The film and characters of To Kill a Mockingbird - Essay Example

Based on Harper Lee’s compelling novel with the same the film “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a story narrated by Jean Louise “Scout” Finch about the events she had witnessed when she was a six-year old. The movie was set in a small town during the 1930s where Scout, her brother Jem and their widower father who was a lawyer assigned to defend a black man accused of raping the daughter of a white man. During that time, the discrimination against black people was very extensive especially in the South.

Scout and her brother experienced name-calling by their classmates in school because of their father’s job to defend a black man. Incidentally, Scout and her brother was curious about a neighbor named Boo Radley whom people in their neighborhood speculate to be a lunatic locked up by his father. Witnessing the trial of the black man, the two children witnessed the injustice in the conviction of the innocent black man. The black man was later on killed afterwards Scout’s family experienced the cruelty of some people in their community.

Towards the end of the film, Scout and Jem was shown to be assaulted by an unknown assailant and rescued by an unidentified man. Later, the assailant was identified to be Bob Ewell, the father of white woman who accused the black man. The savior of the two children was later on identified as Boo thus erasing the prejudice against Boo. The main or pertinent characters of the movie were Scout, Jem, Atticus, Boo Radley and Tim Robinson because these vital characters were the personalities where the story revolved.

The historical setting of the story was in 1930s, in a small town of Maycomb in the South. This period in American history and the location was known for the conservative views against black people and wherein black people were mistreated by most of the white people. The story was presented in a flashback as in the opening of film, the narrator indicated that she was remembering the events that occurred when she was a six-year old child. In the film, two scenes are essential in understanding the plot of the film and these two scenes are the part when the trial of the black man was in progress and the other was in the later part of the film wherein Boo Bradley was credited for his heroic deed and was finally accepted by in the neighborhood.

These parts explained the plight of the black people during that period while the other explained another aspect of prejudice against individuals whom the society regards as abnormal. The film “To Kill a Mockingbird” is highly relevant to this course because it talks about social issues such as racial discrimination and prejudices against individuals who do not fit the ideals of the society. These two social issues are the specific concepts the film embraces because racial discrimination is evident in the conviction of the innocent black man while the prejudice of individuals who are deemed to be different by social standards is represented in the film with the society’s treatment of the character Boo Radley.

Relatively, a theoretical perspective or paradigm identifiable in the film is Structural Functionalism is or The Social Facts Paradigm because the plot clearly shows the standards set by the society and how the society would remove individuals that do not conform to these social standards. Considering that the film was made in the 1960s, it still had an impact to me as a reviewer because of the compelling presentation of these issues in the society. It had enhanced my understanding that we sometimes say that we are free from prejudices and discriminating other people but there are times that we are still unconsciously guilty of these things.

The movie is still applicable now and should be viewed by everyone. Viewers must keep in mind that this kind of prejudices and racial discrimination still exists at present.