There's no denying that Morgan Freeman is a good actor. Yes, sometimes he doesn't have the best roles, but he does his best with what he's got or given.
I was watching The Shawshank Redemption a few weeks ago, and it really made me think about Freeman and the roles he tends to take. Now, I haven't seen all of Freeman's films but with the ones I have seen, he usually tends to portray someone in power.
Lets take Shawshank as an example. Before Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) gets to the prison, Freeman's character is the one who seems to be in control of his white counterparts. He is well respected and well liked through out the prison. He is also "the man who gets things". However, once Robbin's character shows up, Freeman's character falls behind. He becomes a side kick to Dufresne, who cheats the system and gets what he wants.
I find it interesting that Freeman's character is the one who follows the rules, because he is the 'black character' in this film. What I mean by this is that black characters are usually shown as troublemakers or characters who violate the rules. However, he is portrayed as the side kick to Dufresne. But in most of Freeman's movies, he's always shown following the rules.
Now this could be because he can choose what roles he wants or because he is type casted as the "goody goody", "whitewashed" black actor. However, Freeman has obviously made it a long way from being a driver in Driving Miss Daisy to playing strong male leads.
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