Yao Xiao

SOC001
Professor Lookholder
27 September 2015

The DVD that I chose is the movie The Shawshank Redemption first released
in 1994. The film is about a story of Andy Dufresne, a banker, is convicted of a double
murder of his wife and her lover even though he claims his innocence. He is given two
life sentences at the Shawshank Prison in Maine where he soon found the ugliness of
prison life: a corrupted warden, a cruel head guard, and a group of inmates, the
sisters, who always sexually insult other prisoners. However, he also found his own
way to survive as a new recruit - he made friend with another prisoner, Ellis Red, who
runs contraband in the prison; he uses his banking/financial skills to help the head
prison guard get away with the tax, and also created a false identity for the warden to
launder his money. In return, he was helping the old librarian to expand the prison
library, and helping other inmates to win some dignity and respect from the staff working
in the prison. He tried to prove his innocence by filing another trial because he got new
evidence from his new cellmate but the witness was killed because they warden was
afraid that Andy is going to reveal his dirty secrets when he walks out innocent.
However, at last, Andy was able to escape from the jail with a sum of money he
laundered for the warden and turned the warden and the head guard for the crimes they
committed. He finally reunited with his old friend, Red, at a beach in Mexico.

According Comtes perspective, there are fundamental laws of society equivalent

to the laws of nature. The patterns, as known as cultural universal refers to the common
practice/belief shared by all societies. In this movie, the Shawshank Prison can be seen
as a replica of the real society in which the warden is the authority and he plays the role
of laws, the guard serves as the policing while Red, who runs contraband in the prison,
can be seen as the monopoly of distribution and economy. Also, there is also another
concept was covered in the movie - :institutionalized. In sociology, institution refers to a
place/facility in which all the members conform to the same rule/order and share the
same belief. The old librarian Brooks committed suicide after he was paroled because
he could not adapt to the outside world after years of life in the jail.

From the Functionalism paradigm, I think Durkheim may view this movie from the
the different elements of a society contribute to the whole. Durkheim contends that the
deviance is proven to be a necessary component of a successful society, which
challenges peoples present views and thats what makes the society progress. For
example, Andy, the banker in this movie, can be an example of deviance. The group of
Sisters are the criminals who always try to rape and beat other inmates whereas Andy
is not like the other inmates who conform and accept the rules of the prison. He
confronts and uses his banking skills and knowledge to help the authorities, finally reach
his goals. In the end, he changed his life. To some extent, Andy plays the role of a
deviance that helps the small society to progress since he finally turned in the corrupted
warden and murderer guard and helped the other inmates getting more benefits they
deserve.

From a Conflict Theory perspective, Marx would view the Shawshank Prison as
a small society, as well as an unequal system where the warden is the absolute
authority and laws, the head guard functions as the policing, Red monopolizes economy
and distribution while the sisters are the criminals that the authorities tolerate all the
time. These people are the bourgeois while prisoners such as Andy himself are the
representatives of the proletariat. The bourgeois possess all the vital resources in their
hands in that small society while the proletariat work hard and follow the rules that the
bourgeois made, but they receive little benefits. Andy in this movie was trying to prove
his innocence through the evidence brought by his new inmate he knew in the prison,
but the witness was killed by the warden and the guard because they are afraid they
may lose their interests and benefits if Andy walks out of the jail. The conflict between
the two rigid groups of people are very obvious, which facilitates the deviance for the
power and equality. The Conflict theory is most represented in this movie because it
explains how the crime emerges between two groups of people discussed above. And
after the conflict, a new set of rules and orders will be formed.