Paul E. Turtola
Teaching Prejudice: A Film Presentation and Discussion of
To Kill a Mockingbird
One of the first presentations of the course will be a screening of the film version of Harper Lee’s
To Kill a Mockingbird
. It is an adequate first look at the Depression Era South and shows the existence of prejudice and racial tension in our country. Through the eyes of “Scout,” a feisty six-year-old tomboy, the film carries us on an odyssey through the prejudice and injustice in 1932 Alabama.
Presenting her tale first as a reminiscence of events from her childhood, the narrator draws us near with stories of neighborhood exploits by she, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill. Peopled with a cast of eccentrics, Macomb (“a tired and sleepy town”) finds itself the venue of the trial of Tom Robinson, a young black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem’s widowed father and a deeply principled man, is appointed to defend Tom, for whom a guilty verdict from an all-white jury is a foregone conclusion.
Juxtaposed against the story of the trial is the children’s hit-and-run relationship with Boo Radley, a shut-in who the children and Dill’s Aunt Stephanie suspect of insanity and whom no one has seen in recent history. But fear keeps them at a distance until, one night, the children confront an evil born of ignorance and blind hatred and must somehow find their way home. Finch similarly takes on the white courtroom, and working against all odds, proceeds to fight for equality and justice.
Post Film Activities
Students are to bring to class a definition and an example of stereotype. Then, in small self-selected groups, students identify the social groups at Fair Haven Middle School. They list several characteristics and several values of each group. Students discuss the following questions:
-
To which group do you belong?
-
Which other groups do you or would you associate with?
-
Which groups would you never associate with and why?
-
What characteristics or values do these groups have that conflict with yours?
-
Do those groups feel the same way about your group? Explain.
-
Why does each group hold these views of the other?
-
Why do you have these feelings about different groups?
A representative from each group shares the group’s observations and conclusions with the entire class. The class discusses the implications of these observations and conclusions. Some additional questions the instructor may pose:
-
What happens when people make these kinds of assumptions about others?
-
What are the positive and negative consequences of identifying yourself with a particular group and excluding yourself from other groups?
-
What forms of group identification are legitimate?
-
Which are unjustified?
-
Why do people make such unjustified distinctions?
-
Why is it hard to express attitudes that conflict with those of your group?
-
How do group members respond to dissent? Why?
-
How do you feel about those who disagree with the rest of the group?
-
How does the group members’ response make the dissenters feel? Why?
After this discussion concerning group vs. individual thinking, the instructor should ask a number of questions that pertain to the film they watched:
-
What groups of people are covered in this book? (Townspeople, Blacks, people like the Cunninghams, the Ewells.)
-
What are Aunt Stephanie’s attitudes about others?
-
Why did she feel this way about each group?
-
Was she fair? Why or why not?
-
What were Jem and Scout’s theories on class distinctions? What stereotypes do people have of poor people, and to go even further, of wealthy people?
-
Why did they come up with these theories?
-
Why did the theories make some sense to them?
-
How reasonable were they?
-
Where did they miss the mark?
-
Where does Boo fit in?
-
Would he have been treated differently if he had been from another class?
It is suggested that the film be presented in two class periods so that plenty of discussion time is available after the screening of the film. One of the most important objectives of this unit is to promote and develop students’ ability to respond critically. After each presentation that is offered in class, ample time must be provided for either a group discussion or individual written response time.
By the end of the course a culmination of the students’ responses toward each presentation should supply the teacher with plenty of data to evaluate the progress each person has made towards critical expression.
Beginning the course with a visual presentation like a film could be a good way of getting the needed attention in class. It is suggested that the class not read either the novel or play version of To Kill a Mockingbird, for there will be plenty of reading involved with other parts of the course. By alternately presenting the class with visual and acoustic data, reading and writing may be accepted more freely than a course which requires a strictly “read and write” demand on them.
Turning From Drama to Theater: Live Presentations
A few ideas deal with studying a variety of American plays written about famous American statesmen. I would like to give students a taste of live theatre by possibly scheduling a field trip to see the Broadway production of 1776, or perhaps it will come to New Haven as a national tour. The premiere of The Civil War at New Haven’s Shubert Theater in February 1999 seems like a field trip possibility, and with some advanced planning, perhaps special rehearsal viewing or class demonstrations may be arranged.
Another play, Citizen Tom Paine, by Howard Fast, can also be studied. In the play, students may be able to understand the events which led up to the idea of a Declaration of Independence, learn about the time period of early America, and understand what type of person the writer of Common Sense was like. An Act One performance from an ambitious drama class may be able to perform it as their marking period-long project.