Dominant Attitudes In The Film A Time To Kill

In the film we see issues of race and racism as being a "white" problem, contrary to what we see in society as race and racism as being a "colored" problem. Victor and David Lee both make the statement that to be "American" is to be white. In society we usually see racism as individual acts of violence or discrimination towards others, but as David Lee points out, racism is an invisible system conferring unsought racial dominance by am oppressive group, mainly whites. "White power secures its dominance by seeming not to be anything in particular" (Lipsitz, 135). Victor says how he could get things his mother couldn't get just because his skin was a lighter black than hers. Lee then brings in a picture of Victor and his mother where the difference in skin color can be seen. Lee often brings in pictures of the participants of when they were young, and when they are with their families. This helps the viewers to draw more of identification with the characters.

Another issue in the movie was attitudes. All races have attitudes towards people that are not like their own, whether they are good or bad. Attitudes I believe are connected with experiences. What one experiences with another race can affect the way their attitude is towards them.

In conclusion, A Time to Kill has many examples of how conflict between characters reveals society's dominant racist attitudes. These attitudes are presented to be negative throughout the film by representation of social groups, characterisation of Jake Brigance and the perspective from Carl Hailey. Together these conventions allow the viewer to understand the character Carl Hailey, and see how the film presents the dominant racist attitudes

A Review and Commentary On:A Time to Kill By John GrishamA Time to Kill written by John Grisham is a book that presents the high racial tensions in Canton Mississippi in the early 1990 's. The book opens with two young men, James Lewis Willard and Billy Ray Cobb, joy riding in their brand new yellow pick up truck decked out with Confederate flags. They speed though black neighborhoods throwing full beer bottles at people and houses, until they come across ten-year-old Tonya Hailey walking home from the grocery store. The men pull over, trap her, rape her repeatedly, beat her, hang her, throw her off a bridge and leave her for dead. Her siblings find Tonya later that day, barely alive, her father, Carl Lee Hailey., and the black community

You're not gonna tell me you believe that phony story about losing the knife, and that business about being at the movies. Look, you know how these people lie! It's born in them! I mean what the heck? I don't even have to tell you. They don't know what the truth is! And lemme tell you, they don't need any real big reason to kill someone, either! No sir! [Juror 10, page 51] This type of prejudice offended many of the other jurors, especially Juror 5 who is of similar race to the accused.

In an attempt to counter the racist claims of the defense, the jury was selected and was mostly African American females (Gaines 2001). The district attorney of Los Angeles believed that an all white jury would be ineffective if Simpson were to be found guilty (Thernstrom & Fetter 1996). This outcome of the jury selection upset the Caucasian population because they felt as though the jury selection gave Simpson the upper hand in the trial regardless of the fact that the jury was majority female. The defense counsel was able to control the jury, in a sense through instilling in their minds that the LAPD was in fact racist. At the trial’s conclusion approximately 83% of blacks believed that Simpson was guilty, whereas only 37% of whites believed that Simpson was guilty (Thernstrom & Fetter 1996). These allegations also pushed the evidence collected from the crime to be discredited as well.

Throughout the text, negative racial prejudices hinder the success of justice, thus denying truth in the judicial system. Due to the defendant being hispanic, and from the slums, negative racial prejudices become prevalent in the juror’s opinions, which ultimately leads to injustice, as the truth is denied and ignored. The negative racial prejudices are depicted throughout the play multiple times, especially by Juror 10, who is revealed to be an open racist who believes that the 16 year old defendant should be sent to the electric chair due to his hispanic nationality. Within the play, Juror 10 states “They’re violent, they’re vicious, they’re ignorant, and they will cut us up. That’s their intent” when referring to the hispanic ‘race’. The direct dialogue conveyed within Juror 10’s statement allows the

One of the worst images of African Americans in the film is the stereotype of the black criminal. The idea of black people as a threat is best shown through the character Gus, who stalks and eventually causes the suicide of a young white woman. And while the film seeks to confirm the image of African Americans as criminals, the real violence was caused by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). In the movie, the KKK is inspired by white children pretending to be ghosts to scare black children. This plays to the stereotype of African Americans being very superstitious and frightened by ghosts and also masks the true intentions behind the Klan. Southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes happening during this era and to restore white supremacy in the South. Towards the end of the film, the Klan is shown riding in to gain control of the town and

