26102. ChristinO - July 15, 1999
- 1:35 PM PT
MsIT,
I also love this film. I haven't seen in in a couple years, but
it's one that stays on my rotating video rental list.
Perhaps it's just me, but I don't get a sense of datedness from
this film at all. At most it seems to be maybe ten or fifteen
years older than my childhood rather than 30.
As everyone knows I grew up in the deep south. I had the good
fortune to experience both being dirt poor and being "moneyed"
depending on whether my father was disagreeing with his parents
or not. Certainly I do not recall separate drinking fountains,
but the atmosphere of TKAM does not seem long ago and far away to
me at all. In the small towns and in the rural South things do
not move nearly so quickly as in the outside world.
26105. benear - July 16, 1999 -
5:36 AM PT
Christin: Dead on. TKAM resonates for me also. Calgal is right in
one sense, we no longer have a sense of community in this country.
Those nice *safe* suburbs are so very separated from the rural
towns and inner city neighborhoods in America. In TKAM, everyone
knew everyone else regardless of class or race. The Gal doesn't
realize there are still many places like the town in TKAM and not
just in the South. But since she is so separate from it, she
assumes it does not exist any more.
When I first saw this film I was probably about 10. I can not
tell you how spooked it made me. And then to find out what a
gentle soul Boo really was at the end. Without a doubt one of my
first experiences with having the tables turned.
The message of this movie is still relevent today. Look around
you folks, America is as segregated today as it was in the 1930's.
Maybe more so. Blacks and whites live in separate communities,
see different films and worship in separate churches. Only in the
workplace do we interact. Sad.
26106. MsIvoryTower - July 16,
1999 - 6:12 AM PT
Benear, Christin
I agree with your comments regarding the small town feel of the
film. I also grew up in a community very similar, only on the
East Coast. While everyone didn't know *everyone*, my family was
very integrated into the flow of their communities,
intergenerationally. They knew what was happening, and who to
call when they needed help. However, it's not the same
environment now, and to get this sense of belonging, one needs to
move to the rural areas of America.
I do agree that this hasn't disappeared altogether, though. In
defense of Calgal's comment, I will say that when I moved to
California in the mid-1960's, it was already the anonymous,
superficial, glittery place it is now. The shock of moving from
my close knit community to Anaheim was deep, I still remember the
sense of discomfort and alienation I felt for the next few years
as I adapted to this lack of neighborhood feeling.
California is not an example of small town America, and hasn't
been (except for the extreme rural areas) since the post-war
period.
26107. MsIvoryTower - July 16,
1999 - 9:35 AM PT
Well,
This weeks films have been less than a rousing success as far as
discussion goes. Should I even bother with Roman Holiday?
26108. CalGal - July 16, 1999 -
11:20 AM PT
Ms,
Actually, I disagree that it hasn't been a success. I've enjoyed
it a great deal, although I shall have to correct Benear's
inexplicable assumption about my opinion on community. I just
haven't had time to write up my thoughts on TKAM. And yes, please
do Roman Holiday.
(BTW, Niner's off for the weekend or he'd be here.)
26120. wabbit - July 16, 1999 -
12:42 PM PT
I lost a few posts about GA and am unable to recreate them, so I'll
just add my high regard for TKAM to the rest. I loved the book as
a child (and it seems to me that children don't read these kinds
of books anymore) and I think the movie does the book justice. My
favorite scene is one MsIT mentioned, when Atticus has to shoot
the rabid dog. The look on Jem's face, the dawning realization
that there was much more to his father than he had ever suspected,
that maybe the mark of a man doesn't rely on whether everyone
knows his every accomplishment, was just beautiful. Atticus is
one of my all-time favorite characters.
I don't mind the dated feel to this film. As a comment on its
time, TKAM is very good, and it's a beautiful film to watch. It
isn't necessary for a film to feel timeless in order to be a
classic, and TKAM is that, imo. However, the bare bones of the
story could be easily extracted and worked into a contemporary
drama, or a costume drama. I'm not sure what would be gained,
though.
btw, I haven't been able to find any online reports about this,
but Peck recently received the second Marian Anderson Award in
Philadelphia for his charitable work. He was given a big chunk of
money, which he promptly donated to various charities.
26132. MsIvoryTower - July 16,
1999 - 1:42 PM PT
Funny, I had a Boo in my life, so I completely disagree regarding
his believability as a source of magic and spookiness.
(Wasn't a young, disturbed man, but an old *witch* in our
community, but the delicious wondering was the same, the fears,
the dances around her place, and ultimately the discovery of her
*gentleness* were all as captured in the story.)
26133. CalGal - July 16, 1999 -
1:54 PM PT
I wanted also to mention another Mulligan movie, The Man in the
Moon. Reese Witherspoon (currently in Election, Pleasantville,
and the remake of Liaisons) in her first movie and Sam Da Man
Waterston as her dad. Lovely coming of age movie, very much in
the tone of TKAM.
26140. MsIvoryTower - July 16,
1999 - 6:17 PM PT
Calgal
We'll have to disagree about TKAM, book and film script. It
remains a favorite book of mine, cherished from my early teens
onward. Unlike you, I find Scout a charming vehicle to tell the
story, and think she becomes more aware, grows, just as Jem does
from the experiences of those two summers and a year.
I also disagree that Atticus is a lousy lawyer (I literally gasp
at the thought), he doesn't preach at all, particularly compared
to the preaching that occurs in Gentleman's Agreement. He is true
to his character in that courtroom scene, and outlines exactly
the issues at stake in the case. Not preachy to me at all, but
burned by the injustice he knows is about to take place. Pleading
for the jurors to see beyond the color of the skins involved and
to step up to their duty. A hopeless cause, and he's fully aware
of it.
