A case for banning trailers, posters, and media

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2001)

I consider myself an avid movie-watcher with mostly mainstream choices for my favorite movies. One of my favorite genres is inspirational movies like Rudy, Contact, and October Sky. Tops on my list of any genre is The Shawshank Redemption. One of the driving factors that it tops my list is because, like everyone else, I watched the movie on video with absolutely no expectations. At the time I had not seen a review, trailer, commercial, or even the cover of the video box for the movie. My wife went to the video store for me to rent it only because I heard it got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. We popped the movie in around 11:00 p.m., thinking we will fall asleep during the movie. Well, two hours later, the only way we could describe the movie would be inspirational. After the movie, I started to notice the commercials, the posters, and the box cover all gave references to the crucial twist at the end. I think if I saw any of these things before I watched the movie then I would have put 2 and 2 together and it would have made the movie less enjoyable. Word of mouth is the reason why it has been such a hit on video, and in the future will be the reason it will be considered on of the greatest movies of all time.