To Kill a Mockingbird

Abstract

Over its 40-year life span, Robert Mulligan's To Kill a Mockingbird has achieved an almost mythic status. Luminaries inside and outside the American filmmaking community have touted its virtues as a work of art and a galvanizing incitement to social justice, but few have dared to question its validity as a sociopolitical touchstone. This essay does just that, arguing that, in spite of the film's lingering appeal and aesthetic accomplishments,its low-key warmth, comfortable stereotypes, and ossified good intentions may actually obscure the questions of race and class upon which its iconic reputation rests.