To Kill A Mockingbird

Most people recall reading the actual novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ or seeing the movie in middle school except for me. I was never assigned to read the novel although I can recognize the title. Every time someone would mention ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, I’d always hear good things about it. People would always say it’s a good book and that i should read it but I never got around to it. So this is my first time ever seeing the story line/plot for this novel turned into a movie. ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ from what I have seen is about the father of two children named Scout and Jem who is a lawyer and ends up on the defendant’s  side of a black man accused of raping a white woman. After seeing the jury scene with the white women strongly accusing the black man of rape and beating her, I came to the conclusion that the mockingbird is most likely a symbol of 'black men' in times of slavery, racism, and discrimination.

After seeing that one court decision scene I then felt my conclusion was correct considering all the jury members accused the black man of being guilty. This means that the black man will most likely be in jail until he dies or will receive the death penalty; which correlates with the title of the novel. I then remembered that a lot of the times the back cover to all books give a slight preview to what the novel will be about. When looking at the back cover I came across a quote that states, “Shoot all the Bluejays you want if you can hit'em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” From there I compared this movie to ‘The Hunger Games’ series and how the second book it titled ‘mockingjay’ which is relatively the same thing as a ‘mockingbird’. In ‘The Hunger Games’, the main character Katniss Everdeen has volunteered to be in a fight to the death ‘game’ for the world to see. I’ve never read the book but from watching the movie I know that she’s a young, innocent, kind-hearted, caring, loving, and peaceful individual in a horrible situation. This a lot like the black man in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’; from what I see in the movie he’s a nice, caring, thoughtful, helpful, and generous man being accused of rape (ultimately accused of being guilty by an all white jury).

The mockingbird a lot like the dove, a symbol of peace, love, and innocence - and to kill one that is innocent is a sin. In a way, especially in the time period in the movie mostly all black people are ‘mockingbirds’. Peaceful people working hard to stay alive considering they have targets on their backs the day they’re born. One wrong move could cost them their lives. And it’s so easy to accuse a black person of a crime back then since ‘they couldn’t be trusted’, and ‘they were out to take the white man’s women’. In the movie the white women who has been ‘raped’ seems like she’s guilty of more so taking advantage of the black man she’s accusing and is scared of getting in trouble with her father and decides to blame him and send him to jail instead of seeming like a monster for liking a man who isn’t white. Blaming the innocent and killing the innocent may be easy but it’s a sin to do so.   

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

Monty Python and The Holy Grail, I felt was a satire on either religion or almost a satire on the American dream. In the situation referring to Religion I see it as God gives everyone a purpose in life. King Arthur and Sir Lancelot and others go on a adventure and on the way God greets them with this purpose/mission of finding the Holy Grail. And with this mission they run into an abundance of obstacles and often fall into the traps getting distracted. In the end they arrive at their ‘destination’ and prepare to retrieve the Holy Grail, but their mission is cut short because it’s the end of the movie. The way I interpreted it was in all religions, one is given a purpose by their ‘God’ and therefore one should do any and everything to achieve it ignoring the obstacles (sins). In the movie all the obstacles slowed down the group leading them away from their goal.

The alternative target is the idea/theme of the American dream. The American dream is this goal we want to achieve so bad (the Holy Grail) yet so many things distract us (The three headed giant, The black knight, the witch, The troll) making the American Dream impossible to achieve and reach (The ending of no Holy Grail in possession). Depending on how you see the ideal ‘American Dream’ you could compare it to this film; saying the American dream is a myth in a way. Or you can believe in it. I see this almost like ‘Of Mice and Men’, Lennie and George trying so hard to reach this goal. A farm with bunnies on it. Lennie sadly causes trouble and forces George to kill him to spare him from any other pain. The American Dream dies at that exact moment considering their goal consisted of the two of them together. I see Monty Python and The Holy Grail as an old 1300’s, comedic version of ‘Of Mice and Men’.

Precious

This movie is honestly the saddest movie I’ve seen the director of this movie did a successful job in picking actresses to portray and express such strong, powerful and raw emotion. I can't help but feel bad for 'Precious', she's stuck in a household with her mother who doesn't care about her. Ironically her name is Clarice Precious Jones, everyone calls her ‘Precious’ and how she’s treated is the exact opposite of what her name would imply. Her mother constantly tells her that she’s stupid, fat, and ugly. Anything to put the girl down, yet has her doing everything for her. Cooking, cleaning, getting cigarettes, even sexual things. And that’s the least of her worries considering she was raped by her own father and had an ‘abnormal’ daughter, is pregnant again, and got kicked out of school. Everything in precious’s life is going wrong and it seems like she’s just going to get no where. Luckily she was offered an alternative way to get an education which seems like it’ll be a break for her to become something greater other than her mother’s slave/maid.

I find it so sad and depressing that people actually live lives like that and have to just ‘make due’ with the hand they were given. This movie really make you look at your life in a different light and makes you grateful and appreciative for your life. People in those situations really need help and a positive role model otherwise they’d be stuck and lost. I’ve seen the ending of the movie and I know that Precious tells the truth about how she’s been living and no longer has to stay with her mother in that God forsaken apartment.  household. The apparent themes in this movie are strength and prevailing. Without these two attributes I don’t believe Precious would have made it.