I read Stephen King voraciously in college. I think it was perhaps because I was reading so much Chaucer and Shakespeare and that I needed, almost craved, to read something entirely different--something straightforward. Stephen King filled that hole for me. I remember being terrified as I read his works, jumping at every little sound, wondering what was on the other side of every door. I eventually grew tired of being scared and moved on, but imagine my surprise when I learned a few weeks ago that my 2nd favorite movie of all time actually began it's life as a Stephen King short story.
I could watch "The Shawshank Redemption" every day of my life and never grow tired of it. I think it is a brilliant story of courage, perseverance, intelligence, and positivity but I never had any idea, until watching through to the very end and watching the credits, that the story was a Stephen King original. I immediately searched Amazon and found Different Seasons, a collection of 4 of King's stories--3 became films--and I read "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption." (I must confess at this point that I did not read the other 3 stories. I will at some point...maybe in the bright light of the beach or by the pool. I just can't handle being scared like I could 25 years ago.)
Reading "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" made me just as happy as watching the movie, although I do think the movie was more cleverly created than the book. The basic story line is the same in both the book and in the movie: Andy Dufresne goes to prison for double murders that he did not commit. He makes the best of a terrible situation by getting on the good side of the prison administration by providing them with free financial advice and doing their taxes. He spends his prison days creating and leading the prison library and then one day he escapes in a way that will makes readers/movie watchers both cringe and feel amazingly proud all at the same time.
What I always thought was so clever about the movie was how Andy swindled the crooked prison warden. While working as the warden's accountant, Andy managed to create a second set of accounting books and, after escaping, walked away with a load of money to begin his new life--money that the warden "earned" in dishonest ways. I always felt that Andy was entitled to this money because of the years and years that he worked for these men for free--and because he didn't really murder his wife and her lover and never deserved to be in prison in the first place. (We learn in both the movie and in the book that an inmate shares the story of the real events of this murder and that he knows who the real killer is but when Andy goes to the warden to ask him for help in getting a new trial, the warden has the inmate killed. Andy stood no chance of every leaving Shawshank.) The Stephen King story differs from this a bit. Andy's friend outside of prison creates a new persona for Andy as soon as the murders took place and while Andy awaits trial in hopes of Andy being able to keep his money and being able to use it when he leaves prison. While still clever, and while certainly a springboard for the movie version of the hoax, I did not think this story line was as clever as Andy creating a new life for himself from behind prison bars. It just adds so much to both Andy's character and to our perception of him being so different than the other prisoners.
I will continue to watch "The Shawshank Redemption" whenever it is on TV and I will continue to love this story. I am sure that some of you are surprised that I could feel so strongly about a story like this one because it doesn't seem like something I'd typically like.
Maybe it would also surprise you to know that my favorite movie is "Rudy." Yes...a movie about football. SURPRISE!
Happy reading, everyone!
-Dodie
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