Book to Film: To Kill a Mockingbird

Book to Film

To Kill a Mockingbird

            To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the most renowned and critically acclaimed American books ever written. Robert Mulligan’s To Kill a Mockingbird is another critically acclaimed, Academy Award winning film. They are both great examples of American-made art and deserving of these high honors. They are about innocence, childhood, bias, and what is right and what is wrong. In this essay, as always, I will be analyzing the book and film, finding comparisons and contrasts between the two, and giving my opinion on both the literary and cinematic versions of the story.

   THE BOOK

            To Kill a Mockingbird is without a doubt one of the best books I’ve ever read. It is one of those that is hard to put down when you’ve started and you almost miss once you’ve finished. The story is about a young girl named Scout growing up in a small southern town and the challenges she faces in her world. It is also about her father’s own struggles with his adult world. The story is from Scouts perspective, but is able to give multiple points of view on topics, and we the readers learn about southern life in the 30s just as she learns. Over a few years we see Scout grow and learn more about the real world as opposed to her childhood one of innocence. As she begins to gain a conscience and understanding of things we begin to learn the same things from her. It’s a book with a lot to say and many messages to share.

            Like I said, while it does take Scouts perspective throughout the book it is also just as much about her father Atticus. Atticus is a lawyer defending a black man called Tom Robinson against charges of raping a white woman. This is the south in the 1930s. It is a case he knows he cannot win, but he still tries. Atticus has a lot of pressure put on him because of the severity of the case, and is threatened, spit on, and called fowl names. It becomes clear that Tom did not rape the woman, but he is still convicted because of the town’s racial bias against black people. Despite what the norm is at the time, Atticus stands up for his personal views of right and wrong. This rubs off on Scout and helps influence her own sense of morality.

   THE MOVIE

            The film adaptation is also incredibly strong and powerful. One thing it faults itself on is literal adaptation. The book covers so much and takes so much time that it is impossible to show all of it on screen. It is able to hit on everything that is necessary for the story to make sense, but leaves out a lot of important moments, so many in fact that it was a little shocking. Even entire characters like Aunt Alexandra are completely done away with. It is an extremely abridged version of Harper Lees original novel. One thing it does manage to do is capture the feel of the book. The scenes that aren’t excluded look and feel almost exactly how I imagined them in the book. It has the spirit and nostalgia of childhood. In soul it is probably the best adaptation so far. In a literal sense it is probably the worst.

            The thing that makes this a great film, direction, score, and cinematography aside, is easily the performances. Every single performance is believable, and some of them are actually astounding. I don’t think I’ve seen a group of more believable child actors in my life. They all play their parts perfectly and are identical to the characters in the book. That being said, Gregory Peck is easily the best thing about the movie. His performance as Atticus Finch won him best actor at the Oscars, beating out the likes of Peter O’Toole in the equally amazing Lawrence of Arabia (best picture winner that year). He plays Atticus exactly how he is in the novel, a man trying to do the right thing against all odds. What makes the book so great is also found in the film, even if it is missing a lot of plot.

   THE VERDICT

            These are both great forms of a great story, but it is still easy to decide which is better overall. The film is great but the book is simply a masterpiece. It is perfect in almost every way. From character to story to setting to style it is an unparalleled work of fiction that is at the very least matched to the best books I’ve read, possibly even claiming the top spot. The film is just ever so slightly flawed, but it is still a worthy adaptation of the novel. It is just incapable of reaching the novels heights. It comes as close as it can though.

   CONCLUSION

            Both are fantastic works of art. The book is still slightly better than the film, just because the book is a more in depth and frankly perfect version of a great tale.

- The Book: 10/10

- The Movie: 9.75/10