Radio Free Beszel

Shawshank: The Prison of Professional Life

October 29, 2021 Alphonse Season 1 Episode 12
Radio Free Beszel
Shawshank: The Prison of Professional Life
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

The lesson of The Shawshank Redemption is compliance. The film is about life, and Shawshank prison stands for the institutions to which professionals devote their careers.

It seems to be a story of freedom. It is not. The film affirms a myth that all professionals are taught: They are more intelligent and better educated. They are more sensitive. Unlike the faceless masses, they are unique individuals with freedom in their hearts.

That freedom is a myth. It may exist in their hearts: but to earn it in the world, they must serve. The price is compliance. Its price is life. Thinking they are free, they become their own jailers. Real freedom is the carrot on the end of the stick: grind away your decades and in your old age you can earn the dream of retirement.

The institution where you work? It may be brutal, the management may be corrupt - but the institution is necessary. You are a superior individual. Redemption is something every man must earn for himself. There may be companionship here, but not solidarity. In the end, work will set you free.

See Jeff Shmidt's book, Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System that Shapes Their Lives.

Also mentioned: Brian McDonald's You Are a Storyteller podcast.

0:00
Good evening. This is Radio
Free Beszel. I am

0:03
Alphonse. Tonight: Shawshank
and professional

0:07
myth. I'm going to have
spoilers for the film

0:10
the Shawshank Redemption.
It's a story about a

0:13
banker who is accused and
convicted - falsely,

0:15
as it turns out - for the
murder of his wife,

0:18
but who escapes from
the prison after

0:20
20 years through a
tunnel he's dug

0:22
and he ends up on a
beach in Mexico.

0:26
I don't think this
is really a movie

0:28
about a prison. I think
it's a story

0:30
about work life in
an institution and

0:33
about the values of the
professional class.

0:36
It kind of works like Buffy
the Vampire Slayer,

0:38
where Buffy takes the inner
turmoil of teenagers

0:41
and their inner demons and
turns those demons into

0:43
actual demons and monsters
that Buffy can fight.

0:47
So the prison is really
a dramatized version of

0:49
the institution in which
many professionals work.

0:53
Now this is a prison full
of working class

0:55
uneducated people who
have committed murder

0:58
and other serious crimes,
but the main character

1:01
here, Andy Dufresne, is college
educated. Clearly

1:04
he's professional class.
He's different from

1:06
them. Their ignorance is
pointed out several

1:09
times during the film. Now
this didn't use to be

1:12
the case - if you go back
to the mid-20th century

1:14
you have a lot of
films whose main

1:16
characters are not
college educated.

1:19
Westerns, for
example, or

1:21
Casablanca, or It's
a Beautiful Life.

1:24
But now, it seems to me,
most Hollywood movies

1:26
most TV shows feature viewpoint
characters who are

1:29
members of the professional
class - even though

1:31
most of the audience members
probably aren't.

1:35
In any case, in the context
of the prison this

1:38
jumps out at me. One of
the first things that

1:41
happens to Dufresne in prison
is he is repeatedly

1:44
assaulted and raped by a
gang called the Sisters.

1:48
But he's able to avoid
this after some

1:50
time by using his skills
that he learned

1:53
in school - his professional
skills - to

1:56
aid the prison authorities.
Now the prison

1:58
authorities are corrupt,
but by helping them

2:01
to dodge taxes with his
accounting abilities

2:04
Dufresne gains privileges,
including protection

2:06
from the Sisters and working
in the library where

2:09
he's able to lobby for
state funds and help

2:12
to upgrade the educations
of other inmates.

2:15
Education is a running
theme in stories about

2:18
the professional class.
But secretly Dufresne,

2:22
using a tiny hammer every
night, has been

2:24
chipping away at the
wall of his cell,

2:26
digging an escape tunnel.
After doing this for

2:29
20 years he's ready to get
out. He crawls through

2:32
his tunnel and then through
a sewer pipe through

2:35
500 yards of shit. And then
he retires in Mexico.

2:40
I think diligently chipping
away at a wall for

2:44
20 years and then crawling
through 500 yards

2:46
of shit is the best metaphor
for working

2:49
at a bad employer that
I've ever heard.

2:53
In any case, if all I
wanted to do is argue

2:56
that the Shawshank Redemption
is about work life

2:59
for a professional I wouldn't
bother. But as it

3:02
happens, before I watched
this this time around,

3:06
I just finished reading a
book, Disciplined Minds

3:09
by Jeff Schmidt. What Schmidt,
a physicist, argues

3:13
is that the job of professional
education

3:16
is not so much to teach
professional skills

3:18
like physics and math,
but to shape

3:21
professionals into tools
of the system.

3:24
The professional myth is
that professionalism is

3:28
about intelligence and
education. The reality is

3:32
it's about conformity and
submission to authority.

3:35
And the shawshank redemption
shows this in spades.

3:39
I mean it's really odd in
a way - if you think

3:41
if you're Dufresne, and
you go to prison,

3:43
and it's full of violent
men - and the thing

3:46
that saves you is your
accounting ability,

3:48
the thing that you learned
in college - what are

3:51
the chances of that? It
seems like a fantasy.

3:55
And I think it is - I think
that's probably part

3:57
of why this movie appeals
to so many people.

4:00
Now Dufresne faces two problems
in the prison. The

4:04
first is the Sisters. The
Sisters are attacking

4:07
him and he needs to get away.
And what he finds,

4:10
accidentally as it turns
out, is that by serving

4:13
the authorities with his
professional skills,

4:16
they give him protection.
In fact, the head guard,

4:18
who's a sadistic murderer,
cripples the head

4:21
Sister when the Sisters
attack him again.

