Extending the life of ‘Mockingbird’

Extending the life of ‘Mockingbird’ | July 15, 2010

I would like to see the results of a professionally conducted poll that asks people on the street four questions:

1. Have you read “To Kill A Mockingbird,” the 1960 novel by Harper Lee?

2. Have you seen the 1962 Robert Mulligan film, “To Kill A Mockingbird”?

3. Have you read the book and seen the movie?

4. If the answer is “both,” which did you do first?

A friend and I were discussing a series of first novels and their success recently. Naturally, Harper Lee popped up. What we ventured into was wondering about the quantitative effect that the excellent movie starring Gregory Peck had on extending the influence of the book.

Plenty of first novels have been made into motion pictures, but few have won the Pulitzer Prize and had the movie version win Academy Awards. Gregory Peck won for best actor, Horton Foote won for best adapted screenplay and the trio of Henry Bumstead, Alexander Golitzen and Oliver Emert won for best art direction in the category of set direction-black and white. The movie, produced by Alan J. Pakula, received five other nominations, including those of best picture, best director and best supporting actress (Mary Badham for her portrayal of narrator Scout).

Several years ago, I was talking with a new co-worker about likes and dislikes. When we came around to books, we both said, “To Kill A Mockingbird.” After we both talked about how much we liked it, I said, “Too bad she wrote only one novel,” Charlie said, “Yeah, but what a novel. Maybe she decided that she got it right the first time, so why write another one.”

The movie has its fans, too, and I am one of them. But some people love the movie, have never read the book and have no desire to do so. But as a fan of both, I have wondered how much the movie helped prolong the popularity of the book. I believe that the book stands on its own and still would be popular, but I can’t help but think that the superb movie version sent some people looking for the book in the library or the bookstore.

At any rate, the book-movie combination has had an effect in our culture. Babies have been named Scout and Atticus and a number of bands have had names from the work … the Boo Radleys and Atticus come to mind. Other bands have had songs that make a reference. Many television shows, from “The Simpsons” to” Frasier,” have had episodes that use character names, have puns on the title and make other references. Atticus Finch, the character, is a beloved hero among many lawyers and is considered a sterling example of the pinnacle of integrity of the legal profession.

Maybe some college professors have opinions on the topic, but I doubt that the effect of the movie on the novel’s longevity is measurable and I think we’ll always be wondering.

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