Wednesday, November 11, 2009
To Kill a Mockingbird
I was flipping through the (sorry to say) limited movie channels that I have when I stumbled upon the movie to my favorite book of all time: To Kill A Mockingbird. The story follows a girl named Jean-Louise Finch aka Scout and talks about growing up in Alabama during the Great Depression. The movie focuses on the trial of an accusation of rape of a white girl named Mayella Ewell by a black man named Tom Robinson, who her father Atticus defends. The story is a heartbreaking depiction of the inequalities that black people faced and the utter desperation portrayed by the actors is astounding. Though the book goes into much more detail about the separate lives white and black people lived, the movie surely shows how unfairly black people were treated. I was so glad to see this movie on television, but I wish that it was shown on basic cable. Why is it that important old movies like this can only be found on extra channels? Are we unable to watch black and white movies anymore? Though we have come far, we still need to remind ourselves of where we came from and that we still need to work as a society to make sure these inequalities do not occur to any race in this country. If you have not seen the movie or read the book, I highly suggest that you do so. It is a wonderful story, and the movie boasts some heavy acting (with Gregory Peck as Atticus, Brock Peters as Tom Robinson, and Robert Duvall as Boo Radley).
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this was one of the first books to open my eyes to racism. i'm glad the movie is being shown SOMEWHERE, at least! fun fact: dill, the awkward pasty boy in the book, is based off of truman capote, a childhood friend of the author.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading an article about how highly Gregory Peck was regarded in the black community for his performance. In this role he defended this injustly accused black man with dignity and the respect with which he should ideally have. As far as your point about black and white movies, I agree with you it is sad. I mean just because a movie isn't in color, people generally immediatly write it off and won't watch it solely on this basis alone. It could be the best movie of all time and some people will outright refuse to watch it. Unfortunately to say I have been in this situation with some friends when I try to get them to watch the Invisible Man (1931). Such a good flick.
ReplyDeleteYou have to remember that television is a money making business, so we'll be seeing Bride of Chucky on television before To Kill a Mockingbird because it will attract more viewers. More viewers = more money. Unfortuanetly everyone is scared to watch black and white and rather stick with crap rather then watch classics.
ReplyDeleteSuch a phenomenal book! I have yet to see the film, perhaps for reasons you've just mentioned..the interest, the popularity and the modernity just aren't there anymore. Television networks prefer to show the latest films, with big stars and flashy titles. What a shame.
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