To Kill a Mockingbird

The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee in 1960 has been cited as one of the most impactful books of all time and a staple of modern American literature. The story about a young girl being introduced to the dark world of racial tensions through her father’s involvement in a rigged trial against a black man, won over critics and readers for its realistic yet surprisingly warm portrayal of childhood and its handling of serious issues like rape and racial discrimination in a mature manner that both young and old could understand. Despite a more recent backlash to showing it in classrooms due to its apparent usage of ‘’racial epithets’’, it is still a highly cherished book and the 1962 film based around the story may also be just as equally beloved. In early 1930s Alabama, a young girl named Scout (played by Mary Badham) experiences a safe, modest, and pleasant life along with her older brother, Jem (played by Phillip Alford) and their widowed father, Atticus (played by Gregory Peck). Even though her tomboyish nature causes her to feel outcasted by other kids her own age, and is only truly railed in by being kept cautious by the stories surrounding their reclusive neighbor, ‘’Boo’’ Radley (played by Robert Duvall), this veil of childhood innocence is shattered pretty quickly when Atticus agrees to defend Tom Robinson (played by Brock Peters), a black man who is being convicted of raping the daughter of a one Robert Ewell (played by James Anderson), who clearly shows hints of abusive behaviors and racist ideals. With the environment clearly siding against the convicted (despite clearly not being guilty) and with Atticus also facing strife for defending a person of color, Scout is forced to see the ugly side of regular people, made very clear when things get more aggressive and people she once saw as friends and neighbors suddenly become violent mobs threatening her father, all leading up to a trial where Atticus desperately tries to stop what is sadly an inevitable conclusion. Directed by Robert Mulligan and produced by Alan J. Pakula, this film was equally as praised as its original source upon release, being a box office success, earning overwhelmingly positive reception from critics and audiences, and managed to crowd the Academy Awards with eleven nominations (winning three in total). It is considered to be a classic today and while definitely containing some things that hold it back from being spotless and absolutely perfect, it still stands as a remarkable adaptation of an equally outstanding book.

The story is one that has a strong emotional pull that is able to gravitate towards people both young and old in completely different ways. Its strengths as a film were already shown previously through multiple successful plays, and the book’s personal ”coming-of-age” angle mixed with serious social issues that were very relevant for the time, made it one that would definitely be noticed.  It’s not a story that’s run by its message, but rather showcases something all too familiar through a new lens to give the topic a new dimension. Although it was still not as frequent to have racism discussed so openly (this was still in the 1960s), having the story shown from the perspective of a child truly highlights the true cruelty, absurdity and idiocy of the entire concept, and how an environment and a society in general is just as guilty in furthering toxic mindsets as a singular individual, as they can instill bad ideals into those that don’t know any better. It’s a story that’s about more than just racial inequality; it also highlights expected genders norms, social class, the follies of the Southern lifestyle, and losing innocence through indirect trauma as well as the growing courage to stand up for something that everybody is against you on. There’s a real authentic simplicity to this film, in both the childhood scenes with Scout and Jem and how they naturally interact with each other and others in a manner that feels fitting for the time period, as well as the reactions to the more adult situations with Atticus and the other townspeople, as a child wouldn’t be able to properly grasp the true horrors that are unfolding, but would sense something is more noticeably wrong. Much like other great coming-of-age stories, it mixes in the light and fun elements with the dark and uncomfortable moments that sadly can take up a good chunk of childhood, but it all feels like it furthers something and through this particular experience, demonstrates how to process it in a believable way. The movie has been given flack for its lack of time given to actually showing the black community and displaying them with their own needs and wants, but rather as tools to make the main characters (the white ones) look more heroic and smarter than their racist counterparts. To be fair, the book at the time did assist with the civil rights movement and brought more attention to the problems within the South during that era, and the movie doesn’t struggle with this issue in a way that a lot of modern movies do ironically, but it is a valid point that could’ve been added to provide more context. Considering how well screenwriter, Horton Fotte, did with adapting the book into film format, he could’ve improved upon certain elements of the story by giving a bit more of a voice to the community who the story is focusing on (like talking with the family of the convicted, allowing Scout to meet one of the kids, or something like that).

