Needless to say, Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption screenplay is a masterpiece. Many lessons can be drawn from it, and one of them is the art of repetition. Darabont teaches us how repetition can be used to show a character’s evolution, a change in societal norms, the passing of time, as well as mislead the viewer regarding outcomes.
A Character’s Evolution
Changing and growing is part of the human condition. Time and experience have a tendency to cause transformations. An interesting way to show that shift is through the use of repetition.
In The Shawshank Redemption, Red had served twenty years of a life sentence in prison when he faced a hearing to decide on his possible release. His request is denied however. Ten years later, the character faces the same situation again. The scene is almost identical to the first one. Same situation, same attitude and answer, same outcome. The third and last time this scene is repeated, it is different. Same situation, but different attitude and outcome. Red is finally released from jail.
We can say that Red has changed. He has evolved. His answer to the parole board is a sharp contrast to the one given at the first two hearings. It is definitely more honest. He does not just say what he thinks they want to hear. By repeating this scene three times we can witness this evolution. Repetition here has served the purpose of demonstrating Red’s growth.
Scene I
AN IRON-BARRED DOOR
slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room waits beyond. CAMERA PUSHES through. SEVEN HUMORLESS MEN sit side by side at a long table. An empty chair faces them. We are now in:
INT — SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM — DAY (1947)
RED enters, removes his cap and waits by the chair.
MAN #1
Sit.
Red sits, tries not to slouch. The chair is uncomfortable.
MAN #2
We see by your file you’ve served twenty years of a life sentence.
MAN #3
You feel you’ve been rehabilitated?
RED
Yes, sir. Absolutely. I’ve learned my lesson. I can honestly say I’m a changed man. I’m no longer a danger to society. That’s the God’s honest truth. No doubt about it.
The men just stare at him. One stifles a yawn.
CLOSEUP — PAROLE FORM
A big rubber stamp slams down: “REJECTED” in red ink.
Scene II
AN IRON-BARRED DOOR
slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room beyond. CAMERA PUSHES through. SEVEN HUMORLESS MEN sit at a long table. An empty chair faces them. We are again in:
INT — SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM — DAY (1957)
Red enters, ten years older than when we first saw him at a parole hearing. He removes his cap and sits.
MAN #l It says here you’ve served thirty years of a life sentence.
MAN #2
You feel you’ve been rehabilitated?
RED
Yes sir, without a doubt. I can say I’m a changed man. No danger to society, that’s the God’s honest truth. Absolutely rehabilitated.
CLOSEUP — PAROLE FORM
A big rubber stamp slams down: “REJECTED.”
Scene III
AN IRON-BARRED DOOR
slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room beyond. CAMERA PUSHES through. SIX MEN AND ONE WOMAN sit at a long table. An empty chair faces them. We are again in:
INT — SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM — DAY (1967)
Red enters, sits. 20 years older than when we first saw him.
MAN #1
Your file says you’ve served forty years of a life sentence. You feel you’ve been rehabilitated?
Red doesn’t answer. Just stares off. Seconds tick by. The parole board exchanges glances. Somebody clears his throat.
MAN #1 (CONT’D)
Shall I repeat the question?
RED
I heard you. Rehabilitated. Let’s see now. You know, come to think of it, I have no idea what that means.
MAN #2
Well, it means you’re ready to rejoin society as a–
RED
I know what you think it means. Me, I think it’s a made-up word, a politician’s word. A word so young fellas like you can wear a suit and tie and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?
MAN #2
Well…are you?
RED
Not a day goes by I don’t feel regret, and not because I’m in here or because you think I should. I look back on myself the way I was…stupid kid who did that terrible crime…wish I could talk sense to him. Tell him how things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone, this old man is all that’s left, and I have to live with that.
(beat)
Rehabilitated? That’s a bullshit word, so you just go on ahead and stamp that form there, sonny, and stop wasting my damn time. Truth is, I don’t give a shit.
The parole board just stares. Red sits drumming his fingers.
CLOSEUP — PAROLE FORM
A big rubber stamp SLAMS down — and lifts away to reveal the word “APPROVED” in red ink.
