To Kill a Mockingbird
A Critical Analysis of Robert Mulligan’s Iconic Film
To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Robert Mulligan and based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, provides an equally unique and refreshing commentary on racist and social class relations in Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930s. Despite being released in 1962, a time nearing the end of blatant racial discrimination in the United States, the message regarding racism permeated the setting to convey its seriousness following the era of segregation. The socioeconomic reality for the black community is implied to be imperative to comprehend not only in the 1930s, but also in the 1960s and the present. Mulligan adapts Lee’s story to transcend time and aimed to tug at the heartstring’s of the audience by essentially telling the story through the eyes of the six-year-old protagonist, Jean Louise Finch. This style of direction, narrating through the eyes of a young child, provides an inimitable opportunity to simplify the messages and arguments throughout the film to ensure they are realized by the audience members, as that is how they are told to Jean Louise, or Scout. Therefore, Mulligan’s film techniques attempt to make issues of racism and social hierarchy seem juvenile for ease of assimilation as an audience member.
Before delving in to the rhetorical analysis, feel free to refresh your memory and review the plot summary of To Kill a Mockingbird, here.
Before delving in to the rhetorical analysis, feel free to refresh your memory and review the plot summary of To Kill a Mockingbird, here.
Rhetorical Analysis
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/5/1/105199439/published/192540961.jpg?1494176506)
In Mulligan’s film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, racism is integral to elementary comprehension of the plotline, but Mulligan also hones in on Scout’s narration and point of view. Mulligan’s young and naïve lens emphasizes Lee’s primary qualm with racism – it is so trivial and unnecessary that even kids, like Scout, are plagued with confusion regarding racial discrimination. The film begins with a video montage of an array of children’s toys to immediately portray innocence and a child’s point of view for the duration of the film. After the montage resolves, Mulligan introduces the audience to Scout, her brother, Jem, and a few neighborly figures, like Mr. Cunningham. At this point, the audience members are also initially exposed to the film’s setting – the rundown, farming town of Maycomb, Alabama. Young Scout has a quick, but critical, encounter with Mr. Cunningham that depicts the town’s social divide even before the town’s obvious racial discrimination. The film’s ultimate focus is on Scout’s father, Atticus Finch’s, decision to defend a black man in court accused of raping a white woman and the resounding effects on Scout’s experiences in town and at school. Following Atticus’ decision to take on the court case, the film naturally unfolds to tell the story of the time leading up to the trial, including Scout’s encounter with Mr. Cunningham, Scout’s trouble at school, and the jail scene the night before the trial, the trial sequence in its entirety, as well as the aftermath of the verdict. These major inciting incidents epitomize Mulligan’s youthful and juvenile lens through the manipulation of point of view shots and deliberate use of space to convey Lee’s trivial interpretation of racism (Watson 422). At each of these major moments in the plot, Mulligan expertly utilizes film techniques to aid the immature lens and ultimately express commentary on racial and social issues.
To secure the childish tone early on, Mulligan strategically utilizes a video montage of seemingly meaningless trinkets as the film’s opening scene. Accompanied by the assortment of toys, the audience is immediately confronted with a little girl’s nonsensical ramblings to support the naïve and innocent form of story-telling bound to unfold in the remainder of the film. The combination of childish banter accompanied by images of toys simply illuminates the expectation that the film should be understood by a wide range of audience demographics. Mulligan’s intent is to establish a mood and as Mark Holcomb from Film Quarterly so eloquently emphasized as well, “The director’s métier was mood, which To Kill a Mockingbird has to spare” (35). While the opening scene greatly emphasized the juvenile mood “the bittersweet ambience of the Finch household and the mysterious, Gothic milieu of Maycomb, Alabama… are also the stuff of childhood fancy and Mulligan captures them with aplomb” (Holcomb 35). Mulligan’s quick, yet precise, establishment of a younger mood sets the stage for the myriad of controversial topics evident in the film to be iterated on an elementary level for ease of understanding.
