"The Shawshank Redemption" was first released as a film in 1994. The original storyline of the film came from a Stephen King short story called "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption". The film was directed my Frank Darabont. The film didn't have instant success after its release. It was caught in the shadow of movies such as "Forest Gump" (which was released not long before it). But soon after its release onto VHS it became in many peoples minds one of the greatest films of all time. Frank Darabont used death to do many things in the film, some of these things include; showing the harshness of prison, showing the presence or lack of hope, showing the lack of identity in prison, to alter the way the audience feels about a character and also to build suspense.
The director uses the death of the character the inmates labeled Fat Ass to show us the harsh reality of what prison was like. During the movie we see "Fat Ass" in his cell on his first night before he starts crying and pleading his innocence with the guards. The other inmates are chanting loudly and yelling things at the new inmate. The guard orders them to stop and they all do, accept for Fat Ass. The guard threatens him and then opens his cell door and beats him with his baton over and over until he stops moving completely. In he next scene we find out that he died later that night. This is the first night time scene we see of the prison and it really tells us a lot about how awful the prison is. This helps set the mood for the next few scenes, and by brining the mood down, a greater high point can be achieved. .
Frank Darabont uses the death of the character Brooks Hatlen to show the audience how having hope can help free a man, but having no hope can help kill a man. Brooks Hatlen had been in Shawshank prison for 50 years, and when his parole came through, he had gotten so used to prison life he came close to killing one of his friends just so he could stay in prison for longer.