Setting of This Classic Film

¶ … setting of this classic film is the deep South during the Great Depression. The story is told through the eyes of a young girl, named Scout, played in the movie by Mary Badham, whose father is a prominent lawyer in the small, fictitious Alabama town of Maycomb. The Depression has hit Maycomb hard but Scout's family, which consists of herself, her brother, Jem, played by Phillip Alford, and her father, Atticus, have been largely unaffected. The role of Atticus is played by Gregory Peck.

The plot of the movie centers on the fate of a local black man who is represented by Scout's father. The young black man is charged with the rape of young white woman and, despite the sterling defense offered by Atticus, is ultimately convicted. In a twist to the plot, the convicted black man, under suspicious circumstances, escapes from jail and is subsequently killed by his pursuers.

After the furor of the trial has died down Bob Ewell, father of the alleged victim, begins threatening Atticus for embarrassing him in court, resolves to get even with him. Atticus gives little concern to such threats but the Ewell proofs true to his word and attacks the Finch children on Halloween night with a knife. The assault results in injuries to Jem and Scout but Boo comes to their rescue and kills Ewell.

The story also has a subplot wherein Scout and her brother, joined by a friend named Dill, played by John Megna, develop a fascination with a local resident, Boo Radley. Radley, played by a young Robert Duvall, lives with his brother but lives a mysterious life that provides fodder for the three young children to imagine all sorts of strange possibilities about Boo's life. To amuse themselves the three children begin a relentless campaign to get Boom, who is reclusive, to come out of his house. Despite warnings from Scout's father urging the children to leave Boo alone, the three youngsters persist in their wonderings about Boo and, through a strange set of circumstances, the children actually develop a relationship with Boo even though they never actually have any contact with him until Boo actually acts to save Scout's life.

Scout and her family enjoy an exalted position in their community. As the daughter of one of the town's most successful attorney's Scout and her brother have few material wants and this does not change during the course of the story but her family is placed under significant scrutiny by the other white citizens of the town resulting from her father's representing Tom Robinson. Both children were teased and abused at school and around town as the other citizens expressed their dissatisfaction over the fact that Atticus had decided to take on the representation of Robinson. The entire town had decided that Robinson, played by Brock Peters, was guilty and that no trial was necessary.

The movie closes with Scout reflecting on what has occurred. She has recovered completely from the injuries that she received the night Boo saved her and her father has continued to run his law practice just like he always. Normalcy has returned. Scout, however, has matured significantly after being exposed to the evils of prejudice, both racial and personal.

The major theme of the movie is its examination of whether or not human nature is essentially good or evil. In this regard, the focus is on the transformation of the two young children, the siblings, Jem and Scout, from two innocent children who view the world as innocents and how, because of a series of events in their young lives, begin to see the world much differently. During the course of one summer both children are exposed to several situations where they are exposed to how evil man can be toward each other and, in the process, both of them lose a portion of their innocence.

Scout and her brother, Jem, are transformed at the expense of two of the stories more important characters, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. Both Boo and Tom are revealed through the telling of the story as good men. Neither man has ever done anything to distinguish themselves as having any aspect of evil in their hearts and their ability to handle the effects of evil is brought into focus as the events of the story unfold. Both men are eventually destroyed by the factors of hatred, prejudice, and ignorance that pervade Maycomb, Alabama.

The model of moral correctness throughout the entire story is the figure of Atticus Finch. In a town where hate and prejudice run rampant, Atticus is depicted as being above the fray and possessing unquestioned dignity and honor. Atticus possesses the wisdom to understand that every man has both good and evil in his character and that the battle in life is to make sure that the good features outweigh the bad. Atticus is careful to maintain balance in his views toward the actions of others and attempts to pass this feature onto his two children. Remarkably, Atticus is able to treat every character in the movie with dignity and respect regardless of what they have done.

Although the major story lines address the events that involve Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, the actual theme of the book is the moral education of the story's narrator, Scout. Scout and her brother are faced to witness events that challenge their view of the world. Both children are exposed to a variety of situations where they face adults whose behavior is less than exemplary and runs contrary to the lessons espoused to them by their father. Atticus, however, remains a strong moral compass and works diligently to be an example for his children.

