the movie adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird

I had both read and seen To Kill a Mockingbird a few times before our class, and I've never been able to decide if I think the movie or the novel is better. There are few movie adapations of novels that I think we can count as good as or even possibly better than its novel counterpart, and I think To Kill a Mockingbird is one of them. I think the movie adaptation of the book is on an eqal level with the book for several reasons. The emotion of the novel, the reprentation of the characters and the events of the novel, and the context from the book used in the movie are the reasons I believe the movie To Kill a Mockingbird is just as extrodinary as the novel.

There is a lot of emotion in To Kill a Mockingbird, from Walter Cunningham partaking in dinner with the family to Scout and Atticus talking about her mother, to Atticus not only defending Tom Robinson, but to how the town reacts to such an event. When Atticus has lost his case and is walking out of the courtroom there is nothing in the novel that can capture that sort of emotion. In this case the picture really is worth a thousand words. In relation to the characters, Gregory Peck is the perfect Atticus. I think he captures Atticus better than Lee herself captured Atticus. The children are also well represented, as are most people in the town, but Peck as Atticus is, I believe, the best character adaptation in any movie adapted from a novel. Even the events chosen, which the movie follows the events of the book very well, and how they are captured brings the book to life in a way many movie adaptations cannot. I think you get a better sense of who Atticus is and what he stands for in the movie than you do of the book by how they represent his relationship with Tom Robinson and his family. I also think you have much more hatred for Mr. Ewell as aman in the movie than in the novel. Overall, I think the movie captures what Harper Lee is trying to say better than she can capture it herself in her own words, although her words are quite powerful.