To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Document Type

Miscellaneous

Publication Date

5-2017

Abstract

To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during the Great Depression and demonstrates what society was like then. The story shows a six-year-old girl, Scout, and her family as they are caught up in the middle of a big and controversial court case involving a black man. Throughout the course of this case, the traces of prejudice and racism become stronger and stronger as Scout's father, Atticus, does his best to defend the black man against false charges. The family faces persecution from many other town members on many occasions. Throughout all of this, Scout is introduced to the adult world and all that comes with it. As she is slowly immersed in this world so foreign to her young mind, she sees things in a new way as she tries to grasp the concepts of the unfair treatment that adults seem to thrust on one another.

Robert Mulligan’s use of cinematography and sound in To Kill a Mockingbird work together to emphasize Scout’s growing awareness of prejudice and the danger it summons as she takes a step closer to the world of the adults around her, and invites audiences to think about the prejudices they are exposed to in a new light. The film focuses mostly on the issues of racism, while the book that it was based on encompasses several other prejudice issues such as gender identity and expectations to accomplish the task of showing audiences how such subjects are seen from the eyes of a six-year-old girl.

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