How the Shawshank Redemption Became One of the Most Beloved Films of All Time

vanityfair.com

4 points·Mz··4 comments

Deserves this status - it truly is one of the best movies ever made.

I've always found opinions on this movie a bit baffling.

While it's far from a bad movie, it's never been clear to me why so many consider it one of the best movies (or the best movie) of all time.

Sometimes I wonder if it's an example of an "acceptable collective opinion," the sort of thing people half believe and say without really thinking too deeply as part of natural instinct towards social integration.

no no no. this is a very well engineered movie. Everything that occurs in the movie is specifically designed to generate an emotional response. Some responses are positive, others negative. iirc, they always develop in a way where they could go either way, and then they break. this creates suspense and surprise, heightening the response. I could go on for an hour about all the audience manipulations in this movie but there isn't room here. suffice it to say that, its not hype, it is actually very well designed.

Agreed. This movie possibly has the best EQ to IQ ratio I've seen. In other words the balance of heart or emotional content to stuff that requires the main character to have brains and dare I say, a hacker mentality, is just superlative

Reply on news.ycombinator.com