4:24
So by serving the system,
even though it's

4:27
corrupt, Dufresne gets
protection. Now the warden

4:30
is thoroughly corrupt - he
uses the prisoners for

4:33
slave labor, and he skims
off profits for himself,

4:36
and then he has Dufresne
hide the

4:38
profits and launder
the money.

4:41
Now Defresne's friend,
Red, in prison,

4:43
challenges Dufresne's ethics
on all of this.

4:46
And I think this is a
common problem that

4:48
professionals face in their
institutions when they

4:50
feel that they're doing
things that they don't

4:53
believe in. And I think that
Dufresne's response

4:55
reveals a guilty conscience,
which is that yes,

4:58
he is indeed helping corrupt
authorities, but at

5:00
the same time he's getting
money for the prison

5:03
library and helping to educate
other prisoners.

5:07
Schmidt says that professionals,
when

5:09
they run into problems
with their jobs,

5:10
when they see ethical
difficulties or they

5:12
think things are being done
that should not be,

5:14
that they blame their
managers. And that's

5:17
what the movie does
because essentially

5:19
it doesn't blame the system
itself, it blames

5:21
the corrupt warden and the
corrupt head guard.

5:24
In the end, Dufresne is
able to get the police

5:27
to go after the head guard,
who is arrested, and

5:29
the warden, who commits
suicide, but the prison

5:33
itself is unchanged. The
system is unchallenged.

5:37
In fact there's more evidence
of this, because

5:40
Dufresne is not guilty
- but his friend Red

5:42
is. Dufresne escapes early,
but Red only gets out

5:46
on parole. So the message
of the movie essentially

5:49
is that the system is doing
its job. Red was

5:52
guilty of killing a man, whereas
Dufresne was not.

5:56
Red says that in the
prison everyone says

5:58
they're innocent but in fact
everyone is guilty.

6:01
Dufresne is the exception
- the innocent man who

6:04
actually is an innocent man.
Actually the reason I

6:08
watched this movie is because
of a podcast episode

6:11
by Brian McDonald, a
screenwriter. The podcast is

6:14
titled, You Are a Storyteller.
He's also written a

6:16
good book called Invisible
Ink, which I recommend.

6:19
McDonald argues that the
premise of the Shawshank

6:21
Redemption is actually
a line from the movie:

6:24
"get busy living or get
busy dying." Well, I

6:27
think the get busy living
supports what I've

6:29
said so far - this is about
life, it's not about

6:32
prison. But there are particular
instances and

6:35
times in the movie when this
makes sense, because

6:38
Dufresne is contrasted with
a man named Brooks

6:40
who also works in the library.
But Brooks becomes

6:44
institutionalized. He loses
his sense of freedom

6:47
and individuality and his
ability to function

6:49
outside when he is given
parole. He finds that

6:52
he is unable to live
on his own and he

6:55
takes his own life. And
Red is the same.

6:58
He too, when he gets out
of prison, is unable

7:01
to cope. So what makes Dufresne
different? The

7:05
thing that makes Dufresne
different is something

7:07
about his psychology. He has
an argument with Red.

7:09
Red argues that hope in the
prison is a dangerous

7:12
thing. But Dufresne insists
that it's essential.

7:15
And one of the ways that
Dufresne sustains

7:18
his hope is through art
- high art. Where Red

7:21
plays checkers, Dufresne
plays chess from

7:24
pieces that he's actually
carved himself.

7:27
He listens to opera music
and he recites poetry.

7:30
So he is able to keep hope
and freedom in his

7:33
heart, and that's what allows
him to struggle for

7:36
20 years to dig that tunnel
and finally to escape.

7:41
Well, that's a nice
myth. But Schmidt

7:43
says it doesn't
work that way.

7:45
He says that if you are
in a graduate school,

7:48
for example, and you find
that you're doing

7:50
what's required of you,
eventually you will

7:52
turn into that kind of
person. You may try

7:54
to keep a part of yourself
independent from the

7:58
system, but you will fail
- unless, Schmidt says,

8:01
you get together with other
people, and together

8:04
you resist and push back
against the system.

8:08
The movie has shows no
hint of that. When

8:10
Dufresne escapes red
actually thinks his

8:13
friend is committing
suicide. He has no

8:15
idea that he ever had
a plan to get out.

8:18
The movie, in essence,
is conservative.

8:21
It affirms the power
and the legitimacy

8:23
of the prison institution.
The flaws in the

8:26
institution are attributed
to corrupt individuals,

8:29
and the way of dealing with
the institution is

8:32
to serve it - even if the
institution is corrupt,

8:36
it still benefits the
individual. And

8:38
psychologically, salvation
comes through

8:41
individual psychology.
There's another bit of

8:43
evidence for this because
when Red gets parole

8:46
it's because he himself has had
a psychological change of heart.

8:50
The movie underlines that
the key characteristics

8:53
of professionals is that
they are educated

8:56
and that they are independent.
So the message

8:59
of the movie is ultimately
conservative.

9:03
As an individual professional
working in an

9:05
institution your job is to
serve the institution,

9:08
even if you don't share
its values, even if you

9:11
find it corrupt. And if
you do find it corrupt,

9:14
that's because of individuals
not because the

9:17
system as a whole is flawed,
and you must work

9:20
your way through as an
individual. And if you do

9:23
that diligently for long
enough, in the end you

9:26
will be able to achieve the
dream and retire. This

9:31
is Alphonse for Radio Free
Beszel, www.beszel.ca.

9:38
Good Night.

Introduction
Professionals
A Myth of Freedom