Different Seasons - a novella collection by Stephen King
Different Seasons is a collection of novellas by Stephen King. The book contains four stories: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, The Body, and The Breathing Method. Each story is given a subtitle, one for each season of the year. Three movies, The Shawshank Redemption (based on Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption), Apt Pupil, and Stand By Me
(based on The Body), were made based on the stories from this book.
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Subtitled 'Hope Springs Eternal'. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is a story of several prisons who spend time in the fictitious Shawshank prison in Maine, USA. The story is narrated by Red, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence at Shawshank. The main character is Andy Dufresne. Andy is a soft-spoken banker, quite different to the other inmates. Like most of the inmates, he claims to be innocent. Andy has a poster of Rita Hayworth on this cell wall, which is the only connection to the actress. Shawshank prison is mentioned in the other Stephen King stories Dreamcatcher, Doleres Claiborne, It and Apt Pupil. A movie was made of the story, named The Shawshank Redemption. Read about the plot of The Shawshank Redemption.
Apt Pupil
Subtitled 'Summer of Corruption'. Apt Pupil is a story set in the fictional suburb of 'Santo Donato', in San Diego. The story covers a period of about four years. Todd Bowden is a smart thirteen year old. Todd develops an interest in Nazi concentration camps, after looking in a friend's garage for comics, but instead finding war magazines. He then reads all of the World War II material he can find. Todd later recognizes a neighbour as someone he has seen in the World War II magazines. The story features a mention of Andy Dufresne, from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The story revolves around the relationship developed between Todd and man he recognizes. Apt Pupil was made into a movie of the same title.
The Body
Subtitled 'Fall from Innocence'. The Body is a story of a group of boys who travel down railroad tracks looking for the corpse of a boy hit by a train. The story is told in the first person by the character Gordon Lachance. Now 30 years old, he tells the story as it took place, when he was twelve. The story is told retrospectively, but some chapters relate to the present time. The BodyStand By Me. Read the plot of The Body. was adapted to a film called
The Breathing Method
Subtitled 'A Winter`s tale'. The Breathing Method is a story of a middle-aged Manhattan lawyer who joins a men's club. The members of the club read, chat, play pool and chess and tell strange stories. The story is narrated by the main character David. The Breathing Method is the only novella from Different Seasons to not be adapted into a movie.
The Shawshank Redemption (movie)
The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most popular movies of all time. A powerful story of hope, friendship and strength. The Shawshank Redemption stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Red. The original story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was written by Stephen King and appeared in the collection Different Seasons. Frank Darabont wrote the screenplay and directed the movie in 1994.
Brief plot
The caring and smart banker Andy Dufresne is accused and convicted of the murder of his wife. He is sent to Shawshank prison in the 1940’s, he meets many fellow prisoners, including Red, who becomes an important friend. During his time at Shawshank Andy’s way of life is changed, but he never looses his hope. Read the complete Shawshank Redemption plot.
Hope and redemption
Hope and redemption are a major part of the story, and something shown in many of the characters. Hope is the major force behind the lead character Andy, and Andy restores the hope in Red.
Brooks, a long time inmate of Shawshank had lost his hope. He had become institutionalized. Red says of Brooks:
"These prison walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. That's institutionalized. They send you here for life, that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyways."
Red is heading for the same fate as Brooks, but Andy changes his way of thinking and brings him hope.
Characters
The Shawshank Redemption is a moving story of hope, friendship and perseverance. Even though most of the characters are prison inmates, this engrossing story has incredibly warming characters. The film concentrates on the core characters of Andy Dufresne and Red, but the other characters such as the Warden, Brooks and Hadley all play a very important part in setting the mood and moving the story forward. Read about The Shawshank Redemption characters.
At the movies
Despite becoming one of the most popular movies of all time, The Shawshank Redemption was not successful at the movie theatres. The major factors that prevented its success at theatres were the competition from other movies, such as Forest Gump, Pulp Fiction and Speed. Also the fact that is was a prison movie, a concept not popular with today’s theatre goers. Read about the awards and nominations.
Differences between the movie and book
Frank Darabont’s movie screenplay follows Stephen King’s original story very closely. However there are several differences in the stories, made to make the movie easier to follow and more gripping. Read about all of the differences.
Popularity
The Shawshank Redemption has become so popular that it is consistently voted as one of the most popular movies of all time. It has been listed as the second most popular movie in most of the IMDB database polls. Read about the various polls The Shawshank Redemption has topped.
Trivia
The original story called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was written by Stephen King. It appeared in a collection of four stories called Different Seasons, which also contained a story called The Body, which became the movie Stand By Me. Another story from the same collection, Apt Pupil, was also made into a movie of the same name. Read more Shawshank Redemption trivia.
The movie title
The movie title (The Shawshank Redemption) differs from that of the novella title (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption). Frank Darabont on the movie DVD audio commentary explains that the title was changed as Rita Hayworth has little to do with the story, and he wanted audiences to not get the wrong idea about the movie.
Cast
- Tim Robbins - Andy Dufresne
- Morgan Freeman - Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
- Bob Gunton - Warden Samuel Norton
- William Sadler - Heywood
- Clancy Brown - Captain Byron Hadley
- See the complete cast
Credits
- Directed by Frank Darabont
- Novella written by Stephen King, screenplay written by Frank Darabont
- See the complete credits
Movie details
- Distributed by Columbia Pictures and later by Warner Bros
- Released theatrically on September 10th 1994
- Running time is 142 minutes (2 hours and 22 minutes)
Budget was $25,000,000 USD