Following the opening video montage, Mulligan begins to establish the socioeconomic reality within Scout’s neighborhood in Maycomb. Through strategic pan shots of the shoddy state of the homes down Scout’s street, as well as the noted, albeit quick, shots of the tired neighbors’ drawn faces, Mulligan successfully provided the audience with the overall mood of the town of Maycomb, Alabama prior to any sign of racial tensions. As Scout comes into shot for the first time followed by her family home, there is a subtly noticeable contrast in the settings from the previous shots. Using visual support alone, Mulligan relates Scout’s slight social supremacy over her neighbors, for her house is more upkept and clothes noticeably clean. In the film’s first verbal encounter between Scout and a farmer, Mr. Cunningham, Mulligan achieves Scout’s social naivety with minimal dialogue. It becomes painfully obvious that Scout is unaware of her higher socioeconomic status, but in her encounter, the audience also learns that her dad, Atticus Finch, is a well-mannered and modest lawyer whom shows no interest in flaunting his wealth. Quite on the contrary, he seems intent on minimizing the socioeconomic gap between him and his peers as he purposely strives to teach Scout that there is not a noticeable monetary difference between him and Mr. Cunningham. Hence, the opening pans of the neighborhood and the initial dialogue establishes social tension even aside from racial issues that are thematically diluted for Scout’s sake, or Mulligan’s juvenile lens.
Following Atticus’ decision to defend Tom Robinson in court, Mulligan conveyed the increasing social tension, which was already prevalent as evidenced in the opening scenes, and racial tension through Scout’s experiences and juvenile reactions. In the time elapsed between the summer Atticus decided to take the case and the summer of the trial, the progression and augmentation of racial and social tension was strategically shown almost exclusively through Scout’s eyes. This is primarily evident in her behavior in school and prominent physical fighting disposition. Mulligan decided to divulge Scout’s frustration and confusion through point of view shots in her fighting scenes. When getting reprimanded in the aftermath of her physical outbursts, Scout proclaims that she was defending her father’s honor because her classmates were mocking him for defending a black man. However, in another strategically placed point of view shot, the audience learns that Scout does understand why her Dad’s case is so controversial among the white community illuminating Mulligan’s triumph in conveying her naivety. Therefore, the entirety of this time-period is expressed from the narration of a girl who does fully understand the nature of racism signifying an innocent flare to the interpretation of the shots.
The iconic court scene is highly influenced by the continuous pans to Scout to measure her interpretations and reactions to the trial sequence, which subsequently gives a child’s perspective on the omnipresent power of racism in this small-town setting. As the trial unfolds, Mulligan shows Scout’s reaction and concern for Tom Robinson as the case builds against him, despite evidence proving his innocence. It is critical to note that Scout, Jem, and their friend snuck into the courthouse and decided to sit in the rafters among the black community supporting Tom Robinson. Hence, when camera panned to show Scout, the audience simultaneously experienced the resounding weight and reactions of the black community, which was equally as powerful. As Rachel Watson emphasizes, this cinematic and symbolic use of shared space on Mulligan’s part gave white viewers “the opportunity to stand in the shoes not of an individual African American person/character, but of the African American “race” itself, thereby leaving intact notions of race as a legible sign of essential grouping ‘difference’” (420-421). Upon learning the verdict, the noted lingering shot on Scout’s facial expression conveys her ultimate confusion and sadness. Mulligan creates a space “in which the film’s primary moral agents (mostly Scout) can imagine that they sympathetically understand the point of view of an indistinct and often plural other” (Watson 422). In other words, when a child understands that this black man was wrongfully convicted, it highlights the systemic issues in this society. Mulligan further utilizes Scout’s reaction as an emotional appeal to solidify his directorial intentions which illuminate the historically unjust treatment of the black community and resounding prevalence of racism in the United States.
To secure the childish tone early on, Mulligan strategically utilizes a video montage of seemingly meaningless trinkets as the film’s opening scene. Accompanied by the assortment of toys, the audience is immediately confronted with a little girl’s nonsensical ramblings to support the naïve and innocent form of story-telling bound to unfold in the remainder of the film. The combination of childish banter accompanied by images of toys simply illuminates the expectation that the film should be understood by a wide range of audience demographics. Mulligan’s intent is to establish a mood and as Mark Holcomb from Film Quarterly so eloquently emphasized as well, “The director’s métier was mood, which To Kill a Mockingbird has to spare” (35). While the opening scene greatly emphasized the juvenile mood “the bittersweet ambience of the Finch household and the mysterious, Gothic milieu of Maycomb, Alabama… are also the stuff of childhood fancy and Mulligan captures them with aplomb” (Holcomb 35). Mulligan’s quick, yet precise, establishment of a younger mood sets the stage for the myriad of controversial topics evident in the film to be iterated on an elementary level for ease of understanding.
