Intermission 2: Revised Addition

Communities are an essential part of our existence. They provide individuals with stability and a standard or course of procedure when dealing with the established customs, attitudes, and ideas of a group. However, sometimes belonging to and conforming to a community can strip an individual of the desire to achieve, obtain, and live out their own personal goals and desires.

There is a fine line between conformity and non-conformity. Standards, rules, guidelines, and boundaries are set by a community for the protection of its members, and for the benefit of the community itself. They are not meant to restrict or control an individual, but are present to ensure the success of the community. As one of my classmates noted in our discussion board “Boundaries are normally set to either protect us from something or keep something out, like guard rails on the road.” Yet in the viewing of this film we see quite the opposite. In the film "The Shawshank Redemption," directed by Frank Darabont, we are able to view a world most of us have never, and will never see. "The Shawshank Redemption" chronicles the lives of a group of inmates and guards living and working inside of a prison. Through the narration of the character Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, an inmate at Shawshank prison, the issues of non-conformity inside of the prison are presented.

The roles of the traditional “good guys” and “bad guys” are completely switched from our traditional view of “cops and robbers.” Emily Osnes made this observation in one of her posts in our discussion board, “In my earlier post I touched on how the film depicts the guards as the bad guys and the inmates as the good guys.” Because of this switch, we find ourselves becoming emotionally attached to the inmates of Shawshank prison, making all of their acts against conforming not only bearable, but something that we cheer them on for. We no longer care what crimes have been committed or how the individuals are pushing against the boundaries set within the community. As another fellow student discovered, “it’s not so much what you do, but why you do it that’s important.”

As a community breaks us down and stifles our desires and hopes we become “prisoners” of the community we are in instead of being a viable member of that group. Also, we form unhealthy attachments and dependencies upon these controlling communities. As Red says "First you hate them, then you get used to them, then you get to depend on them." This in turn creates individuals that cannot function or survive outside of the community. We see this lived out in the film by the character Brooks, when he is released, and put into a half-way house. Brooks is so fearful of the world outside of his known community that he ends up committing suicide in order to escape. Red also tells us in the film "I don't think I could make it on the outside."

Non-conformity is not always a bad thing. Non-conformists keep the individual in tact. They keep communities from taking over, and keep the individual in control of their own life. As Andy tells Warden Norton "It's my life!"