For this assignment I choose to watch “The Shawshank Redemption.” In this movie the main character, Andy seems to keep getting the short end of the stick, starting with being wrongly accused and put in prison, being raped, and being forced to continue laundering money for the Warden. I find this to be very relatable to my life. Unlike the main character though, my unfair moments are usually medical. This movie also helped me to tie together Tuesday’s conversation about the ways in which inmates were treated while in the system.
If I had Andy as my client, for starters I would look at his strengths, which seemed to include a love for music and the arts, he also is very good at math after being a banker for many years. Andy also has the ability to be left alone for long periods of time without going “crazy.” This is another item that we could talk through during a session.
Next I would talk through weaknesses. Some of the things I noticed throughout the film was a lacking of emotion while he was an inmate. I would do my best to find a way for him to express his emotions in a way that he will be able to express them on his own later.
Andy is put into a prison where he never has time along, and then he is put in to solitary confinement, where he has absolutely no human interaction for a long period of time. This type of environment is probably what triggered his lack of emotions while in prison. He also had relationships while he was an inmate, but only a couple of them were good relationships. The first one we see is with a group called the “Sisters” who are the ones that raped him while in prison. This not only affected him physically but mentally as well. Andy becomes friends with a man named Red and another named Brooks. Both of these men help Andy to make it through his stay in prison. Another relationship that occurs is with the Warden of the prison named Nortan and with the chief guard, Hadley. He starts out with just helping them with taxes and does some stuff with the IRS for them. As the movie progresses, Andy begins to launder money for the Warden and both figures begin to run Andy’s life in prison, while attempting to rebel, but his final rebellion happens after he break out of prison.
The scene in the movie that really spoke to me, was when Andy’s friend, Brooks, is set out on parole. He didn’t know anything about the real world for he had spent a majority of his life in prison, so in order to avoid having to figure out the “real world” he attempts to kills a fellow inmate. This attempt was a failed one and was sent out in the “real world” anyways. Once out, he was treated badly and enough that he ended up committing suicide. Since he was in prison for so long he wasn’t able to cope with his new environment, everything about him was taking away from him while he was in prison. This is something that Music Therapy could have been helpful in. He would have had a place that to go to where he could have gotten the help he needed.
