Kill a Mockingbird Is a Essay

Unlike other court depictions, the questioning of the witnesses and Robinson occur in the center of the room, creating a more intense feeling of interrogation.

The editing of the film helps to further drive the story. Shooting the film in black and white helps to exasperate the tension between social classes while commenting on the fact that the morality is not as simple as black and white and that there are many grey areas. The passage of time is marked by transitions in which a preceding scene fades into the next. Long shots are utilized to show the freedom that the children have within their neighborhood as they travel down the street and throughout town. The use of medium and medium close-up shots is best represented during the closing arguments of Robinson's trial in which Atticus tries to convince the jury to find his client innocent of the charges brought against him. High angle shots are also utilized in the courtroom scenes as the children look down at their father from the upper, segregated deck. One of the most remarkable uses of light and darkness occurs when Atticus is keeping watch over Robinson at the jail. Atticus sits by the jailhouse doors reading a book under a single beacon of light shining from a lamp which he was brought from home.Though much around him appears to be dark, Atticus stands apart from the crowd and offers hope to an innocent man. When the angry mob tries to overtake Atticus, it is his children, and Dill, that come to his aid, joining him and helping others be enlightened to innocence being lost and the morals that have come into question.

Though the children's innocence is lost and their lives are forever changed, they welcome the knowledge that has replaced their innocence and are more accepting than their predecessors of those that are different. To Kill a Mockingbird effectively shows how community and social status shape individuals and their perceptions of others.

Works Cited

Mulligan, Robert, dir. To Kill a Mockingbird.….....