The Depression and its effects are demonstrated throughout the story as is the framework of a segregated South. The movie lays out for the viewer how society in the deep South was organized in days surrounding the Depression and, in doing so, it also reveals the capriciousness of such organization. Atticus Finch and his children are members of the white elite but they do not possess the same racist and elitist attitudes that pervade such society. Beneath the white elite are the towns people who comprise the majority of Maycomb. In the course of the movie, this group fails to distinguish itself in any significant way but as most of the jury that convicted Tom Robinson are members of this group their general attitude is reflected by the fact that they convict Robinson despite overwhelming evidence that he was innocent. The two groups that receive the most scrutiny in the movie are the country farmers like the Cunninghams and the white trash characterized by the Ewalls who bring the false charges against Tom Robinson. The prejudices and harshness of both groups are displayed in abundance as the story unfolds. The final group in the movie is the town's black citizens. As one would expect, these individuals live on the periphery of society and offer the other citizens a perfect scapegoat for nearly everything bad that occurs. The fact that false charges could be brought against one of their number by someone as unreliable as Mayella Violet Ewell is a testament to the low station that Blacks held in Depression era Maycomb. The effectiveness of the movie is its capacity to depict these arbitrary social divisions as being both irrational and destructive to overall fabric of society. It is through the narrator, young and impressionable Scout, and her personal reflections and thoughts that the perplexities of Southern society are revealed.

The timeliness of the release of to Kill a Mockingbird added to its impact as both a film and a commentary on the social condition that the movie addresses. Released in 1962, American society was embroiled a civil rights debate that was threatening to divide its basic framework. Riots were breaking out in several different areas of the South and had spilled over to the Northern cities as well. The relationships between the races in America were at a breaking point and Mockingbird quickly became a voice for those who opposed the injustice that was occurring throughout the United States in the area of civil rights.

The film provided powerful insights into how life actually was in America's South and contributed to how Americans began viewing the inherent problems of such life. The most glaring statement offered by the movie is the conduct of the trial. The director of the film takes a real risk by highlighting how ineffective the jury system operated in the South and how a black man could be convicted despite strong evidence to the contrary. The film also demonstrates that the social norms in the South dictated that white woman's word was truth especially when balanced against the word of a black man and that justice in the South was not based on the actual facts but by a person's race. In light of the circumstances present in the country at the time of the movie's release, the possibility of its stoking the flames of the unrest that was present in American society was considerable but, instead, the movie proved to be enlightening to those that still questioned the need for civil rights reform. Like other symbols of the civil rights movement such as the song "We shall overcome" and peaceful sit-ins, to Kill a Mockingbird quickly assumed a similar position.

As the focus of the movie was on right and wrong, the director of this film, Robert Mulligan, provided the American movie viewing public with a strong lesson in justice but he was also able, largely through the character of Atticus Finch, to demonstrate that humanity can still prevail even under difficult circumstances. Mulligan could have soften the message and still have captured the essence of the book upon which the movie was based but, instead, Mulligan made a deliberate statement in the way that he portrayed the characters in the story and how the movie told the story. He took on the ways of the American South where the beliefs of men, despite their moral depravity, ruled their actions instead of the laws that these same men professed to honor.

To Kill a Mockingbird is fictional story but it still portrayed the realities of racism in the South. The setting is in the 1930s during the height of the Depression and relates the realities of racism in the South during that time but it was as easily applicable to the conditions present three decades later in the same location. Little had changed and many watching the film were able to identify with what fictionally occurs in the 1930s with what was still occurring in the American South as the movie was released in 1962. The author of the book that the film was based on, Harper Lee, used her own experiences growing up in a small town in Alabama and several events that occurred later in her life in writing the book and such fact lends a measure of credibility to the story and the movie's director expertly maintained the integrity of the message intended by the author.

The narrator of the story, Scout, possesses a most unusual personality. The fact that she is essentially what one would describe as a tomboy in a South where young girls were expected to be prim and proper. Charactering her personality in this way draws the viewer immediately and causes one to be more interested in her commentary. In addition to her being a tomboy, however, and lending additional complexity to her character, Scout is also highly intelligent, unusually confident, unusually thoughtful, but also unusually well behaved. Each of these traits seems too good to be true until one observes the behavior of her father, Atticus. Atticus Finch is a strong, moral individual who raised his two children, in the absence of their deceased mother, in such a manner as to nurture their minds, develop a strong sense of conscience, and individuality that allows both children to be healthily independent. This individuality allows Scout to feel comfortable with herself in a time when little girls were expected to be wearing frilly little dresses and be content acting quiet and demure. Instead, Scout is happy wearing overalls and playing with her brother and their mutual friend, Dill, climbing trees, sitting in tree houses, and imagining adventures involving the town oddity, Boo Radley. These are admirable qualities and the viewer is endeared by them and to Scout but it is her lack of prejudice and naive honesty that movie viewers find most compelling.

