{"id":5449,"date":"2016-05-16T15:22:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T09:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5449"},"modified":"2026-07-17T21:39:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:09:40","slug":"25-years-of-the-shawshank-redemption-the-movie-that-legitimised-the-guy-cry-genre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=5449","title":{"rendered":"26 Years of The Shawshank Redemption: The Movie that Legitimised the Guy Cry Genre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\nF<\/span>\n\n<\/div>\nrequent flyers at Gatwick Airport, London recently voted The Shawshank Redemption <\/span><\/i>as the fourth-best film to watch on an <\/span>airplane<\/span><\/a>. The three films above it were <\/span>Bridesmaids<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Hangover<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Meet the Parents<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\n\nThink about this. A list that begins with cringe, comfort comedies that thrive on shock humour and loud characters, somehow also includes a quiet yet powerful film on the world\u2019s most ambitious <\/span>prison break<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>The <\/span><\/i>Shawshank Redemption<\/span><\/i> is a cultural anomaly that continues to survive and endure the rapid changes of the world, and I don\u2019t think we quite know how and why.<\/span>\n\nIt is not the greatest film of all time. Even though a lot of us first encountered it perched atop the IMDb Top 250, in our heart of hearts we know that the rating system on the website is, at best, questionable (for one, not only is it a list that includes <\/span>3 Idiots<\/span><\/i><\/a> and <\/span>Taare Zameen Par<\/span><\/i>, but it is a list that rates them higher than <\/span>Taxi Driver <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>A Separation<\/span><\/i>).<\/span>\n\nHowever, even if it is not the GOAT, the film <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> very good. Excellent, even; a masterpiece, perhaps. It redesigns the traditional narrative of redemption to gain maximum emotional effect, pushing the right buttons at opportune moments. It was also released at a time when Hollywood was going through its most radical change.<\/span>\n\n

The Shawshank Redemption<\/i> makes you cry because of how powerfully it uses catharsis as a device.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nThe year 1994 is landmark for cinephiles. <\/span>Pulp Fiction <\/span><\/i>won at Cannes and took the box office along with it, making bank and altering the language of cinema forever. What didn\u2019t change though was the Hollywood standard for <\/span>masculine identity<\/span><\/a>. And <\/span>Pulp Fiction<\/span><\/i>\u2019s success only bolstered the idea of sex, drugs, guns, and suits being the markers of a powerful man.<\/span>\n\nBoys didn\u2019t cry before the <\/span>internet<\/span><\/a>. They were discouraged to do it and disparaged if they did, and tears were held back in favour of punching holes in walls. Masculinity was, is and will always be fragile, but there exists this fine, straight line from <\/span>The Shawshank Redemption<\/span><\/i>\u2019s failed release to BROCKHAMPTON\u2019s new album cover that has two men comforting each other with a hug, and that line was drawn on the backs of Tumblr reblogs and Orkut testimonials.<\/span>\n\nThe Shawshank Redemption<\/span><\/i> makes you cry because of how powerfully it uses catharsis as a device. Andy Dufresne\u2019s journey is one we become completely invested in, as with his <\/span>friendship<\/span><\/a> with Red and every other character we see in the movie. It\u2019s a prison- break movie that doesn\u2019t overexert on the prison break part of it, rather it gives us ample time to spend with the prisoners themselves, these broken bunch of lost souls who you begin to relate to in ways you didn\u2019t think you could with a convict.<\/span>\n\nYou don\u2019t cry because Andy completes the task he set out to do, you cry because you find yourself invested in Andy\u2019s catharsis. The task becomes irrelevant then \u2013 he could have been trying to <\/span>cook<\/span><\/a> the largest ever meal for all we cared, the script and direction\u2019s emphasis on him rather than the task make us feel what he does.<\/span>\n\n

\"the_shawshank_redemption_25_years\"\n

\n

Andy Dufresne\u2019s journey is one we become completely invested in, as with his friendship with Red and every other character we see in the movie.<\/p>\n

Castle Rock Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nIt\u2019s a movie for the internet age. The internet, where we endorse and express our feelings so openly, and feel validated when others seem to share the same thoughts and opinions. <\/span>Shawshank<\/span><\/i> climbed to the top of the IMDb Top 250 in 2008, right at the start of what constitutes a \u201cpost-Facebook\u201d age. It appealed to the anonymous internet guy who publicly was bullied into holding back his tears, but got his time to share on internet threads and forums. It\u2019s comforting to know that someone feels like you do.<\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/span>Shawshank <\/span><\/i>made it okay for guys to cry, and spawned a change in modern-day cinema that helps encourage this. Even <\/span>superhero films<\/span><\/a> today don\u2019t end with the guy saving the day and getting the girl, they end with tears and male fans endorsing their bawling as a thumbs up to the movie.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nCinephilia is depressingly masculine, but <\/span>The Shawshank Redemption <\/span><\/i>was a jab at turning it into something a little less <\/span>toxic<\/span><\/a>. In the 26 years since, we\u2019ve now reached a new kind of cinema, a new kind of format, and a new kind of audience, and we\u2019re ever so slightly better for it.<\/span>\n\nThe real revolution though will arrive when men accept that they\u2019ve cried while watching <\/span>27 Dresses<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shawshank Redemption made it okay for guys to cry, and spawned a change in modern-day cinema that helps encourage this. Even superhero films today don\u2019t end with the guy saving the day and getting the girl, they end with tears and male fans endorsing their bawling as a thumbs up to the movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":343,"featured_media":5452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture"],"yoast_head":"\n26 Years of The Shawshank Redemption: The Movie that Legitimised the Guy Cry Genre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Shawshank Redemption made it okay for guys to cry, and spawned a change in modern-day cinema that helps encourage this. 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