Following the opening video montage, Mulligan begins to establish the socioeconomic reality within Scout’s neighborhood in Maycomb. Through strategic pan shots of the shoddy state of the homes down Scout’s street, as well as the noted, albeit quick, shots of the tired neighbors’ drawn faces, Mulligan successfully provided the audience with the overall mood of the town of Maycomb, Alabama prior to any sign of racial tensions. As Scout comes into shot for the first time followed by her family home, there is a subtly noticeable contrast in the settings from the previous shots. Using visual support alone, Mulligan relates Scout’s slight social supremacy over her neighbors, for her house is more upkept and clothes noticeably clean. In the film’s first verbal encounter between Scout and a farmer, Mr. Cunningham, Mulligan achieves Scout’s social naivety with minimal dialogue. It becomes painfully obvious that Scout is unaware of her higher socioeconomic status, but in her encounter, the audience also learns that her dad, Atticus Finch, is a well-mannered and modest lawyer whom shows no interest in flaunting his wealth. Quite on the contrary, he seems intent on minimizing the socioeconomic gap between him and his peers as he purposely strives to teach Scout that there is not a noticeable monetary difference between him and Mr. Cunningham. Hence, the opening pans of the neighborhood and the initial dialogue establishes social tension even aside from racial issues that are thematically diluted for Scout’s sake, or Mulligan’s juvenile lens.
Following Atticus’ decision to defend Tom Robinson in court, Mulligan conveyed the increasing social tension, which was already prevalent as evidenced in the opening scenes, and racial tension through Scout’s experiences and juvenile reactions. In the time elapsed between the summer Atticus decided to take the case and the summer of the trial, the progression and augmentation of racial and social tension was strategically shown almost exclusively through Scout’s eyes. This is primarily evident in her behavior in school and prominent physical fighting disposition. Mulligan decided to divulge Scout’s frustration and confusion through point of view shots in her fighting scenes. When getting reprimanded in the aftermath of her physical outbursts, Scout proclaims that she was defending her father’s honor because her classmates were mocking him for defending a black man. However, in another strategically placed point of view shot, the audience learns that Scout does understand why her Dad’s case is so controversial among the white community illuminating Mulligan’s triumph in conveying her naivety. Therefore, the entirety of this time-period is expressed from the narration of a girl who does fully understand the nature of racism signifying an innocent flare to the interpretation of the shots.
The iconic court scene is highly influenced by the continuous pans to Scout to measure her interpretations and reactions to the trial sequence, which subsequently gives a child’s perspective on the omnipresent power of racism in this small-town setting. As the trial unfolds, Mulligan shows Scout’s reaction and concern for Tom Robinson as the case builds against him, despite evidence proving his innocence. It is critical to note that Scout, Jem, and their friend snuck into the courthouse and decided to sit in the rafters among the black community supporting Tom Robinson. Hence, when camera panned to show Scout, the audience simultaneously experienced the resounding weight and reactions of the black community, which was equally as powerful. As Rachel Watson emphasizes, this cinematic and symbolic use of shared space on Mulligan’s part gave white viewers “the opportunity to stand in the shoes not of an individual African American person/character, but of the African American “race” itself, thereby leaving intact notions of race as a legible sign of essential grouping ‘difference’” (420-421). Upon learning the verdict, the noted lingering shot on Scout’s facial expression conveys her ultimate confusion and sadness. Mulligan creates a space “in which the film’s primary moral agents (mostly Scout) can imagine that they sympathetically understand the point of view of an indistinct and often plural other” (Watson 422). In other words, when a child understands that this black man was wrongfully convicted, it highlights the systemic issues in this society. Mulligan further utilizes Scout’s reaction as an emotional appeal to solidify his directorial intentions which illuminate the historically unjust treatment of the black community and resounding prevalence of racism in the United States.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Mulligan strategically achieved the juvenile interpretation of racism and class relation matters through a balanced integration of Scout’s unique, childish perspective. Furthermore, the film has a combination of techniques that effectively conveyed Scout’s perspective to the audience as well. Mulligan utilizes video montage, point of view shots, pan shots, and symbolic use of space to maintain the juvenile lens throughout the duration of the film. This childish lens also adds a level of elementary interpretation to the scenes making them appear less controversial and essentially transports the viewer to their own childhood forcing them to recall how simple their worldviews were at the time, just like Scout’s. As evidenced in the scenes aforementioned, Mulligan appears to successfully manipulate a juvenile lens to aid the interpretation of the central thematic issues, such as racial and social discrimination and segregation, in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
The entire film is available to watch to stream on Netflix, or it can be accessed here.