Essay On Freedom In Shawshank Redemption

There are many movies that come to mind when you think of psychology and how it affects characters and the overall plot of the movie, however The Shawshank Redemption and the main character Andy Dufresne who was an up and coming banker captures how issues like identity, motivation, and anxiety are all curable as long as the correct steps are taken. He faces most of all how to identify his sense of self/ self-concept, and the fear of hope or false hope. In the movie Andy gets sentenced for life because he murdered his wife, but actually he was falsely accused. This had great repercussions throughout the movie as you could imagine. One other major character was a guy named Red who also was serving a life sentence; he’s the man who secretly smuggles cigarettes, posters, cards, and many other objects that can give inmates a sense of freedom from inside the prison walls.

The sense of self and self-concept was brought up because of Andy’s isolation, and the treatment he was receiving in this prison. Issues related to identity, motivation, and anxiety were portrayed in the movie spot on. The first concept of identity is at the core a problem when he was mistakenly accused of murder. Identity The psychological issues on the brain really hit hard when he found out just how hard it was to be behind walls for such a long p of time. Self-esteem is a big part of how Andy reacts in certain situations and he quickly realizes that he is not as useful as he was before he was locked up. Self-esteem is an efficient signal that tells the person when social action is needed. Helping other is always what Andy prided himself on which he knew was going to be hard to do in even the slightest since he was in prison. He took up becoming the librarian, and an educator because of his tremendous background. He was determined to do anything to fit in, and deal with everything that was going on with his mind, and how different life was going to be behind bars.

The human body has defense mechanisms that are turned out without you even realizing what is going on. Moving on the second major psychological issue is anxiety and it is depicted in this movie perfectly because both the characters I am talking about Andy, and Red both have been having issues for many years since life seems to be a bad dream you can never wake up from in prison. Anxiety in a simple form is an emotion where you have an increased tension and are always feeling worried about the same nonexistent problem, and you are always thinking about what could happen instead of doing something to combat the outcome of these thoughts. The thoughts can have physical repercussion as well, one example is higher blood pressure. One of the biggest worries for Andy Dufresne was the fact he never knew if he was going to get out but insisted on one thing, and that was he immediately needed a bible from the library and he had someone sneak in a rock hammer that he could hide in his bible.

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Throughout the duration motivation and having the courage and trying to achieve something comes out more often than not. With the bible he was supposed to be reading at night while alone, he actually was secretly was digging an escape route behind a poster and fooled the guards for just over a little twenty-eight years. Motivation is portrayed through the simple reason that he worked slowly but with confidence for twenty-eight years knowing that one night he was going to escape, the definition of motivation stems from having a specific reason that somebody acts in the manner that they do to achieve something. Motivation is the main reason why he decided to work slowly knowing that he may never get out of jail but the fact he would risk his life to escape showed what having freedom really meant to him. The brain is psychology releases dopamine, this is carried from a neurotransmitter through chemical messages that gets played in your brain and has a significant impact on the rest of your body. Dopamine is an organic chemical simplified it recognizes when a successful or good behavior is about to happen and gets releases, this is the pleasure chemical that makes everybody feel good about themselves. The biggest reason was Andy was chasing the dopamine, but he had super discipline and didn’t ever overdue anything and risk getting caught.

The final psychological issue in this movie is the fear of hope and false hope. Fear of hope is described as having the belief that something is going to be accomplished or happen. In Andy and Reds case they had to have a healthy amount of hope because of the fear that anything could happen since they reside in a prison with fear always hanging over their heads. One quote Andy told red was, “Remember Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things a no-good thing ever dies.” However, the mind can play tricks and the three types of social conformity kick in and you a lot of the time do things based off your peers, which creates false hope. Both of the characters focused in the beginning on unrealistic changes they could do in a short succession of time.

The psychological disorders in the movie The Shawshank Redemption range from, sense of self/ self- concept, identity, motivation, anxiety, and all the way to false of hope. These issues are portrayed appropriately all the way throughout the movie. The two main characters Andy and Red form such a tight bond when Andy gets to prison that they both go through the same about of issues because they care so much about the everyday life of each other. Anxiety and motivation are the two that are perfectly portrayed because you can sense the worried feeling throughout the film, this nervous energy produces his escape situation and start his urge to be free again.

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