A Change in Societal Norms
Repetition in these hearing scenes also shows a change in societal norms. In the first two scenes, the parole board is composed of all men. However, in the third one, we can see that a woman has now joined the parole board. At this point, we are in 1967. A stark difference with the previous hearings. We can therefore say that not only the repetition of the hearing scene has allowed us to witness the character’s growth, but it also revealed a change in societal norms.
Scene I
AN IRON-BARRED DOOR
slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room waits beyond. CAMERA PUSHES through. SEVEN HUMORLESS MEN sit side by side at a long table. An empty chair faces them. We are now in:
INT — SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM — DAY (1947)
Scene II
AN IRON-BARRED DOOR
slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room beyond. CAMERA PUSHES through. SEVEN HUMORLESS MEN sit at a long table. An empty chair faces them. We are again in:
INT — SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM — DAY (1957)
Scene III
AN IRON-BARRED DOOR
slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room beyond. CAMERA PUSHES through. SIX MEN AND ONE WOMAN sit at a long table. An empty chair faces them. We are again in:
INT — SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM — DAY (1967)
The Passing of Time
The famous pin-up posters serve various purposes in this story, and it’s an important element in Andy’s escape from prison. However, in the context of this post we take a look at the use of repetition to show the passing of time. Darabont skillfully used these posters to show this in a powerful manner. As the women featured in these posters were the “it” girls of specific eras, we can easily identify a timeframe for that moment in the story. It all started with Rita Hayword in 1949 which stayed on Andy’s wall for almost ten years before being replaced by Marilyn Monroe in 1957. By the time of Andy’s escape, it was Racquel Welch. What a brilliant way to show the years gone by!
Rita Hayworth
EXT — EXERCISE YARD — SHAWSHANK PRISON — DUSK (1947)
[…]
RED emerges into fading daylight, slouches low-key through the activity, worn cap on his head, exchanging hellos and doing minor business. He’s an important man here.
[…]
RED (V.O.)
So when Andy Dufresne came to me in 1949 and asked me to smuggle Rita Hayworth into the prison for him, I told him no problem. And it wasn’t.
[…]
INT — PRISON AUDITORIUM — NIGHT (1949)
…while a CONVICT AUDIENCE hoots and catcalls, talking back to the screen. We find Red slouched in a folding chair, watching the movie. Andy enters, backlit by the flickering glare of the projector, and takes a seat next to him.
[…]
ANDY
Rita Hayworth. Can you get her?
[…]
INT — ANDY’S CELL — NIGHT (1949)
Andy finds the cardboard tube lying on his bunk.
GUARD (O.S.)
Lights out!
The lights go off. Andy opens the tube and pulls out a large rolled poster. He lets it uncurl to the floor. A small scrap of paper flutters out, landing at his feet. The poster is the famous Rita Hayworth pin-up — one hand behind her head, eyes half closed, sulky lips parted. Andy picks up the scrap of paper. It reads: “No charge. Welcome back.” Alone in the dark, Andy smiles.
INT — CELLBLOCK FIVE — MORNING (1949)
The BUZZER SOUNDS, the cells SLAM OPEN. Cons step from their cells. Andy catches Red’s eye, nods his thanks. As the men shuffle down to breakfast, Red glances into Andy’s cell —
RED’S POV — DOLLYING PAST
— and sees Rita in her new place of honor on Andy’s wall. Sunlight casts a harsh barred shadow across her lovely face.
INT — ANDY’S CELL — NIGHT (1953)
Dark. Andy’s in his bunk, polishing a four-inch length of quartz. It’s a beautifully-crafted chess piece in the shape of a horse’s head, poise and nobility captured in gleaming stone.
He puts the knight on a chess board by his bed, adding it to four pieces already there: a king, a queen, and two bishops. He turns to Rita. Moonlight casts bars across her face.
INT — ANDY’S CELL — DAWN (1954)
ANGLE ON RITA POSTER. Sexy as ever. The rising sun sends fingers of rosy light creeping across her face.