Because Scout is the narrator of the film many viewers of the film may miss the fact that the film's main focus is on Scout's development as a person and not on the events that make up the story line in the movie. Most viewers will focus their attention on the racism present or the statements on the Southern life-style and miss the fact that the film is a commentary on the maturation of Scout's personality. The movie begins with Scout being an innocent carefree individual whose greatest concern is which tree she is going to climb and emerges as a young girl who has been exposed to some cruel and evil human traits but is able to maintain her faith in humanity and not become cynical. Like her father, Scout is able to experience the effects of both good and evil and determine that despite the strength of some evils good can still prevail. Because Scout is the narrator she is able to clearly demonstrate this fact by explaining her perspective as the movie comes to an end. Even though she remains a young girl at the end of the movie, the perspective that she offers makes her seem much older.

Without a doubt the most admirable character in the movie is Atticus Finch. In some ways Atticus appears to be snobbish and aloof but the viewer soon learns that such observations are more a function of his balanced and careful character than any form of arrogance. In fact, there is little or no arrogance in Atticus. In reality, he is a gentle and understanding individual.

Atticus is a pillar in his town. He is respected by everyone because of his high level of intelligence and overall behavior but this all changes when he decides to represent Tom Robinson. The same personality traits and moral strengths that made everyone in town admire Atticus also convinced him that he could stand by idly and allow racial prejudice to convict an innocent man merely because of his race. Not unexpectedly, Atticus' actions make him the source of ridicule and scorn by the very people who had admired him only a few days earlier.

The true strength of Atticus' character is represented by the fact that his personality is not affected by his experience in representing Tom Robinson. Despite the fact that Atticus is exposed to the full breadth of the prejudices present in his fellow townspeople, Atticus is able to overlook the bad qualities that he observed during the trial and continue treating his neighbors with the same measure of respect and dignity that he always did. He and his client, Tom Robinson, were made to suffer the indignities of the trial but in the end Atticus remains dedicated to his undying belief in truth and justice. Unlike his daughter who is positively transformed by her experiences throughout the movie, Atticus is the perfect example of consistency. He remains throughout the movie the same character he was as the story began.

Considerable attention is given to Scout and Atticus and, as a result, Atticus' other child, Jem is often overlooked. Jem is exposed to the same experiences that his sister is forced to address but reacts to those events somewhat more aggressively and, some may claim, inappropriately. Jem is less accepting of the unjust events and, at first, reacts negatively but, eventually, in another testament to the parenting skills of Atticus, he too comes back to the point where he reflects the values of his father.

Offered as a contrast to the overall goodness of Atticus, Atticus' sister, Aunt Stephanie, played by Alice Ghostley, is much more ingrained into the stereotypical Southern values that Atticus does not necessarily support. Aunt Stephanie tries to bring a sense of femininity to the household that Scout resents. Scout is content with the way that things have been and resents the presence of Aunt Stephanie. Additionally, Aunt Stephanie also espouses the local Maycomb prejudices in direct conflict with the views held by her brother. Again, this fact bothers the Finch children and there is open rebellion expressed by both of them.

Aunt Stephanie's willingness to be openly racist makes her appealing to the other residents of Maycomb and she is, therefore, readily accepted into Maycomb society. This is in stark contrast to the fact that the rest of the Finch household remains somewhat detached from the bulk of Maycomb activities. As the movie progresses, viewers might expect that Aunt Stephanie's viewpoints might result in her being alienated from the rest of the Finch household but, once again, the strength of Atticus' leadership and example wins out and Aunt Stephanie begins to become endeared by the children and comes to her brother's support as his difficulties increase as the trial progresses, Tom is killed, and the children are assaulted by Bob Ewell.

Boo Radley is the most mysterious character in the movie. Depicted early in the movie as some form of lunatic or mentally deficient individual, this is reinforced by the fact that he confined to his brother's house and is never seen by any other Maycomb residents. The Finch children, along with their friend Dill, spend considerable time making up stories about Boo. They possess no real information about Boo but this does not stop them from imagining and, as a result, developing a unreasonable fear of him.

The reality of Boo's personality takes most of the movie to develop and it is done by bits and pieces throughout the movie. Little by little Boo reveals that he is harmless and childlike individual by his leaving anonymous gifts for the children but his efforts are eventually thwarted by his overbearing father. In the end, however, Boo is instrumental in saving the lives of the Finch children by interfering with Bob Ewell's assault. In an act of humanity that is unexpected, the town sheriff mercifully spares Boo from public scrutiny in regard to his involvement in saving the Finch children which is further evidence that supports the theme of the movie that argues that there is good and evil in everyone.