A Time to Kill (1996) starring Matthew McConoughey (Jake Brigance), Samuel L. Jackson (Carl Lee Hailey). Sandra Bullock, and Kevin Spacey in the American crime drama film that take set in the southern state of Canton, Mississippi where two white supremacists named Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard, kidnapped a ten-year-old African-American girl named Tonya. These two white supremacists violently rape, beat and dump her in a nearby river after a failed attempt to hang her but in the end, she survives, and the men are arrested. Carl Lee Hailey goes to law firm of Jake Brigance (the white lawyer) and explains that there is a possibility chance that the rapists will walk free. The next morning while the two rapist are going to their bond hearing,

Let me introduce you to a world where colour matters, where if you are African American you can say goodbye to being a living soul, and you can definitely guarantee a brutal end to your life. Now “put your motherf****** mouth on the curb” and say goodnight. It’s a white man 's world and you my friend have no rights at all. American History X, directed by Tony Kaye is about a former neo-Nazi who has been released from jail and is now trying to right his wrongs. His goal to make sure his brother does not go down the same path that he did, a life of destruction and excruciating violence. The movie touches the subject of racism in 1998 revealing the extremities of violence in which the neo-Nazis inflicted on the African Americans. In the first scene of the film the audience witnesses Derek kill two black males that lead to his conviction of voluntary manslaughter. We also see Danny 's horrified reaction, as he watched his older brother take the life of two men. This moment was the trigger point in Danny 's life that would lead him down the same destructive path of his older brother. In the second scene, we see both brothers reflecting on their past choices of racism and violence. We also get our first and only colour flash back that leads us to believe that this was a pure and happy time in both of their lives. This was the point in the film where we understand that both brothers have acknowledged they have made the decision to change. The scene touches on the seriousness of the

According to American history, prejudice is shown through the courtroom’s jury when making decisions to send the alleged African Americans to jail. On March 24, 1931, nine African American lives were jeopardized with the false accusations of rape that further scrutinizes the nation’s controversial look upon justice. Referring to Abigail Thernson and Henry Fetter when talking about The Scottsboro Trials it states, “Represented by unprepared out of date counsel who had no more than a half an hour consult

The rest of the jury realized the boy’s race was not a fact of the matter. The condition the boy was raised was not completely certain but as the jury even walked through every witness’s perspective; they were attempting to be as realistic as possible. The 10th juror was a racist but his perspective was useful nonetheless by teaching a lesson. This responsible approach resulted from an impartial jury with different perspectives and in law reviews such as, “Diversity and the Civil Jury”; it is made clear just how legal and important impartial juries can be. “The right to an impartial jury drawn from a fair cross section of the community has mostly been expounded upon in the context of the Sixth Amendment's right to a jury trial in criminal cases, but has been applied to civil cases as well.’ In order to ensure that juries serve “as instruments of public justice,” this requirement is designed to create “a body truly representative of the community” (Carbone 840). America is very diverse so it makes sense that a jury should reflect such a mixed society and leave racism at the door.

This quote shows that no matter who’s guilty or innocent, if it’s a black man against a white man the white man always wins. This is because during that time period most of the jury had prejudices that made them think that the white is right, even if he isn’t, because they felt that their skin color is superior to those of color.

A Time to Kill demonstrates how much racism, inequality, and segregation was going on in the early to mid 1960’s. The movie shows how African Americans were divided from white people in every circumstance. Inequality was very common for African Americans, and they were shut off from the rest of the public because of the color of their skin. Racism has always been a major conflict and it still remains with us in our society today. A Time to Kill really unfolds how hard it was for people of different races to get along.

The movie begins in a small town called Canton, (Mississippi) where it is very obvious there is a separation between blacks and whites. Tonya Hailey is a little ten-year-old black girl, who is on her way home from the grocery store. A truck pulls up with two white men, James Louis “Pete” Willard and Billy Ray Cobb, who viciously attack and rape this little girl. After attempted murder, this girl survived and made her way home, and the two men were found at a bar and were arrested. Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya’s father, obviously enraged, is full of emotions and nervous these two men may be acquitted, despite what they’ve done. Full of rage, Carl Lee storms in while Pete and Billy Ray are being escorted into