tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post4929584976744921031..comments2024-03-26T08:18:06.895-04:00Comments on Moristotle & Co.: Sunday Review: To Kill a MockingbirdUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-74194661441963015772017-04-01T13:49:34.481-04:002017-04-01T13:49:34.481-04:00Ha, insightful observation, with accompanying vali...Ha, insightful observation, with accompanying validation from an American Lit instructor! Thanks for sharing.<br /> And congratulations on conquering the ins & outs of commenting on a Google blog!Moristotlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02211602374384087074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-5806353429390824632017-04-01T13:13:48.837-04:002017-04-01T13:13:48.837-04:00As a college student in an American Lit course in ...As a college student in an American Lit course in the 70's I read the professor's book about a small southern town where a white cheerleader riding in a truck with a black football player caused an uproar. It was a survey couirse and there were easily 300 students in an auditorium/classroom. When he asked the class what was the real point of the story I was the only one who raised a hand. The point, I said, was that "nothing really happened". The prof was beside himself that someone had gotten it. Seems I was the only one who grew up in a small southern town who understood that nothing EVER really happens in such towns, which is why the slightest variation in the norm causes such a furor. I think this is partly what informs "Mockingbird". A murder, a rape, a racial divide, what entertainment! The most exciting thing that ever happened in most of those peoples' colorless lives.Roger Owenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14263373735081837466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-59311970329260357922017-03-30T12:42:59.369-04:002017-03-30T12:42:59.369-04:00I can tell you as a Southerner there were very mix...I can tell you as a Southerner there were very mixed reactions where I lived, Brevard County Florida. The space program was just "taking off" so to speak and the town I was in was more modern than most in Florida at the time as to attitudes, but just down the old two-lane roads you could find many a Southron redneck who thought Northerners were just meddling in our business as they put it, who just did not understand that we apparently had good reasons for being a bunch of racists. My grandfather was one of them. As a boy (I was 5 in 1960 when Mockingbird came out) I was fascinated by the idea of separate bathrooms. Did black people go to the potty different, so they needed their own bathrooms? Around that time the exact scene of the shooting of the dog happened in my neighborhood. A boxer came stumbling down the street with spittle literally hanging from its jaws nearly to the ground. When she saw it my mom dragged me in the house and called the neighbors next door, where the husband was home sick. He came out with his WW II rifle and shot the dog, then a county truck came and took it away. That man was named George Morford, and he was head of security for Kennedy Space Center at the time. This is Roger Owens I have not figured out how to comment under my name.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-78296428467609915012015-07-19T14:38:18.272-04:002015-07-19T14:38:18.272-04:00Thank you, Ed. I tried to do right by the book and...Thank you, Ed. I tried to do right by the book and the movie, and it was a challenge that I am afraid I didn't meet very well. I just learned something from the 90-minute[!] "about the movie" feature, which I hadn't watched prior to writing my review. The children's friend Dill was based on Truman Capote (1924-1984), who was a friend of Harper Lee (born 1926). Like Dill, Capote had relatives in Harper Lee's hometown [Monroeville, Alabama] and lived there for years after his parents divorced.<br /> In Jonathan Price's comment, you may have noticed the "...." before his paragraph about Harper Lee. In my email to you and Jon and the others, I had also asked:<br /><br /><i>And did you see the two movies about Truman Capote, in which Harper Lee appears as a character? [</i>Capote<i> (in which Catherine Keener plays Harper Lee) and </i>Infamous<i> (in which she is played by Sandra Bullock)] I thought Lee was almost as quirky as Capote. Someone it would be fun to know.</i><br /><br />Not many commented on that, so I didn't include what Jon said:<br /><br /><i>I did see both of the Capote films, which I enjoyed. Harper Lee, I think Capote’s cousin, played a major role in those films and in the making of </i>In Cold Blood<i>.</i><br /><br />Indeed, Harper Lee advised Horton Foote, the screenwriter, and was on the set during the filming (on a lot in Hollywood).<br /> The earth didn't move under your feet or mine when we watched the movie, but I was quite moved by the film <i>about the making</i> of <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i>. As I indicated, it is 90 minutes long. And it has a title: <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285089/" rel="nofollow">Fearful Symmetry</a></i>. The link is to its IDMb entry. It was written & directed by Charles Kiselyak, and it was released in 1998. I highly recommend it to anyone really interested in the book or the movie.<br /> The DVD I borrowed from our local library was actually a DVD <i>set</i>, with the second DVD devoted mainly to Gregory Peck. If you or others are lucky, they can simply borrow the set from <i>their</i> library. It's the Legacy Series <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Mockingbird-Universal-Legacy-Series/dp/B0009X7664" rel="nofollow">To Kill a Mockingbird</a></i>, and "Gregory Peck" appears above the title on the box. The link is to Amazon.com.Moristotlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02211602374384087074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-4255246335349962552015-07-19T12:54:25.278-04:002015-07-19T12:54:25.278-04:00Well it sounds like you should be the expert now M...Well it sounds like you should be the expert now Morris. I must say that took commitment, good for you.Ednoreply@blogger.com