In the 1996 film
adaptation of John Grisham’s novel of the same name, A Time
to Kill is the story of the trial of a distraught father and the racial
dynamics of a Southern town. Set in Clanton, Mississippi, a young ten year old
black girl is viciously raped and almost murdered by two redneck, beer-guzzling
white men. It is obvious that the men, Billy Ray Cobb and James Lewis Willard,
are extremely racist as they are shown driving around town in their beat-up
pickup truck, assaulting innocent African American bystanders. It is made very
clear by the way they are shown that they represent the redneck racist due to
the truck itself, drinking while driving, the confederate flag in the back
window of the truck, and their bellies hanging out of their shirts in plain
view. It’s definitely not a pretty picture. Out of fear that Willard and Cobb will
get off with no punishment for their crimes, Carl Lee Hailey, the little girl’s
father, takes justice into his own hands. This is the only way he sees that the
men will get what they deserve. The night before Willard and Cobb’s trial,
Hailey enters the Justice Building and hides in a closet overnight. Upon the
two men walking in, he bursts out of the closet and guns them down, killing
them and injuring an innocent police officer in the line of fire. Hailey is
subsequently charged with murder and must face a racially biased, initially
unfair jury. There are multiple instances where characters have already
condemned Hailey as being guilty because they know he has virtually no hope of
winning the trial just because of his race.
Cobb’s brother, angered by the lack of immediate justice
for his brother’s death, incites the Ku Klux Klan back into action, even
against whites siding with Hailey. He even refers to them as the “good,
God-fearing Klan”. Of course, this just seems ridiculous to the vast majority
today as we realize that they were just perpetuating hate and violence.
However, it wasn’t only the whites that were cast in a bad light. The African
American pastor of Hailey’s church is depicted as deceiving and wanting only
his own personal gain and advancement. The members of the NAACP appeared
interested only in the monetary gain of becoming Hailey’s legal team instead of
caring for his liberation. The south is generally negatively portrayed all the
way around, with the few exceptions of Hailey’s legal team and the jury that
sides with Hailey in the end. The negative portrayals of the south seem to far
outweigh the positive. - Shelby Heathcoat
The negatives in this film do seem to outweigh the positives of the southerners. However, I am just glad that there is at least one film that shows any positive characteristics of southerners at all. I think it is ironic that there are so many films of hillbillies raping girls when it was the southerners that stereotyped the African American men as the rapist's that should be kept away from the white southern women. I wonder if this irony is coincidental or trying to make a point.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. I didn't even think about that at the time I was writing the entry. While I was watching it, it seemed like the movie was set about 40 or 50 years ago, but from some clues in the movie apparently it was set in the late 80's or early 90's. That kind of surprised me that this sort of brutality was portrayed to still be going on, but I suppose in some areas it really might be. It wasn't always easy to watch, but people need to be aware that this kind of stuff could still actually happen.
ReplyDeleteThe film's setting, Clanton, Mississippi, plays a huge part in the film, but I am surprised about the time period of the movie. I have not watched this movie before, but based on Shelby's description, I thought that it was set during the 1950s like most movies featuring the KKK. If I wasn't from the South and watched this movie, I would assume that these events still happen, which reinforces Shelby's claim about the negative portrayals of the South.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I find the film's poster interesting. No color exists except for the character's faces. The black and white provides a stark contrast of death/evil and purity. Additionally, I find the hierarchy of the starring characters interesting. Bullock, the white woman, is placed first, while Jackson, the black man, is placed in the middle. Last is McConaughey, the white man, placed at the bottom. Maybe this placing has to do with the fame and prestigiousness of the actors and actresses, but based on the history of the South, this is not a normal hierarchy.
While I've never seen the movie I read the book several years ago and enjoyed it. The book, and I'm sure the movie does as well, plays out like a modern day "To Kill a Mockingbird." While the rapists and their supporters represent the racist South, other characters are less detrimentally stereotyped. This movie, and book could only be set in the South because if set in the North or West the racially biased population and unfair justice system would not be believable. It's as if racism of this magnitude can only exist in the South. It seems to be that rape and racism are major factors that contribute to the negative stereotypes of the South because they continually surface again and again in literature and film. These reoccurring themes continue to reinforce the negative stereotypes the South faces.
ReplyDeleteThe movie is actually set about ten years after the University of Mississippi was intergrated. So it is also interesting that the movie points out how long it does take for Mississippians to overcome their own personal racist ways of thinking. I think that this film definitely aims at the reeducation of the southerner by making the viewer confront their own opinions. The viewer can put themselves in the place of any of the characters and wear the hat that they would have chosen given the sitaution. What would you have done if you were Carl Hailey? What would you have done if you were Jake Brigance? What would you have decided if you were on that jury? These are all questions the viewer must ask, and then based on their answer they would have to consider that they would do the same thing regardless of his or her race.
ReplyDelete