Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying: A Film Analysis Sample

Fear can keep you prisoner, hope can set you free. Despite the creative and leadership difference of Stephen King’s The Shawshank Redemption and Frank Darabont’s interactions of the film, these classics share the same theme. Many book adaptations generally have more similarities than differences, but The Shawshank Redemption is quite the opposite. From big events to small details, the film has slight differences that change many events. In the Shawshank Redemption, the characters and plot events are different, but they share the same theme, the theme of hope.

The Warden in the novel differ from the Warden in the film adaptation. As a matter of fact, there are three Wardens in the novel: George Dunaly, Greg Stammas and Samuel Norton. Greg Stammas forced Andy to create an accounting firm and illegally manage his business by injecting all the money from the prison into his bank account; 

“So there was a need for Andy’s services. They took him out of the laundry and installed him in the library, but if you wanted to look at it another way, they never took him out of the laundry at all. They just set him to work washing dirty money instead of dirty sheets. He funnelled it into stocks, bonds, tax-free municipals, you name it” (King 36). 

Not to mention, in the film adaptation, there is only one Warden, Warden Samuel Norton. Norton in the film is one of the main characters and affects the plot immensely, he is also the person behind the crimes and business, which later gives Andy the reason to seek vengeance on Warden Norton. After helping the guard Byron Hadley with some banking issues with him and his wife, Andy takes it to heart and help others, like the guards in the prison, and a whole baseball team, after Norton realizing the skill of Andy Dufresne, he takes advantage of the situation and uses Andy for his personal crimes and business, and would punish Andy if he refused to commit his crimes, and will be put in “The Hole”, where people are sent for misbehaving (The Shawshank Redemption). Each Warden in the novel has his own personality, which is why there’s one Warden in the film. Norton carries all three personality traits: rude, arrogant and egotistical. Not only did the director include all the personality traits into one character, he also thought it would be simpler to remember. The theme of hope is present in the novel and in the film despite the differences because they share the same motivations, freedom. In the novel, the Warden allows Andy to rebuild the library and offers to mail his letters. Yet in the film he also allows Andy to rebuild the library and also allows him to send as many letters as he wants. The Wardens allow the theme of hope to be carried, for the simple fact that he provides hope to Andy. The Wardens are different between novel and film, but these differences share the theme of hope.

The ending of plots are different for both the novel, and the film adaptation. After leaving the Shawshank prison, Red promised his friend to seek for a box that would contain something Andy wanted him to have, whilst arriving and opening the box, he then hopes to see his friend and shake his hand one more time; 

“I hope Andy is down there. 

 I hope I can make it across the border.

   I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.

   I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

 I hope.” (King 87)

In the film adaptation, when Andy escapes, he goes to Mexico, and after a while Red is set free, he decides to look for the box that Andy left for him to find, but after he finds the note and the money, he chooses to look for his friend. Red then proceed to take a bus to go on parole in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Once in Zihuatanejo, he walks on the beach to see Andy working on a boat. The two meet and live with each other as wanted criminals (The Shawshank Redemption). A lot of readers of Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption felt as if they needed a better ending to this amazing story of Andy’s life in prison, which is why the producers took advantage of this popular demand, kept it in mind, and created a version where Red does indeed find his friend. Many of the readers of the book really enjoyed as it was the most touching scene in the film. The theme of hope is present in the novel and in the film despite the differences, Andy throughout the whole book hoped to escape and live a normal life again, he also wanted his friends in the prison to also hope they could one day leave too. After many years, Red was convinced of this hope Andy would always talk about, and when he left he had always hoped to one day see him again. This event allows the theme of hope to be carried for the fact that Andy gives hope to Red. The event is different between novel and film, but these differences share the theme of hope.

The future of Tommy in the novel differs from the Tommy in the film adaptation. Tommy is a young prisoner who brings key information about the plot when he reveals that someone else probably killed Andy’s wife. After leaking this information, the Warden offers Tommy a deal with Cashman. The condition is that Tommy does not disclose any details about Andy’s case. Tommy accepts the deal and is shipped off to a much nicer, much lower-security prison in exchange for his silence.

“Tommy Williams is no longer an inmate of this facility.” 

“What?”

“He’s been transferred.”

“Transferred where?”

“Cashman.” (King 52–53)

Whilst in the film adaptation when Red told him that Andy was an outside banker and that he caught his wife with a golf professional, Tommy was stunned. Tommy later told Andy and Red that when he was at Thomaston for a car hijacking, he shared a cell with Elmo Blatch. There was a flashback and Blatch tells Tommy that he killed a golf professional and his “tasty bitch” by stealing them. He says they pinned the crime on an “influential banker”, meaning Andy. The Warden calls Tommy in the middle of the night to talk to him outside. The Warden asks him if what he said to Andy and Red was the truth. When he answers in the affirmative, the Warden gives Captain Hadley a signal to shoot Tommy from a tower. Four shots ring out and Tommy falls dead to the ground. (The Shawshank Redemption.) The readers of the novel felt as if Tommy Williams betrayed Andy, although Andy wanted Tommy to live like a normal man and have a chance to build a model plane with his child, so the producers wanted to kill off Tommy so it feels like Andy didn’t have any other way to have been felt betrayed. The theme of hope is present in the novel and in the film despite the differences. After Andy was sentenced to life in prison for something he didn’t do at all, he felt as if he didn’t fit in, but after many years, he found a spot in The Shawshank prison and made it home for a while, but after Tommy’s sentence and after him knowing he was guilty, it gave Andy hope. This event allows the theme of hope to be carried for the fact that Tommy gives hope to Andy. The event is different between novel and film, but these differences share the theme of hope.

Stephen King’s Rita Hayworth The Shawshank Redemption and the 1994 version are different in terms of plot events and character. Despite the comparisons the theme is shared through the novel and the film adaptation, the theme of hope. The Shawshank Redemption will always be a classic loved by many and will always be a top rated novel and film people enjoy.