shawshank redemption.
hailed as the greatest movie of all time. even better than the godfather.
there are so many parts of this movie that are so inspirational that i would rather you take the time to watch it but i will pick out what i think is a more relevant scene.
i would hate to tell you the background and the context as it might affect a certain matter of interpretation and perception of the message. i’ll only discuss on what i can draw from this scene.
paralinguistics. this probably is the most relevant topic i can draw a relation to at this point of time because this is such a meaningful scene. and obviously it’s not mozart, whoever labelled that video must have been deaf.
so often there are so many things that we may not understand or we try to understand. but it may or may not forward the appreciation aspect. just like for those of you who listen to foreign music or foreign films. you may not know what they are singing, but you draw a certain satisfaction and enjoyment.
why?
is it music? is it the vocals? what is it?
i don’t think i honestly have the answer to that question but what i do know is this. there are so many things in life that transcends such physical boundaries such as verbal communication. art for example, you may not know what the painter is saying but you may derive a certain pleasure when you set your eyes on it. colours? maybe. tones? possibly. shades? perhaps. you? definitely.
so many things we appreciate that we don’t understand are so abstract. but it is how we feel about it that matters to us. egocentrism to a very minimal extent.
just like the scene. how would a bunch of prisoners people who may have never respected and treasured anything understood and appreciated what the 2 ladies were singing. as morgan freeman put it. they were singing about something so beautiful that it might not even matter and that your understanding of it might even spoil it.
just like i think you don’t need to learn wine appreciation to appreciate wine.
to learn music to appreciate music.
to learn french to appreciate a french film.
to learn communication to appreciate the connection it makes.
or maybe i just like things authentic and instrinic in nature.
fake plastic trees 
Hello there! thanks for the very thought-provoking comment you provided 🙂
I do wonder ALWAYS… how people can listen to a song they do not understand. Afterall, sin’t listening to music about understanding or decoding the message and emotions they’re trying to convey(as what singers always say when they write songs-to connect with their fans). So how about those who can’t connect with the verbal communication aspects from that song?
It’s interesting because this has got me thinking, there are indeed many more factors beside the verbal communicating factor. More of personal emotions evoked perhaps? Afterall, verbal communications does not always have to be restricted to just the linguistics aspect.
I do listen to foreign music, particulary french. Although I may not understand the words in the entire song, but certainly enough to grasp the important words that maketh the song.
As such, the point of having that particular music in the background would convey a totally different view of what is going to occur in the next scene. For example, should the music that is played be one involving rock bands or loud music, the mood that would be portrayed to the audience would be that the prisoners might be ‘ looking to break out of the prison’. This is in contrast to the music in the scene, which conveys to the audience a sense of hope in which the prisoners can look to in their days in prison.
Watched shawshank redemption years back. not my cup of tea really. But I admired the guy’s ingenuity and work ethic though.
For me, best movie ever made was pulp fiction. Check out the hamburger scene. Pure Tarantino scripting man.
Appreciation without understanding is incomplete in my opinion. You may like a certain song, but if you take time to listen to the lyrics and understand that the songwriter was heartbroken when he wrote the piece, you will somehow relate to his artistic expression.
Just my 2 cents
appreciation without understanding can be challenging.
like, i love abstract art pieces. but dont get whats the artist trying to convey most of the time. yet, i still enjoy. you cant explain why.
to me, its like something i wont be able to do now. so i’ll learn to appreciate instead. its like something that appeals to you, and you ll love to master it.
i guess at a certain level, understanding may not be needed. but i do agree with the rest that when it comes to songs, its a different issue.
Paralinguistics in my opinion, is a very powerful form of non-verbal communication. It not only leaves a lasting impression, but also leaves the interpretations to the audience’s imagination.
And yes, I agree that one need not understand to appreciate. To me, art is a freedom of expression, maybe a form of venting frustrations. But above all, it is a way to make connections. You need not really understand what the art piece depicts, but by looking at every penstroke, every colour used, the art medium used, makes me feel connected to the artist somehow. Like how he/she was feeling as he/she worked on the art piece. Just like how the inmates were able to relate to the song being played on air, somehow.
But yeah, it’s pretty subjective. Not everyone actually knows how to appreciate art in its purest form.
interesting. in a certain sense they are not mutually exclusive but in a certain sense they are.
i don’t know if understanding a certain piece at times dilutes the value of its appreciation and that would probably be too abstract to discuss about.
i guess we all appreciate things in our own manner.
I feel listening to a song in a foreign language that you do not understand is akin to listening to instrumental or classical music.
It is the way the tune fluctuates that gets your emotions swaying.
Of course, like you pointed out, there is a little egocentrism involved. You interpret something abstract in the way you WANT or LIKE to, and not how someone tells you to.
Taking myself for example, I had heard this piano piece ‘To Zanarkand’ (Final Fantasy fans should know this) and had found it to have a very peaceful and melodious tune. Then I have a smart-aleck friend of mine who pointed out that it is supposed to be a sad and tragic piece, and that he had figured it out from the first time he heard it.
Screw him~
I still interpret the piece the same way I did even today. 😛
i am in agreement with tom cruise here. though not entirely but to a great extend.
i have friends who can interpret the same song in different manners under different conditions. i guess this is another subjective manner. but there are certain schools of thought when it comes to music appreciation.
border lining on a strict set of rules and those who take it freely.
lyrics seem to force a form of conceptualization and to me that narrows my scope of appreciation for a song.
Who Tom Cruise?
you my man marcus.
maverick was tom cruise’s callsign in the movie top gun where he was a naval aviator.
he was a sex symbol back then.
i remember watchin Shawshank Redemption a long time ago, and lovin it. Alas i have forgotten bout most parts of it. But i know the outcome, hahaha.
Anw, wow. I dont really know how to argue this, if we must indeed know the author/creator’s mind and purpose to fully appreciate his piece. Or in the case o this video, to understand the language spoken to enjoy the music. Well, on this one, i’ll have to agree that not knowing the lyrics was pretty fine, for the beauty of the music itself was enough to inspire the prisoners and to evoke within them that wonder and even hope. You are right, not being bound by the preconceived lyrics in this case was for the best (=