Marilyn Monroe
INT — ANDY’S CELL — LATER (1957)
Marilyn Monroe’s face fills the screen. SLOW PULL BACK reveals the new poster: the famous shot from “The Seven Year Itch,” on the subway grate with skirt billowing up. Andy sits gazing at her as lights-out commences…
INT — 2ND TIER — NIGHT (1962)
A GUARD strolls the tier, shining his flashlight into the cells. He pauses at Andy’s bars, playing the beam over the sleeping form huddled under the blankets.
REVERSE ANGLE (FROM INSIDE ANDY’S CELL)
We see what the guard doesn’t: instead of Andy’s head under the blanket, it’s a wadded-up pillow. The flashlight plays across the cell, pinning Marilyn Monroe in a circle of light.
Racquel Welch
INT — ANDY’S CELL — NIGHT (1966)
TIGHT ANGLE on chessboard. Most of the pieces complete. PAN TO Andy lying in his bunk, carefully polishing…
[…]
…STILL PANNING, past a chair, a sweater on a hook…and finally to the place of honor on the wall…
RED (V.O.)
In prison, a man’ll do most anything to keep his mind occupied.
…where the latest poster turns out to be Racquel Welch ins fur bikini. Gorgeous. “One Million Years, B. C. ” SLOW PUSH IN,
RED (V.O.)
By 1966…right about the time Tommy was getting ready to take his exams…it was lovely Racquel.
Misleading Outcomes
The Shawshank Redemption presents repetition as a tool to mislead the reader/viewer into a specific outcome. Indeed, Brooks and Red are both released from prison at different times in the story. Brooks was the first one to go through the experience. After many years behind bars, it was difficult for him to fully rejoin society. In the end, he decides to end his life.
When it’s Red’s time to be released, we almost see Brooks’ experience all over again. They both end up at the Brewster Hotel, work at the same Foodway Market, experience the same anxiety in front of how dramatically the world has changed, and both realize that they cannot make it in the outside world. As Red experiences what Brooks went through and as he explains how he doesn’t want to live in fear anymore, we think that he may commit the same act as Brooks and end it all. However, even though the situation is quite similar, the outcome is completely different as Red decides to keep a promise he made to Andy. Repetition here has successfully misled us into thinking of a specific outcome.
Brooks
EXT — SHAWSHANK PRISON — MAIN GATE — DAY (1954)
TWO SHORT SIREN BLASTS herald the opening of the gate. It swings hugely open, revealing Brooks standing in his cheap suit, carrying a cheap bag, wearing a cheap hat.
Brooks walks out, tears streaming down his face. He looks back. Red, Andy, and others stand at the inner fence, seeing him off. The massive gate closes, wiping them from view.
INT — BUS — DAY (1954)
Brooks is riding the bus, clutching the seat before him, gripped by terror of speed and motion.
BROOKS (V.O.)
Dear Fellas. I can’t believe how fast things move on the outside.
EXT — STREET — PORTLAND, MAINE — DAY (1954)
Brooks looks like a kid trying to cross the street without his parents. People and traffic a blur.
BROOKS (V.O.)
I saw an automobile once when I was young. Now they’re everywhere.
EXT — BREWSTER HOTEL — DAY (1954)
Brooks comes trudging up the sidewalk. He glances up as a prop-driven airliner streaks in low overhead.
BROOKS (V.O.)
The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.
He arrives at the Brewster. It ain’t much to look at.
INT — BREWSTER HOTEL — DAY (1954)
A WOMAN leads Brooks up the stairs toward the top floor. He has trouble climbing so many stairs.
WOMAN
No music in your room after eight p.m. No guests after nine. No cooking except on the hotplate…
BROOKS (V.O.)
People even talk faster. And louder.
INT — BROOKS’ ROOM — DAY (1954)
Brooks enters. The room is small, old, dingy. Heavy wooden beams cross the ceiling. An arched window affords a view of Congress Street. Traffic noise drifts in. Brooks sets his bag down. He doesn’t quite know what to do. He just stands there, like a man waiting for a bus.
BROOKS (V.O.)
