I will present a critical analysis on the film 'To kill a Mockingbird' which is based on the award winning novel by Harper Lee.

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Critical Analysis

To Kill a Mockingbird

Jamie Templeton

I will present a critical analysis on the film ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ which is based on the award winning novel by Harper Lee.

To kill a Mockingbird is a film where a courageous, warm hearted and distinguished lawyer takes a case on board to defend a black mans human rights. His compassionate defence against the civil liberties of an exceedingly marginalised black man, Tom Robinson and their human rights and individual liberties in general, cost’s him friendships and the town’s respect. On the other hand, he earns the love and admiration of his two children; they in particular need that awe as they have lost a mother. Even though the case had such a foregone conclusion, Academy award winning actor Gregory Peck stepped forward to defend Tom Robinson because of his passion towards the human rights and marginalising of coloured citizens.

The film was set in a deprived southern town during the great depression, where so many innocent, underprivileged coloured men were wrongly accused and lynched to sinister deaths.

There were many things that would have influenced Harper Lee to write the book ‘To kill a mockingbird’, however; there are a couple of essential factors that I think would have influenced him greatly. Firstly, the book was written during the period of the great depression, where paranoia swept the land and marginalisation was a common site. Many people like Harper lee would have mourned at the frequent sites of discrimination of the poor, religion, blacks and even the rich. However, the constant marginalisation of blacks would have driven some people crazy. The film produces a complex message of Harper Lee’s feelings. Therefore, the great depression and repression of blacks were the main factors that would have influenced Harper lee and Horton Foots (the script writer) to write the book (and the film). You could also say his past experiences influenced him to write the book.

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The film explores the topic of marginalisation in few simple ways. The repression of coloured men was extremely full on and this shown in the film on a couple of occasions. For instance, Atticus is disturbed by the way some of the poor farmers threaten the wrongly accused coloured man, Tom Robinson for something they all know he didn’t do. Another example is the way most the prejudice villagers treated Boo, differently and without much respect, as if he was a wild creature. In my opinion, Harper Lee wanted to express his feeling in a way that wouldn’t cause ...

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