The Shawshank Redemption, a movie that was released in 1994, is my wife’s all-time favorite movie -- and its way up there for me, as well. Interestingly enough, when it first came out the reviews were not good and the box office was worse. Then oddly, the video release became the top rental of the year. Due partly to my word of mouth, and perhaps partly because it was nominated for seven Academy Awards, it has remained a favorite of movie-watchers ever since.
Besides strong performances from Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and yes, even Bob Gunton as the evil warden, what makes this movie so compelling is its universal themes of hope and redemption.
Let’s look at hope first. Andy Dufresne, a successful banker, is condemned to Shawshank prison for the murder of his wife and her lover. Shawshank is a terrible place, but worse than the corrupt warden and sadistic guards, its real power is the power to dehumanize. Andy’s cynical friend, Red, describes it this way:
“Spend enough time in prison and it no longer matters why you’re there. Guilty or innocent, there comes a time when you no longer have an identity except as an inmate. You lose your autonomy, and by then, even release leaves nothing but the broken shell of a man. They send you here for life, and that’s exactly what they take.”
Now there is a description of hopelessness.
There is only one thing that can keep an inmate in Shawshank alive -- hope. But what is hope? Is it just wishful thinking, a pipe dream, a refusal to accept reality? That’s what Red thinks; he’s stopped hoping. But Andy knows better. He knows that that whatever prison and its evil intent can do to beat down the body, they can never kill the soul. Referring specifically to music (one of the ways people throughout the centuries have nourished the soul and kept hope alive) he says, “there’s something inside that they can’t get to, they can’t touch.” Yet hope for Andy is not just an internal thing that one retreats into and ignores the situation one faces. Twice, he risks terrible punishment and his favored position as the Warden’s assistant to show his friends what hope means in real terms. For example, he accepts two weeks of solitary confinement for broadcasting Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro over the prison loudspeakers. When he came out, he told his fellow inmates, “easiest time I ever did.”
What Andy realizes and where the movie excels, is showing us that real hope is not about closing your eyes to the inhumanity around us or stopping up our ears (hear no evil) and dreaming. No, real hope is about embodying in one’s life a belief that life is worth living, no matter how bleak the external circumstances -- even at the risk of one’s own safety. “Get busy living or get busy dying,” Andy tells Red. From a Christian perspective, hope means a strong and confident expectation based on the promises of God. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God tells the people of Israel in the midst of their darkest moment, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” In the Bible, hope is dynamic, active, and life-sustaining. It does not leave us drifting or rocking on the porch. It puts us in gear. That’s the kind of hope that Andy Dufresne exemplifies in Shawshank Redemption and why I think the movie connects with so many people.
Next time I will write about who and what is being redeemed in this wonderful movie. Stay tuned...
Jeff
While serving as an interim priest in a Church in Massachusetts a few years ago, the parish engaged in a year long study of how to deepen its youth ministries. We read an interesting book: Engaging The Soul of Youth Culture by Walt Mueller. In the book the author sites a series of studies comparing the changing influences on the values and behaviors of thirteen to nineteen year olds.
What stands out to me about these studies is: the decreased influence of the family unit on our teens, the rising influence of media, and the fact that the church is off the radar. Certainly it is easy to make “media” the bad guy -- especially with issues of bullying, texting and driving, addiction to games, etc. But media (i.e. internet, email, texting, Tweeting, television, iPhones, computer games) aren’t bad in and of themselves. Technology is inanimate and therefore not capable of good or evil. It is how we use the media available to us that makes a difference. Having a cell phone at the scene of a bad accident can save a life. Modern communication devices can help parents keep tabs on the whereabouts of their children.
Anyway, the influence of the media on our students is not going to go away. Therefore I vote for the proper integration of more media, especially visual media in Sunday school curricula and youth ministry. Visual learning is in! It is used extensively in our schools today; used creatively, visual media can help expose our children to the Christian worldview. This probably means moving away from boring denominational-produced programs to more “locally generated” ministries to our students (which means more work for staff!)
I really don’t know what to say about the decline of families as an influence on our children and teens. Clearly the family is meant to be the most important, first-line influence. However, I also don’t think it does any good to point fingers in a negative way. Clearly, contemporary life is more complicated than “Leave-it-to-Beaver-land.” Today, it is often the case that both parents must work outside the home; and many children today are growing up in a one-parent or divided household. Organized sports and cultural activities are much more pervasive than they used to be.
In that regard, somewhere along the line the spiritual formation and nurture of our children came to be seen as the Church’s responsibility, and thus, another activity in an already busy, if not frenetic, schedule for our youth.
A positive step for families and the church would be for the Church to equip parents to be able to “tell the story” and be able inculcate Christian faith and life into the home, starting at an early age. Here is why I think Adult Formation ministries are the key to the church of tomorrow. That can mean learning more about the Bible, or sharing a book study; it can mean parents of similar-aged children gathering together to learn from each other, supporting and praying together. The sky is the limit really in this regard. Personally, I think our adults at CCE need to take steps to make Adult Christian Formation more of a priority here. I encourage you all to come to the Fall Kickoff on
September 7 to learn about all the Christian Formation opportunities we’re offering this fall for children, youth and adults.
Norms and patterns of the 20th century are clearly changing; new paradigms need to emerge if we want our children to grow up in the Christian faith and life, and can engage that faith and life confidently and responsibly in today’s culture.
How exciting if CCE were to be on the cutting edge of strengthening the abilities of our families to be primary loci of Christian formation.
Jeff