The parole board got me into this halfway house called the Brewster, and a job bagging groceries at the Foodway…
INT — FOODWAY MARKET — DAY (1954)
Loud. Jangling with PEOPLE and NOISE. Brooks is bagging groceries. Registers are humming, kids are shrieking.
WOMAN
Make sure he double-bags. Last time your man didn’t double-bag and the bottom near came out.
MANAGER
You double-bag like the lady says, understand?
BROOKS
Yes sir, double-bag, surely will.
BROOKS (V.O.)
It’s hard work. I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I don’t think the store manager likes me very much.
EXT — PARK — DAY (1954)
Brooks sits alone on a bench, feeding pigeons.
BROOKS (V.O.)
Sometimes after work I go to the park and feed the birds. I keep thinking Jake might show up and say hello, but he never does. I hope wherever he is, he’s doing okay and making new friends.
INT — BROOKS’ ROOM — NIGHT (1954)
Dark. Traffic outside. Brooks wakes up. Disoriented. Afraid. Somewhere in the night, a LOUD ARGUMENT is taking place.
BROOKS (V.O.)
I have trouble sleeping at night. The bed is too big. I have bad dreams, like I’m falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am.
INT — FOODWAY — DAY (1954)
BROOKS (V.O.)
Maybe I should get me a gun and rob the Foodway, so they’d send me home. I could shoot the manager while I was at it, sort of like a bonus.
INT — BROOKS’ ROOM — DAY (1954)
Brooks is packing his worldly possessions into the carry bag. Undershirts, socks, etc.
BROOKS (V.O.)
But I guess I’m too old for that sort of nonsense anymore.
INT — BROOKS’ ROOM — SHORTLY LATER (1954)
Brooks is dressed in his suit. He finishes knotting his tie, puts his hat on his head. The letter lies on the desk, stamped and ready for mailing. His bag is by the door.
BROOKS (V.O.)
I don’t like it here. I’m tired of being afraid all the time. I’ve decided not to stay.
He takes one last look around. Only one thing left to do. He steps to a wooden chair in the center of the room, pulls out a pocketknife, and glances up at the ceiling beam.
He steps up onto the chair. It wobbles queasily. Now facing the beam, he carves a message into the wood: “Brooks Hatlen was here.” He smiles with a sort of inner peace.
BROOKS (V.O.)
I doubt they’ll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me.
TIGHT ON CHAIR
His weight shifts on the wobbly chair — and it goes out from under him. His feet remain where they are, kicking feebly in mid-air. His hat falls to the floor.
ANGLE WIDENS. Brooks has hanged himself. He swings gently, facing the open window. Traffic noise floats up from below.
Red
EXT — SHAWSHANK PRISON — DAY
TWO SHORT SIREN BLASTS herald the opening of the main gate. It swings hugely open, revealing Red standing in his cheap suit, carrying a cheap bag, wearing a cheap hat. He walks out, still looking stunned.
INT — BUS — DAY
Red rides the bus, clutching the seat before him, gripped by terror of speed and motion.
EXT — BREWSTER HOTEL — LATE AFTERNOON
Red arrives at the Brewster, three stories high and even less to look at than it used to be.
INT — BREWSTER — LATE DAY
A BLACK WOMAN leads Red up the stairs toward the top floor.
INT — RED’S ROOM — LATE DAY
Small, old, dingy. An arched window with a view of Congress Street. Traffic noise floats up. Red enters and pauses, staring up at the ceiling beam. Carved into the wood are the words: “Brooks Hatlen was here.”
INT — FOODWAY MARKET — DAY
Loud. Jangling with PEOPLE and NOISE. We find Red bagging groceries. Registers are humming, kids are shrieking. Red calls to the STORE MANAGER:
RED
Sir? Restroom break sir?
MANAGER
(motions him over)
You don’t need to ask me every time you go take a piss. Just go. Understand?
INT — EMPLOYEE RESTROOM — DAY
Red steps to the urinal, stares at himself in the wall mirror.
RED (V.O.)
Thirty years I’ve been asking permission to piss. I can’t squeeze a drop without say-so.
