"To Kill a Mockingbird"

Paper Summary:

Produced in 1962, "To Kill a Mockingbird" emerged on the big screen years before the climax of the civil rights movements, marches and before Dr. King's assassination. The United States, especially the South, still saw segregation in full force. The paper shows how Harper Lee's novel was a stunning statement in print and it awakened in its readers awareness not only of racism but of the persecution of any type of outcast. The paper analyzes the film against the backdrop of America's racism towards African-Americans and examines how the issues put forth in the novel are still relevant in American society today.

From the Paper:

"To Kill a Mockingbird may contain dated dialogue, but the screenplay adaptation of Harper Lee's novel ages well. Forty years after the film was produced, its messages still need to be heard. Blacks still struggle against racial injustice and receive the blunt end of the stick in modern politics just as they did in the 1960s. Although conditions have immensely improved and segregation is but a scar on America's social history, racism and injustice is alive and well. Rodney King is a simple reminder that all men are not treated equal. Death row is still predominantly black. People, whatever their race, who are perceived as strange, different, odd, or other, are still persecuted in 2002. Even though it is rare nowadays for a white lawyer to receive death threats just for defending a black man, it is still a sin to kill a mockingbird."

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