Movie Analysis : Kill A Mockingbird

For my paper I have chosen to analyze the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This movie is based on the novel – by the same name – written by Harper Lee. The story has two major plotlines. One follows Jem, Scout, and Dill as they try to uncover the secretes behind the infamous “Boo” Radley. It’s only at the end of the movie that we learn “Boo’s” real name to be Arthur, and that we discover he actually tries to protect people, as he saved Jem and Scout’s lives. The other major plotline, and the one more relevant to this class, follows Atticus Finch, Jem and Scout’s father, as he tries to represent Tom Robinson. Mr. Robinson is an African American man who has been charged with raping Mayella Ewell. The movie then follows both the trial and the

The intriguing novel, To Kill A Mockingbird is written by the prestigious author Harper Lee. Lee has utilised the lifestyle and attitudes towards ‘African-Americans" in the 1930's to create a novel which presents the reader with Lee's attitudes and values. The dominant reading of the novel is focused on the issues of racial prejudice, but there are also a number of other alternative and oppositional readings. Examples of this are the Marxist and feminist readings which can be applied to the text.

The ambition of oneself to pursue justice and righteousness may result in prosecution. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, and movie "A Time to Kill" by Joel Schumacher, each demonstrate one’s open-mindedness and forward thinking leads to penalization through protagonists Atticus Finch and Jake Brigance. Both egalitarians take the position as an attorney for an African American and are prosecuted in the process.

Mockingbirds will only sing their hearts, not cause any damage or give their lives to pleasing others. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird great examples are shown of different types of mockingbirds. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Arthur (Boo) Radley are great examples of representing a mockingbird.

“It's right hard to say," she said. "Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks' talk at home it'd be out of place, wouldn't it? Now what if I talked white-folks' talk at church, and with my neighbors? They'd think I was puttin' on airs to beat Moses, "But Cal, you know better," I said. “It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike—in the second place, folks don't like to have somebody around knowing more than they do. It aggravates 'em. You're not gonna change

“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered”...

To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee, 1960), an insightful and gripping novel composed by Harper Lee in 1960. Originating in Alabama South America, based during The Great Depression. This didactic novel highlights the controversy of racism, dominant discourses and social inequality through the storyline of young ‘Scout’ who has grown up with these prominent social issues in her everyday life. Scout finds herself having to find a new perspective as her father takes on the risky case of defending a wrongly accused African American man of rape.

“Morals, Manners, Customs, and Public Perception” by Judge Paul Heath Till uses the theme of Southern Civility to express the change and influence our fast-changing society plays in the reconstruction of the Southern culture. Judge Till’s explanation of the Southern Civility can also be reflected in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, who uses the culture of the South to emphasize the conflicts and the expectations that the family must live up to be accepted into the community. The Southern civility is presented in both texts through the understanding and importance of family and the basic concept of values and mannerism.

“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you,” stated Bethany Hamilton, an American professional surfer, who survived a shark attack, when she was only 13 years of age. This quote relates to the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, on account that plenty of people in the book had fear, but did not let it stop them from doing what they needed to do. A few of these courageous people were Mrs. Dubose, Atticus, and Boo Radley.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that takes place throughout the 1930s in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb. During this time period, people dealt with large amounts of discrimination, along with the effects of the Great Depression. Harper Lee is able to develop various themes using this setting, such as the stereotyping of gender roles, loss of innocence, excess violence, superstition, and prejudice. Some readers believe that the theme of innocence is most relevant to the novel as its message directly relates to Scout and Jem Finch, two major characters in the story. However, the theme of prejudice and superstition is more prevalent. This theme creates a well-developed storyline for the different “mockingbirds” in the novel while also projecting the actual struggles that came with living in the 1930s. Readers should understand these themes because it is important for them to realize that prejudice leads to injustice, negatively affecting society as a result. Not only that, readers will become more aware of the fact that these problems are still impacting people to this day. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee expresses the theme of prejudice and superstition through several characters, including Tom Robinson, Dolphus Raymond, and Boo Radley, to reveal how these judgements ultimately lead to the downfall of Maycomb.

As children, we often copy our parent's values and beliefs. In the novel ”To Kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee the author demonstrates that parents pass down their ideals and values to their children through their actions . This leads to their children inheriting their character traits. In the novel, Atticus and Bob Ewell demonstrate their kind and abusive parenting style through their actions that influence the values and beliefs of their children.

There were several differences between the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" and the movie that I noticed. In the movie, during Tom Robinson's explanation of the events with Mayella, he never says, "She says she never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her papa do to her don't count." Although this is a rather vulgar line from the book, I felt that it was important to the character development of the Ewells. In the movie, we infer that the Ewell family is disliked and of poor character, but we do not see the extent of this. After reading this line in the book, I had a better understanding of the Ewell family and their poor morals.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, was written in 1960’s based upon themes from 1930’s about racist and prejudice people. This relevant novel, despite its age still is associated with the English curriculum in contemporary Australian schools.

The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” (TKM) was a multi award winning novel, this book is about a family that lives in a small town called Maycomb, Alabama. This family observes a lot of racism, since this novel is based off the great depression. the narrator, which is the main character scout, shows her perspective of Maycomb and her family, She looks highly up to her father, Atticus Finch, He was a very wise and loving father towards his children, he is a lawyer that can think with, Pathos, Logos and Ethos, which made him a good lawyer. In Maycomb, since it was the south, it was wrong to defend black person, it was bad to even be friends with a black person, but Atticus Finch was a open minded man, he defended a black man that was accused of sexual harassment.

Every movie has their own villain, but “To Kill a Mockingbird” creates a new perspective. As the movie begins, Bob Ewell is revealed to be a ruthless and drunken man. In the first scene Bob appears in, the camera catches certain aspects of his evil motives. The director plays no music in order for the watcher to carefully hear the antagonizing words of Bob Ewell. He clearly shows the watcher that Bob is the adversary of the movie. The positioning of the camera consists of close, crooked angles to represent his “crooked” views. Bob Ewell’s voice sounds rough and unclear, emphasizing his spiteful intentions.