KnockBack, Episode 236 | The Shawshank Redemption (Video) (Patreon)

The Shawshank Redemption | KnockBack, Episode 236

1994's The Shawshank Redemption is based upon a work by Stephen King, but unlike most of King's best-known work, Shawshank isn't horror-themed. At least, not in the literal sense. Instead, the movie deals with humanity, forcing viewers to see unlikable-on-paper characters through a different lens. The results are legion: An all-time famous cinema bromance, myriad theories about the work's subtext, philosophies of crime, punishment, and rehabilitation, insinuations of religiosity and heavy-handed Christian messaging, and something so ubiquitously-seen during the late-'90s and early-to-mid-'00s on cable that virtually anyone watching television at the time would have watched it multiple times through. The Shawshank Redemption is widely-considered an all-time great, and, well, we can't say we disagree. Some come on through, fresh fish, before we sing you a lullaby.