The Shawshank Redemption added to Leaving Cert studies

25 comments
  1. Our teacher wouldn’t allow us to watch shawshank cause she didn’t think it was proper for us to see a man getting bummed. She let us watch girl with a dragon tattoo in full though (this was ty by the way)

  2. It’s great that there is so many great films on that list. But also kind of a shame most students won’t really enjoy them because they’re being watched for an exam rather than for fun

  3. For leaving we had children of men as the feature film, the road ad the novel and macbeth as the play. Pretty sure they wanted us to die of depression

  4. It’ll teach all the young pups about hope and I mean let’s be honest that’s all they’ve got when it comes to buying a gaff for themselves when they’re older 🤭

    Now on a more serious note that movie is one of my all time favourites and I’m glad to see it included in the curriculum.

  5. It’s a good choice but I wish we’d use more stuff from outside just Hollywood. Shawshank and the Matrix, let’s face it, everyone with even a passing interest in film will come into contact with these and their discourse.

  6. Had to check if it was the film or the short story, because the short story has a lot of explicit details of the rape scenes.

  7. Does anyone else think it’s fucked up that for all of secondary school Irish students are only expected to read two books, two Shakespeare plays and watch two films?

  8. I’m actually jealous. Though they’d prob have ruined it for me anyway. With the watching over and over and over and dissecting ever little feckin look.

  9. I pity anyone whos first time seeing this movie in their LC. Imagine it dissecting every single little thing, constantly. Learning quotes of everything, It would take all the good out of it. Like, Imagine “the character is depressed because the curtains are blue” but the shawshank version. Imagine the dissecting of the rock hammer? Jesus, I actually pity the people doing that in higher level english.

  10. Not a bad list actually. Could do a with bit more foreign language films imo.

    Nice to see Kes and Wadjda on there, great films.

    Also, since when are films on the leaving cert? I remember watching lots of films in school around that time but they weren’t actually on the exams. Mid 30’s here.

  11. WTF, movies on the leaving syllabus?

    I did my leaving in 94. Can’t remember what texts were on then.

    Btw, Shawshank is based on a Stephen King novella. The novella is practically the screen play for the movie.

    It would be good to see a Stephen king book on the syllabus. Maybe ‘Misery’.

    I inhaled Stephen king books when I was a teenager in school. Practically saved my life during the tricky/mid puberty/shy years.

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