Intermission 2: Original Paper

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 a community can strip the individual of the desire to achieve and obtain their personal goals.

There is a fine line between conformity and non-conformity. Since conformity consists of abiding by or following a group's set of standards, we often times loose sight of what our own standards are. 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. Narrated by the character Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, an inmate at Shawshank prison, Red portrays the ways in which Andy Dufresne, another inmate in the prison, pushes against the "norm" of prison life in an attempt to preserve his personal identity.

In viewing the film we are able to witness how a community can break down it's members, striping them of their desire to do anything other than survive. Darabont depicts this from the beginning of the film in the way the guards treat the prisoners of Shawshank prison. Warden Norton, a "holier than thou" Christian, sets the tone for the prison by allowing his guards to not only berate the prisoners, but also to beat the prisoners. Surviving becomes paramount to the prisoners as they try to get by without being noticed by the guards and not speaking out of turn. Andy goes against this rule, not only approaching and speaking to the guards, but also by pulling stunts or pranks if you will, that would do the exact opposite of what the guards wish to accomplish in the jail. Andy's desire is to keep the idea of hope alive. The guards cannot afford for this to happen because by doing so they fear loosing control of the prisoners. The guards do such a good job at crushing the prisoners desires and dreams, that when Andy speaks of hope in the film Red tells him to forget about his "pipe-dream."

As a community breaks us down and stifles our desires and hopes we become not just a part of the community, but also form unhealthy attachments and dependencies upon them. As Red says "First you hate them, then you get used to them, then you get to depend on them." Which 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, and they keep communities from taking over, and keeps the individual in control of their own life. As Andy tells Warden Norton "It's my life!"