The characters from the film are perfectly simple to understand, very likeable and work wonderfully for this story. Again, it could have benefited from having more of a black perspective as opposed to just having them as chess pieces to get the main conflict of the story going, but from the rest of the cast, the main characters are well fleshed out, properly realized from their book counterparts, and are wonderfully acted and provide some truly great portrayals. While all the acting is fantastic, the true highlights are Gregory Peck as Atticus and Mary Badham as Scout. Both of them are wonderful at working off each other, they carry scenes by themselves flawlessly, and both are picture perfect visual representations of their characters from the book (it’s hard to imagine other faces as these roles). Mary Badham gives such confidence and personality to Scout and makes her scrappy boyish figure feel so natural and authentic, it never feels like an act or something hard to do, she is 100% believable and carries that right balance of having childhood innocence and surprising maturity for her age. In the same vein, Gregory Peck feels like the perfect choice for Atticus, offering that warm sensibility and sophistication of a parent, yet also has a slightly reserved demeanor which makes him a little harder to pin down what he’s always thinking and gives him that nice roundness, although the movie could have benefited from giving him a bit more dimensions to make him feel properly complete as a character as opposed to just a very nice role model. A majority of the side characters are somewhat like that to, they mainly just exist to further a point on their themes and act as stereotypes to get that point across (James Anderson and the rest of the bad guys are pretty one-note in that regard) and outside of a very brief but incredible memorable Robert Duvall cameo, none of the roles are strong enough to really make them stand out.

Despite coming from a written source material, the movie thankfully doesn’t suffer too many issues when going from one medium to the other, at least not in comparison to other book to film adaptations. It is a very well written book that talks about these issues in a hopeful attitude like its being seen through Scout’s eyes, but also in a mature realistic approach that thankfully isn’t melodramatic in its presentation of the town and its inhabitants (helped out by the narration in both versions coming from an older Scout which adds a nostalgic and even contemplative sense to the whole story). Taking from semi-autobiographical elements, the environment of the town is filled with its own form of southern stereotypes and is rife in the issues that would surround a town of that era like poverty and racism, but it sticks to remembering that racism is a systematic flaw by showing the environment as picturesque in a cinematic manner, but pulling away that veil through the actions and troubles these characters go through. That along with the set design by Oliver Emert and the costume design by Rosemary Odell makes it feel very time appropriate and really makes you feel like you are in that period of time and location (whether highlighting a good or bad component of it). The music by Elmer Bernstein is a nice soothing piece that in many ways captures the tone and purpose of the book; a delightful sense of childhood tranquility with a hint of mature retrospection underneath it. One flaw that came in translating the story into a film is how a majority of Scout’s development gets a little lost in translation as without the book’s perspective from Scout’s viewpoint, the inner monologue detailing out events is lost and a majority of Scout’s perspective is left behind, especially in the trial where the most introspective moment is lacking Scout’s response due to barely seeing or hearing her. It’s a common error for a book to film adaptation, but this story needs Scout’s point-of-view and commentary in order to get its point across, and without that for a good chunk of the last act, something does feel a little missing in that regard.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic and has held up surprisingly well for its age. For a story that is still as well regarded as it is, it was bound to leave its imprint on the world in more ways than one, but it is very good to see that its other version was just as well received and is held in a similar regard. It captures a lot of what the book did and adapted it very well, leading to a lot of the same pros being magnified and allows people to review them in a completely different way. It’s a great coming of age story, the themes are addressed but not shoved down your throat, and the characters are very likeable and wonderfully portrayed with great actors, especially the two leads. The movie could have sprinkled in some additional flavor (mainly a black perspective) to maybe iron out some of the wrinkles and flesh out some stuff better (like it seemed to do in the book), but otherwise, it’s still a great movie to go back and watch. Revisit this old classic in film and book form and see how a child’s perspective on something so ugly can still be made pretty beautiful.