Free Essay: Multimodal Analysis Theory on the Example of Shawshank Redemption

Multimodal analysis theory is the theory that helps in showing the understanding of the different ways in which knowledge is represented and the way the meaning of the sentences and the essays are brought about (Pu, 2015). It is in this case that there is the keen analysis of the words of the essays or of the literary work to ensure that there is understanding of the concepts that are brought about in the book. Moreover, the multimodal representation theory mostly focuses on the way discourse is designed by engaging in the investigation of the specific semiotic resources, such as languages, images and gestures, that are co-deployed across the various modalities, such as aural, visual and somatic (Lu & Boutilier, 2014). Additionally, the multimodal analysis theory engages in the analysis of the interaction and the integrations in the process of constructing of the coherent and multimodal texts, such as the news report, films, advertisements, websites and posters.

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This is a theory that was developed in Singapore and helps in the development of systematic approach that helps in the teaching of the critical viewing. The theory majorly focuses on the explicit teaching of parts and strategies that are in a multimodal text to help the students to make in the evaluations and the interpretation that are based on the right evidence (Cohen, 2014). This helps in the development of critical thinking. In this case, the multimodal literacy engages in the exploration of the of the design of discourse by carrying out the investigation of the contributions of the various semiotic resources that are co-deployed across the various modalities and their related interaction and integration in the process of constructing a coherent text. Keen focus into the multimodal literacy proves that it has two major dimensions and which are the media literacy and the multisemiotic experience (Enev, 2014).

Using multimodal theory helps in the analysis of various articles and the various pieces of work and this helps in the analysis of how hope is depicted in the movie Shawshank Redemption. In the process of using the multimodal analysis, hope is shown in various ways in the movie. The movie revolves around Andy, a banker, who is accused of murdering his wife and is then sentenced to imprisonment but holds on to the hope that at one point in time he will regain his freedom (Johnson, 2012). The hope that Andy had of regaining his freedom enable him to engage in the digging of a tunnel that he finally uses to escape out of the Shawshank prison. The movie employs the effects of images in the society and the how they help in explaining the various activities that take place in the society such as corruption, gothic conflict, symbolism, self-redemption and power and the relationship between life and death.

By using multimodal representation in the analysis of the movie, there are various images that are evident from the movie and that help in showing the great spirit of hope which proves to be the invisible clue and plays a vital role in the development of the story and in the understanding of the theme in a better way. Analysis of the movie shows that various symbols of hope in the movies and tat prove to be of great benefit to the society. One of the symbols of hope in the movie is the names of the protagonists Andy and Red. In this case, Andy is the short for Andrew that is derived from the bible and Red describes Andy as a person having a meticulous character (Williams & Zenger, 2007). Andrew was the first apostle of Jesus Christ and was a fisherman before joining the ministry of Jesus, In this case, he shows that character of manly, This is because of the bravery and the high character of integrity that he showed in the process of following Jesus when nobody had decided on the course of following the new gospel. Andy on the other hand shows the same quality as Andrew during his 20-year stay in prison.

Outside the prison cell, Andy is portrayed as a pure man who does not engage in any dirty dealings and this encourages to engage in the changing of the prison activities and this makes him to build a library to help in enlighten the prisoners and provides a basis for them to engage in the acquisition of knowledge. After escaping form Shawshank prison, Andy keeps his promise and opens a hotel and builds a boat and lives in a peaceful beach, this helps in relating to the live of Andrew in the bible and he is therefore evidently a person that saves the prison from all the challenges and corruption that are widespread in the facility (Nahachewsky & Begoray, 2010). Red is another character that helps in showing how hope is visible in the movie. Red is a convict that serves three life sentences and in the movie he describes himself as I am the guy who can get it for you. Through the analysis of Red, he is shown as the source of hope for the prisoners as he is the only one that can help the prisoners to get any sundries. This makes him to appear powerful and filled with hope.

The drinking of the beer is another act that shows hope in the movie. This happens when the prisoners sit on the roof after they complete their work and enjoy their beer. It is in this case that Andy approaches the guards and asks them for beer for other prisoners that did not have beer. It is through the same case that Red describes the drinking of the beer as we stand drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. In this case, the drinking of the beer brought hope to the prisoners as it made them to feel like they were free men (Eyes, 2013). Having the opportunity to drink on the roof also gave the prisoners the opportunity to have a clear view of the outside the prison and enabled them to have hope of once again joining the free world. The act of drinking beer after work also compared the prisoners with the individuals outside prison as the people outside the prison usually drink after they carry out their duties.

The act of listening to music in the prison is also another act of hope that the movie shows through the use of the multimodal representation. In one of Andys rare acts of rebellion in the prison, Andy closes himself in a room that contained public address system controls and he decided to play the aria from an opera in the prison louder and louder and resounded throughout the entire prison. This enabled the prisoners at the Shawshank prison to stand still to listen to the music that they had not listened to for a long time. This provided the prisoners with the hope of once regaining their freedom and once again listening to music the way they listened to music in a brief in prison (Dow, 2008).

Another image in Shawshank prison is the posters on the wall in Andys room. It is because Andy has the pictures of the women Rita Hayworth, Raquel Welch and Marilyn Monroe. These pictures of the women show that Andy is still embedded with hope and this provided Andy with a way of living in the possible passing of time. It is in this manner that Andy got the opportunity to remember about his wife and this make him to be guilty of love. Finally, water is another symbol that shows hope to the prisoners at Shawshank prison (Saunders, 2010). It is through this manner that Andy confided on Red of his plans to own a hotel in the small town of Mexico right of the Pacific Ocean. The plans that Andy had of owning a hotel and buying and fix an old boat proves to suggest that he was still hopeful that he would get out of the prison and fulfill his dreams.

Conclusion

The analysis of the book suggests that various cases through which hope is evidently shown among the prisoners and this helps in showing the fulfillment of the two major protagonists of the movie Andy and Red. There is need for the society to adopt the techniques that the book used in order to ensure that they fulfill their lifetime goals and strategies.

References

Cohen, C. (2014). Male Rape is a Feminist Issue: Feminism, Governmentality and Male Rape. Palgrave macmillan.

Dow, S. P. (2008). Understanding user engagement in immersive and interactive stories. ProQuest.

Enev, M. (2014). Machine Learning-based Attacks and Defenses in Computer Security: Towards Privacy and Utility Balance in Emerging Technology Environments (Doctoral dissertation).

Eyes, M. S. (2013). Tag Archives: Sherlock.

Johnson, B. (2012). Making a large class feel small using social psychology: Introducing teams to improve performance and learning in a large-enrollment course.

Lu, T., & Boutilier, C. (2014). Effective sampling and learning for mallows models with pairwise-preference data. The Journal of Machine Learning Research, 15(1), 3783-3829.

Nahachewsky, J., & Begoray, D. (2010). Authoring the textual classroom in digital times. Changing English, 17(4), 421-431.

Pu, L. (2015). STOCHASTIC MODELING OF SEMANTIC STRUCTURES OF ONLINE MOVIE (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University).

Saunders, K. (2010). Panels.Williams, B., & Zenger, A. (2007). Popular culture and representations of literacy. Routledge.