To Kill A Mockingbird Movie Comparison

TKM compare and contrast

Robert Mulligan’s film To Kill a Mockingbird is not completely identical to its counterpart novel of the same name, by Harper Lee, but is rather a brief condensing of the book. Although, most of the time being accurate, no movies are ever exactly the same as the novels on which they are based. There are many similarities between the film and novel; however, the contrasts outnumber the two works. No reasonable person would expect the director to include every single detail into the film. To Kill a Mockingbird was, in fact, a large book. The film director did an excellent job with including all of the main points and scenes, enough to make it directly correspond with the novel in some representations.
There are many

similarities between To Kill a Mockingbird and the film. For example, the tale took place in the same setting of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s, post-depression. Also, Harper Lee made it clear that in the summer, Maycomb was extremely hot, even at night. The town was very small, but the fact that no one came or left meant that everyone knew each other. On average, the town was overall very friendly, but was racially divided from the looming effects of slavery and the Civil War from the 1860s.
The tone and themes were also very similar between the book and the movie. At the beginning of the story, the tone was very innocent and humorous with the children. After the story continues, certain events show Scout that there are evil people in the world. As the trial to convict Tom Robinson continues, the tone becomes more serious. The themes are also very obvious in both the book and the movie. Racism was probably the biggest theme, Although Tom Robinson was clearly innocent of raping Mayella Ewell, the all-white jury found him guilty due to their own prejudice. Racism, creates not only the conflict in this story, but is also an obvious theme. Even courage is shown during the story. Atticus Finch exhibits tremendous bravery, despite the initial picture of him as a pacifist, as he represents and tries to protect Tom Robinson. As well, in the scene where he protects his family from a rabid dog, his children are allowed a glimpse of his hidden courage.
Characters in the novel and movie, To Kill a Mockingbird, were both similar and different. In the novel, Scout’s and Jem’s friend Dill was short for his age, and in the screenplay the director made sure to include that feature. Although Dill’s features were the same, his Aunt was a different person in the movie, Stephanie Crawford instead of Miss Rachel. Dill’s aunt from the novel was completely left out in the movie. The attitudes of the characters were also very similar, for example, Atticus Finch. He is the town's most respected lawyer; he is not wealthy, but he is well off in the community and kind to everyone. Many characters were also left out from the movie that were in the book. One of the most crucial characters left out from the movie was Aunt Alexandra; her role was rather long and important in the novel. When Aunt Alexandra said, “Calpurnia put my cases in the front bedroom”, before even greeting any of her family, showed how much she thought of servants as worthless. However, towards the end of the novel Aunt Alexandra seems to have a change of heart, and the author shows that even the most stubborn of all characters can change. This was an important aspect of the plot, and it would have made a great improvement to the film.
Also some scenes and events were worthy of discussion.

Starting off, anyone watching the movie can tell that the plot moves extremely fast compared to the original novel. The plot skips a lot of extra detail which gave the book it’s one of a kind aspect. Many scenes were skipped, such as when Jem trampled Ms. Debose’s flowers. Another scene that was absent was when the Finches spent time at fiches landing with other family members. The courtroom scene was virtually unchanged, in fact even giving the exact same speeches. At the end of the trial, the colored men stood for Atticus to show their respect and gratitude towards him, which was also included in the book. Many quotes were given in remembrance of the novel. One quote would include a rather famous saying by Atticus, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
For the most part, the novel and film have many things in common; after all, the film did use the same plot as the novel. However, like most film re-makes, To Kill a Mockingbird film counterpart is not subject to having identical storylines. The contrasts of the film are many, but tolerable as to not destroy the whole plot. These similarities and contrasts are not the downfall of either novel or film, rather the characteristics are what define and give each their own unique

aspects.