserved, and composed, staying out of everyone’s way.  Finally, Andy breaks his silence when he talks to Red (Morgan Freeman), the man in Shawshank that could supply anyone with almost anything.  Andy asks Red to find him a rock hammer to chisel and sculpt rocks.  This is the beginning of Andy and Red’s friendship. 

As the years pass, Andy is continually beaten and sexually abused by a homosexual prison gang known as “the Sisters.”  However, Andy is able to curry favor with the guards when he uses his skills as a banker to help Hadley, one of the prison guards, evade taxes on an inheritance.  In return, Hadley offers Andy, Red, and their friends cold beers and, later on, beats up the leader of the Sisters.  Andy’s beatings finally come to an end, and his reputation increases among both the prisoners and the guards.  This draws the attention of the warden (Bob Gunton), who decides to visit Andy in his cell.  Despite there being a “sinful” poster of Rita Hayworth on Andy’s cell wall (which had been obtained with the help of Red), the warden approves of Andy.  In fact, he even allows Andy to begin working in the library with an older prisoner named Brooks (James Whitmore).  Eventually, Brooks is released from Shawshank on parole.  Unable to cope with normal life after being “institutionalized” for fifty years, Brooks commits suicide, stirring up much talk back in the prison.  Nevertheless, Andy continues his job in the library. 

Due to his assistance with Hadley, prison guards begin coming to Andy for financial advice.  Even the warden requests that Andy do his taxes!  Andy takes pride in his job by renovating the library.  Meanwhile, the warden begins putting prisoners to work on public projects.  He uses this supply of free labor to force other contractors to bribe him in order to maintain profits.  In order to avoid being caught, he uses Andy’s skills as a banker to launder the money.  One day, Andy reveals how he does this to Red.  Andy had established several bank accounts under the alias of “Randall Stephens,” where all the profits from the warden’s corrupt dealings are sent.  They both laugh at the thought that Andy “had to come to prison to be a crook.”

Soon after this, everything changes when Shawshank gets a new prisoner: Tommy (Gil Bellows).  Andy befriends Tommy and begins mentoring him at Tommy’s request so that he might receive a high school equivalency diploma.  As their friendship grows, Andy tells Tommy the story of how he was wrongfully accused of murdering his wife.  Tommy is aghast at Andy’s story.  He then tells Andy that while Tommy was in another prison, he met someone who talked about committing the very same crime.  Amazed at this, Andy goes straight to the warden, knowing that Tommy’s testimony in court would be enough to prove his innocence.  However, the warden refuses to let Andy go, which sends Andy into an outrage.  Rather, the warden sentences Andy to solitary confinement and has Tommy murdered. 

Andy is eventually released from solitary confinement, a broken man.  Dreaming of freedom, he tells Red of his dreams of living in a Mexican town on the Pacific shore.  Also, he gives Red specific instructions as to where to go if Red should ever leave Shawshank.  Andy gives up all hope of ever leaving Shawshank, or so it seems. 

The subsequent morning, Andy is missing from his cell.  When the warden comes to investigate, he discovers a massive tunnel that Andy had dug for years with his rock hammer behind the poster in his cell.  The very same morning, a man by the name of Randall Stephens withdraws all the money from his bank accounts, a total of $370,000.   It is revealed that Andy escaped Shawshank by squirming his way through his tunnel, breaking into a sewage pipe (using a lightning storm to disguise the noise), and crawling almost half of a mile through the pipe to a nearby body of water.  He uses his newfound funds to make his way to the Mexican Pacific Coast, safe from the law.

Several years later, Red finally is able to leave Shawshank on parole.  Like Brooks, he has trouble adjusting to city life.  However, instead of committing suicide, Red follows Andy’s advice, which leads him to a note that Andy wrote just for him.  In it, Andy invites Red to break his parole and come work with him in Mexico.  Red accepts the offer, and the two friends finally reunite on the shore of the Pacific, free at last.

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Psychological concepts help drive the plot of this film.  Perhaps the most prominent psychological concept found in The Shawshank Redemption is motivation, which can be defined as “a need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it toward a goal.”  As revealed at the end, Andy is constantly motivated to find a path to freedom.  Whether it be a simple rock hammer, a friend’s testimony, or a tunnel of sewage, Andy’s desire for freedom colors how he views and interacts with everything around him.  Another major psychological concept that guides the story is the mere exposure effect.  The mere exposure effect is the idea that “repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them.”  When Andy first arrives at Shawshank, Red bets that he will be the first to break down that night.  Obviously, Red thought very little of Andy at the beginning of the film.  However, as time progresses, Red begins to grow fonder of Andy.  Granted, this is also due to the circumstances they face, but none of these circumstances would have been possible had it not been for how often Andy and Red were together.  Their friendship grows so strong that the film ends by showing the mutual brotherly love they have for each other after having gone through so much.  It is very apparent that psychological concepts are behind the driving forces that propel the storyline in The Shawshank Redemption.

However, there are also several smaller psychological concepts seen in the film as well.  For instance, at the end of the film, the viewer is shown Andy’s moment of insight when he begins to think of chiseling his way through the prison wall with a rock hammer.  Insight is a “novel realization of the solution to a problem.”  While chiseling his name into the prison wall, a chunk of the wall falls to the floor in front of Andy.  This serves as his moment of insight.  Another minor concept shown is the effect role-playing has on one’s attitudes.  A great real-life example of these effects can be seen in the Stanford prison experiment.  In the film, however, Brooks shows the damaging effects being a prisoner for fifty years can do to a person.  Once released on parole, Brooks is unable to adjust to “normal” life.  Life is too fast for him; there are too many options for him to choose from.  He had become so accustomed to being a prisoner that he was unable to live any different lifestyle, thus driving him to suicide.  Also, the foot-in-the-door phenomenon is seen in Andy’s gradually increasing requests for Red.  The foot-in-the-door phenomenon is the “tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.”  If Andy had approached Red on his first day and asked him for a large poster of Rita Hayworth, it would have been far less likely for Red to oblige.  Rather, though, Andy begins by asking Red first for a rock hammer, and later specific rocks.  This coupled with the mere exposure effect mentioned earlier allow the friendship between Andy and Red to slowly and naturally develop.  There are many more psychological concepts scattered throughout the film, much too many to name here.  However, one’s understanding of these concepts allows the viewer to enjoy the movie that much more.

All in all, The Shawshank Redemption portrays these psychological concepts quite accurately.  Motivation and the mere exposure effect are very easy concepts to portray, and the film utilizes these concepts to propel the plot in a realistic fashion.  The film even goes so far as to show what Andy would be like without motivation in the scenes between Andy’s two month stay in solitary confinement and his escape.  It also uses other concepts such as insight, role-playing, and the foot-in-the-door phenomenon in a very accurate manner.  It would not be surprising to find out that extensive research was done to illustrate these in a way that would probably make David Myers smile.  All the psychological concepts mentioned here are refreshingly portrayed in a correct manner, which is unusual for a film to do.

The Shawshank Redemption is a phenomenal film about an innocent man’s stay in prison and how he is able to rise above the hopelessness around him to find a way to escape.  In addition to this, the psychological themes and concepts that are scattered throughout the film are shown in a way that stays true to modern psychological science.  However, it is done so in a way that does not detract from the film.  Rather, it makes the film that much more enjoyable for those who do understand these concepts.  This is why The Shawshank Redemption is such a masterpiece of a film.

Sources:

Myers' Psychology for AP Textbook

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/synopsis