A strange east Indian guitar-whine begins. The Beatles. George Harrison’s “Within You Without You…”
EXT — STREET — DAY
…which carries through as Red walks. People and traffic. He keeps looking at the women. An alien species.
RED (V.O.)
Women, too, that’s the other thing. I forgot they were half the human race. There’s women everywhere, every shape and size. I find myself semi-hard most of the time, cursing myself for a dirty old man.
TWO YOUNG WOMEN stroll by in cut-offs and t-shirts.
RED (V.O.)
Not a brassiere to be seen, nipples poking out at the world. Jeezus, pleeze-us. Back in my day, a woman out in public like that would have been arrested and given a sanity hearing.
EXT — PARK — DUSK
Red finds the park filled with HIPPIES. Hanging out. Happening. Here’s the source of the music: a radio. A HIPPIE GIRL gyrates to the Beatles, stoned, in her own world.
RED (V.O.)
They’re calling this the Summer of Love. Summer of Loonies, you ask me.
INT — PAROLE OFFICE — DAY
Red sits across from his PAROLE OFFICER. The P.O. is filling out his report.
P.O.
You staying out of the bars, Red?
RED
Yes sir. That I am.
P.O.
How you doing otherwise? Adjusting okay?
RED
Things got different out here.
P.O.
Tell me about it. Young punks protesting the war. You imagine? Even my own kid. Oughtta bust his fuckin’ skull.
RED
Guess the world moved on.
INT — FOODWAY — DAY
Bagging groceries. CHILDREN underfoot. One points a toy gun at Red, pumping the trigger. Red focuses on the gun, listening to it CLICKETY-CLACK. Sparky wheel grinding.
The kids get swept off by MOM. Red starts bagging the next customer. SLOW PUSH IN on Red. Surrounded by MOTION and NOISE. Feeling like the eye of a hurricane. People everywhere, whipping around him like a gale. Strange. Loud. Dizzying. It gets distorted and weird, slow and thick, pressing in on him from all sides. The noise level intensifies. The hollering of children deepens and distends into LOW EERIE HOWLS.
He’s in the grip of a major anxiety attack. Tries to shake himself out of it. Can’t. Fumbles the final items into the bag. Walks away. Trying not to panic. Trying not to run.
He makes his way through the store. Blinking sweat. He bumps into a lady’s cart, mumbles an apology, keeps going. Breaks into a trot.
Down the aisle, cut to the left, through the door into the back rooms, faster and faster, running now, slamming through a door marked “Employees Only” into —
INT — EMPLOYEE RESTROOM — DAY
— where he slams the door and leans heavily against it, shutting everything out, breathing heavily. Alone now.
He goes to the sink, splashes his face, tries to calm down. He can still hear them out there. They won’t go away. He glances around the restroom. Small. Not small enough.
He enters a stall. Locks the door. Puts the toilet lid down and sits on the john. Better. He can actually reach out and touch the walls now. They’re close. Safe. Almost small enough. He draws his feet up so he can’t be seen if somebody walks in.
He’ll just sit here for a while. Until he calms down.
EXT — STREET — DUSK
Red is walking home.
RED (V.O.)
There is a harsh truth to face. No way I’m gonna make it on the outside.
He pauses at a pawnshop window. An array of handguns.
RED (V.O.)
All I do anymore is think of ways to break my parole.
The SHOPKEEPER appears at the glass, locking the door and flipping the sign: CLOSED.
INT — RED’S ROOM — NIGHT
Red lies smoking in bed. Unable to sleep.
RED (V.O.)
Terrible thing, to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. All I want is to be back where things make sense. Where I won’t have to be afraid all the time.
He glances up at the ceiling beam. “Brooks Hatlen was here.”
RED (V.O.)
Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy.
Afterword
Repetition. Such a simple tool, but how powerful. Frank Darabont undoubtedly mastered the art of repetition in The Shawshank Redemption. Although in this post we explored its use to show a character’s evolution, a change in societal norms, the passing of time, as well as to mislead the viewer regarding outcomes, it is by no means an exhaustive list. Repetition can be used in a myriad of contexts.