A Brief Review: To Kill a Mockingbird, the Film

A Brief Review: To Kill a Mockingbird, the Film, and Go Set a Watchman

In 1962, a film named To Kill a Mockingbird came out as an adaptation of the same name novel written by the renowned American writer, Harper Lee. Starred by Gregory Peck and Mary Badham, the film primarily deals with the unusual experiences and discoveries of two young characters, Jean Louise Scout Finch, and her brother, Jem. According to the narrations, because of their lawyer father’s involvement with one rape case about one black man, Scout and Jem are exposed in their early life to serious issues of unfairness and racism and achieve fast growths. Soon after its release, the film met rather positive reviews both from critics and its global fans and was highly credited as one marvelous piece due to its brilliant performances and meaningful messages conveyed on racial equality. In July 2015, more than fifty years since the debut of To Kill a Mockingbird, a book named Go Set a Watchman was published. According to one journal, although the book was seen by the publisher as a sequel, its portrayals make it clear that it is “the early first draft of Lee’s classic work (Keith Collins, Nikhil Sonnad 2015).” While it is true that Watchman was released after the 1962 film and Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winner novel, the new book focuses on the grown-up Scout, who has developed into a 26 years old woman, and her complicated trip back to Maycomb. Based on the description, in her hometown, confused, Scout witnesses unexpectedly big changes in her father’s transformation of political attitude and goes through painful struggles as she tries to handle some social problems.

Since the day To Kill a Mockingbird was put into readers’ hands, intense discussions have been generated, with the most common topic being on merits and distinctions between the novel and the movie that is well-recognized as one of the greatest in history. Till today, it is thoroughly indicated that a higher level of respectability and acclaims is placed on the movie, instead of the book. Concerning the originality of plots, the credits of characters, and appeals of dialogues, reasons seem obvious.

From the angle of artistic invention, the majority of the audience, when in the presence of series of work, would mostly choose to weigh and examine two major aspects: the consistency of creating styles, as well as the integrity made by contents. Apparently, what Go Set a Watchman has presented fails to meet both two criterions. To a substantial number of professional critics, Go Set a Watchman is either an immaturely crafted piece or an unfinished failure. Of all the criticisms drawn from various sources, one radical negation is placed on the highly unacceptable and absurd change of the father’s personality and social values. Instead of being the one who actively defends interests of black people and advocates for fairness and equal rights, the man turns himself into a racist and participator of KKK events. In understanding this, Michiko Kakutani from New York Times establishes that the characterization is “affiliating with anti-integration, anti-black crazies (Michiko Kakutani 2015).” To make himself better understood, he acutely adds that level of shock received by readers equates itself with the horror and confusion of the female protagonist. Other complaints also focus on the lack of authenticity of dialogues. For example, one writer of The New Republic commented that the film is made up of “onslaughts of cliché and dialogue made of pamphleteering monologue or else eye-rolling chitchat (William Giraldi 2015). Without any question, messy conversations would contribute to making the plots unapproachable. The overall aesthetic beauty is therefore ruined by the incomplete story-telling, along with its largely criticized inconsistent characterization.

Thanks to the particularly unique ways of manifestation and artistic characteristics of films, To Kill a Mockingbird achieves immense benefits in its renderings of effects and the process of interacting with the audience. Whether investigating from the aspect of making adaptations or the faiths to originals, the film could be deemed as real classic. For people watching it, it must be an unforgettable experience to watch the charismatic and caring father, who serves as an eloquent lawyer in town. In the same-name novel, Atticus is remarkably portrayed as the one with enormous compassions and fair manners. This feature, when transferred onto the screen, is encountered with powerful advantages. On the court, when Atticus is defending a black man charged with rape, his silver tone and high image of justice offers one of the biggest highlights of the film. Gregory Peck’s excellent acting was even named by the American Film Institute as the greatest movie hero of the last century. Besides, the film preserves the tradition of telling the story from the perspective of a small girl, making serious matters of race and politics less intimidating, at the same time, keeping it exceedingly dramatic. It is possible that the limited time of this particular medium could at some level cause the loss of humor that are central in shaping the style of the novel. However, the penetrative and profound understandings on religious problems, racial and class issues, combined with intensely arranged plots highlighting conflicts from multiple layers, are contributive to adding depths and charm to the accomplishment of the film.

In most cases, analyzing and rating artistic works could be difficult, especially when people are attempting to compare different forms. Go Set a Watchman may fall short in some places and for some standards. However, it was written a long time ago, back when clichés were not clichés. Casting away the idea of a sequel, readers could still find exciting details and touching moments. The most important thing is anyone sitting down could draw useful experiences and feel the beauty and richness both in stories and in human nature.