Like he said to Scout at one point, if he hadn't tried to get the
jury to do the right thing, he wouldn't have been able to live
with himself. In the end, he can accept the verdict because he
has done his best, and he has lived up to his own standards of
conduct.
"But Finch's appeal to the jury was speechifying to self-indulgent
effect."
Oh, you're a harsh judge here. Too exacting, I think. The story
is very true to form and had you ever experienced the South, even
in the late 60's you'd have seen how exacting this standard you
posit really is.
I seriously doubt he could have gotten that man off regardless of
how skilled he was, particularly with that jury. In a big city,
possibly, but in that little town? Not going to happen, which was
why I thought he'd already been planning that appeal. That's
where he thought they could find justice.
26141. arkymalarky - July 16,
1999 - 6:26 PM PT
"I seriously doubt he could have gotten that man off
regardless of how skilled he was, particularly with that jury. In
a big city, possibly, but in that little town? Not going to
happen, which was why I thought he'd already been planning that
appeal."
I think that's true. I teach TKAM in my youngest English class,
and we watched the movie after we finished the book. I asked them
to compare Meridian to their town, and the students, black and
white, seemed to think that race relations were different and
much better (don't know about the accuracy of their perceptions,
but that's another subject), but they found much in common
otherwise, especially the fact that everyone knows everybody else's
business. They also were generally positive about the movie's
adaptation of the book and really liked the cast wrt to the book's
characters.
26148. CalGal - July 17, 1999 -
6:11 AM PT
Ms,
"He is true to his character in that courtroom scene, and
outlines exactly the issues at stake in the case. Not preachy to
me at all, but burned by the injustice he knows is about to take
place. Pleading for the jurors to see beyond the color of the
skins involved and to step up to their duty. A hopeless cause,
and he's fully aware of it."
I disagree, in that he has no right to be outraged while he's
lawyering. His job is to save his client.
That is the only speechifying in the movie, though. It just bugs
me, in that I think it illustrates much of what was wrong about
the do-gooders of the time. They were more interested in showing
how bad and wrong people were in the general sense than they were
in addressing the immediate situation. I agree that the case
itself was extremely typical and it's entirely believable that
despite the best lawyering in the world, Tom would have been
found guilty.
26152. AdamSelene - July 17,
1999 - 11:47 AM PT
MsIvoryTower,
I just read your comments on TKAMockingbird. I have to agree
completely. I also grew up in the deep south, Alabama, to be
precise. Although I mostly grew up in a suburb of Birmingham, I
had a lot of relatives in very rural areas, and I view TKAM
almost as a piece of personal history.
When I first saw it (as a teenager) I was embarrassed by it.
Everything about it reminded me of the past that I was ashamed of.
After watching it a few more times over the years, it helped me
to come to terms with our past and later to deal with the assumed
racism that I get from some people when they realize where I'm
from. And finally, to be proud of what we overcame. (Or are still
overcoming, depending I guess on which southerners you're talking
about.)
As to the particulars of the movie, your comments are dead on.
Atticus is the quintessential southern gentleman. Not the
caricatures we usually get, or the ones which make the news, but
the real thing.
Of course, my favorite line from the movie was Jem's, "Why
would anyone want to look at a girl's butt?"
26156. MsIvoryTower - July 17,
1999 - 2:29 PM PT
Selene
TKAM is more than just a film about racism, it's a beautiful film
about an extraodinary man who was a man of principle, and who
truely loved and respected his children. There are few films that
capture that element of manhood that is part of what makes males
so essential to the perpetuation of civilization as we know it.
To me this film is really a tribute to men as fathers, and as
role models worthy of inspiring younger generations to greatness.
Btw, my favorite line is when Jem turns to Scout when they are
planning to sneak a peak in Boos house and says;
"I swear Scout, you act more like a girl everyday".
The ultimate brother putdown.....
26165. AdamSelene - July 17,
1999 - 7:01 PM PT
Oh - MsIt,
"TKAM is more than just a film about racism, it's a
beautiful film about an extraodinary man who was a man of
principle, and who truely loved and respected his children."
Yes, yes, and yes. You're preaching to the choir.
26231. Raskolnikov - July 19,
1999 - 2:22 PM PT
A few comments on the last few days' posts:
Cal:"I think Finch was a lousy lawyer, in this sense: he
lectured to a racist jury. Utterly foolish. It brings to mind the
only barely decent part of a horrible movie, A Time To Kill, when
McConnaughey asked the jury to pretend the little girl was white.
"
Ugh. I hated A Time to Kill, partly because of that horrible
summation. The film basically argued that if you opposed the
summary execution of rapists by the black victim's parents before
due process could take place, then you are a racist.
26238. JJBiener - July 19, 1999
- 3:22 PM PT
Rask - "I hated A Time to Kill, partly because of that
horrible summation. The film basically argued that if you opposed
the summary execution of rapists by the black victim's parents
before due process could take place, then you are a racist."
I disagree with you on this movie. I thought the point of the
summation was, "If this were your daughter, you would have
done the same thing as this man. Don't judge him differently
because he is black. He feels the same things for his children
that you feel for yours." I particularly like the part where
Jackson say, "They should rot in Hell." You don't get
that kind of honesty often.
26239. CalGal - July 19, 1999 -
3:23 PM PT
Rask,
"The film basically argued that if you opposed the summary
execution of rapists by the black victim's parents before due
process could take place, then you are a racist."
I'm not talking of the film, but of the lawyering. I agree with
you about the film.