The full embodiment of evil in the movie is represented by Bob Ewell. Ewell's character was played in the movie by James Anderson and he is portrayed as a useless, abusive individual who is raising his large family in deplorable conditions. In addition to being continuously drunk, Ewell forces his children to live in squalor and filth while he travels around town being foul mouthed and drunk. Ewell becomes important to the story as it is his daughter, Mayella, who is the alleged victim in Tom Robinson's prosecution. The relationship between Mayella and Ewell prior to the alleged incident is marginal at best but Ewell's true lack of any redeeming quality is displayed in his testimony at trial relative to his concern and also by the fact that there is some question presented that the allegations against Robinson are a contrived effort to disguise his own abuse of her.

As a counter-balance to the death of Tom Robinson, which was evidence of evil's triumph over goodness, Ewell's eventual death at the hands of Boo Radley represented the opposite. Ewell represents evil personified and fails to ever offer any positive good element at any time so when he is eventually killed while assaulting the Finch children and killed by the innocent Boo it is symbolic that good will ultimately prevail.

Unlike her father who is the personification of evil, Mayella Ewell, represents the fact that there is often good and evil in a person. On a positive note, Mayella, works hard to help her family and she is a sympathetic character due to the circumstances under which she is forced to live. Even her seduction of Tom Robinson which led to her father's contriving the alleged rape is understandable as she is depicted as a lonely, frustrated individual who was being attracted to the only person in her life that had been nice to her. In contrast, however, Mayella, also was complicit with her father in testifying against Tom Robinson and was, at least, marginally responsible for his eventual death.

In stark contrast to the personified evilness of Bob Ewell, Tom Robinson represents goodness personified. From beginning to end, Robinson represents everything that is normally considered admirable in human beings. He is soft and gentle and highly charitable. Ironically, it is his charity that led to his eventual legal difficulties that also contributed to his death. Robinson, put aside concerns for his own welfare and adherence to Southern customs by voluntarily assisting Mayella, but his good acts were trumped by the evilness of Bob Ewell and the complicity of the very person that Robinson was trying to help: another example of evil overcoming good.

There are some other contrasts in the person of Robinson. Robinson is a large, muscular black man whose personality is surprisingly the opposite. His size would tend to make one believe that he was an aggressive and dangerous individual and, as such, it would be easy to visualize him as a potential assaulter or rapist but throughout the trial every indication is that he just the opposite. Even as he is facing a possible conviction, Robinson refuses to repeat the foul language used by Ewell subsequent to the alleged rape and he refuses to ever accuse Mayella, his accuser, of lying. Instead, Robinson merely claims that she must be mistaken. His goodness remains consistent to the end just like Bob Ewell's evilness remains consistent to his end as well.

The reason that the movie works so effectively is that the characters in Maycomb so effectively represent the stereotypes of the American South in the 1930s. In Maycomb rumors spread rapidly and very seldom based on truth. The prejudices that are displayed in the movie, mostly about whites and blacks, but there are others offered as well and they are all clearly displayed. There is a consistent pattern of behavior among the residents of Maycomb and these consistencies contribute heavily to how the story develops.

The portrayal of the black community of Maycomb is an important aspect of the story. Throughout the movie the community is pictured as living on the fringe of the town and isolated from the remainder of Maycomb society. Any doubt as to this fact is clearly clarified in the movie when Robinson's trial begins and the entire black community is forced to sit apart from the rest of the Maycomb citizenry. The pictures of the Maycomb black community sitting together in the balcony of the court room away from the whites is particularly compelling as it effectively reveals the striking differences between the two communities. Watching these scenes one obtains insight into how oppressively blacks were treated in the deep South in the 1930s.

One of the strongest statements made in the movie is the comparison made between the basic character of the black community and that of the white community where the Ewell's lived. The black community is portrayed as living a simple existence but one characterized by hard work and dedication to family while the Ewells, viewed as white trash, are portrayed as dirty, lazy individuals without any dedication to their family. The contrast is a strong one and its inclusion in the movie is a daring attempt by the makers of the movie to send a strong message that race is not determinative of moral goodness. The movie depicts the blacks in the movie as being much more accepting and kind than the whites which contrasts with the common perception that blacks were basically immoral and worthless.