The Philosophy of the Shawshank Redemption: Hope and Stoicism

The Shawshank Redemption is frequently considered one of the best films of all times. I try to understand the philosophy underpinning the film's success by looking at its key themes while considering the philosophy of hope and stoicism. Heidegger and Kant make an appearance.

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Sources:

O'Sullivan, S. (2001), Representations of Prison in Nineties Hollywood Cinema: From Con Air to The Shawshank Redemption. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 40: 317-334. doi:10.1111/1468-2311.00212

Rizzo Parse, Rosemarie. (2007). Hope in "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption": A Human Becoming Hermeneutic Study. Nursing science quarterly. 20. 148-54. 10.1177/0894318407299567.

Lopes, L, Between Hope and Fear: The Psychology of Risk, http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/...

Bovens, Luc. "The Value of Hope." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 59, no. 3 (1999): 667-81. doi:10.2307/2653787.

Hope, Stanford, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hope/

Maura Grady Tony Magistrale, The Shawshank Experience: Tracking the History of the World’s Favorite Movie

Stoicism, Stanford, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/st...

Roger Scruton, The Aesthetics of Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1997)

Slajov Zizek, The Fragile Absolute: Or, Why Is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting For? (London: Verso, 2000)

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